Book Cover (Left) and Movie Cover (Right)
“Love, Simon” is the not-so-PG story of Simon, a Junior in high school who is being blackmailed for his most important secret: that he is gay. His secret is too important to him, especially since his emails to another closeted gay kid at his, Blue, that he built an intimate relationship with are being used to blackmail him. Now Simon must do whatever it takes to make sure his blackmailer gets whatever he wants so his and Blue’s secret stays hidden.
Identity plays a major role in the reasons that Simon’s secret is so important to him. Simon’s true identity is one that he keeps a secret because of the way his parents react whenever there is a change in his life and because his revelation of his identity would ruin his relationship with Blue. There’s a duality in his identity; one identity that he shows to the world and one that he shows only to Blue. This reminds me slightly of the way that Marji in “Persepolis” told the man in the bar that she was French, and not Iranian, but Marji didn’t conceal her identity to the whole world, just to that one person, which is the exact opposite of what Simon does for the majority of the movie.
Power is also another dynamis portrayed between Simon and the blackmailer, Martin, because Martin holds power over Simon with his knowledge of Simon’s identity. Martin uses this information because he wants Simon to help him get the girl he likes that Simon just so happens to be friends with. This can be equated to what Hegel describes in his dialectic and that Martin is the “master” who has made Simon into his “slave”.
There is also injustice against sexuality directed towards Simon because Martin has a brother that is gay, so he must know to some extent what that would be like for Simon, but he still has the nerve to blackmail Simon with that sensitive information to get a girl. Also living in a suburb near Atlanta, Simon describes that people are still not open to gay people in general. He shows that there are only a couple openly gay students at his school, but they are not treated fairly and are called very derogatory names by other students.
The movie was very effective in showing us that the power that one’s identity really holds over a person and how people are so quick to abuse the power that they have over people for their own gain. One question to take away is what aspect of your identity holds this kind of power over you and to what extent would you go to ensure that this power is never held over you?
Simon and Blue when they finally accept their identities and find each other.