Movie Analysis Essay on Love, Simon

Introduction

The movie called by the name Love, Simon is an epic movie which describes the life of Simon as a student in the school. His love story is also evident in the film whereby he is unable to come out of society and proclaim that he is gay. It's a drama happening and his life changes after he receives an email from a guy in whom he confesses to being gay. Simons secret is at risk of being known and must move out of his comfort zone. It entails the coming out of Simon which is a romance story. The movie initially was a novel written by Becky Albertalli. In this paper, we will look at the theoretical perspectives in the film which will include "symbolic interactionism" and conflict theory.

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Theoretical Perspectives

This is one of the theoretical perspectives. It involves the use of symbols in our day to day lives and gives meaning to the symbols. For instance, the implications of love, marriage, parenthood, and divorce. It also shows that society is the way it is through human beings' interpretation. Behaviors of people within the organization are interpreted by themselves, and hence the description is known as the definition of the community. This perspective was introduced by an American philosopher known as George Herbert Mead. The symbolic interactionism is evident in the movie Love, Simon. The main actor Simon is a teenager and comes from a loving family in Atlanta, Georgia. His Parents take him to a good school and provide him and his sister a good environment for learning.

Simon, on the other hand, struggles with love, he has a girlfriend who loves him, but Simon is not interested in her, but he is interested in men (Chang, 2018). He is notified of a confession by a student who claims he is gay, and Simon creates a connection with him. Later they meet up at the carnival, and they kiss passionately, and that begins their romantic relationship. In another scenario its evident that Martin loves Abby so much that he blackmails Simon. Martin knows the secret of Simon of being gay and uses the chance to win Abby, a female student. He threatens to post the secret emails if he does not help him get back with Abby.

Conflict theory is a sociological theory which was founded by Karl Marx a Germany philosopher, and sociologist. He stated that the social life of a human being is mainly driven by conflict. Those involved in a dispute over valuable resources including prestige, power, and capital. They also use their skills to control and exploit the weaker group and the more vulnerable group struggles to be equal with other people in society. Karl Marx contributed heavily during the rise of capitalism mode of production he brought about the causes of difference and even conflicts between the rulers and their subjects.

The rulers were rich and controllers of the economy while the subjects were poor with no say. Marx was opposed to the indifference and said that this vice would lower societal growth. This conflict theory is evident in the movie Love, Simon showing the conflicts and apathy among the casts. There's a conflict between Martin and Simon; this is the case after Martin knows the secret Simon has been hiding that he is gay. Martin threatens to let everyone know his secret if he does not help him win over Abby (Chang, 2018). Since Simon could not want anyone to know so, he bought the idea and helped him out, and this created a conflict between him and Nick, Abby's boyfriend.

Two of the Simons classmates mock him and Ethan who is openly gay in the cafeteria. These students humiliate them for being gay and face difficulties after coming out (Chang, 2018). It shows that gay people are not represented in the society also are not respected since Simon took a long time to come out meant that the community would not accept his feelings and he feared the culture as well.

Sociological Imagination

In the movie Love, Simon shows the social and cultural context which indicates the time the video was produced and acted. High schoolers in the film including Simon can have girlfriends and boyfriends; the society has accepted young people to date and engage in sexual pleasures. This shows that the film was recently produced looking at the fact that in the 60s that was not the case. People could date when in colleges or universities. Also, you find people coming out and claiming they are gay is another cultural evidence; this is because it is not illegal in the country. Elsewhere you find it illegal and thus the gay people cannot come out

Ethan, Bram, and Simon come out and confesses that they are gay; the people around them accept their sexual orientation including their parents. Looking on another hand, not everyone in that society takes or understand their feelings because we find Ethan and Simon being humiliated in the Cafeteria (Chang, 2018). If the characters were living in the 50s in that country or Africa, they could not have gotten a chance to confess their feelings and could get huge opposition in churches and society.

Sociological Concepts

Subculture is one of the ideas of sociology; it is a world within the dominant culture. A subculture provides the values and ways which helps human beings view the world at large. In the movie Ferris Bueller's day off a subculture is evident. Ferris as a high school student is seen to be an influencer and form his values (Hughes, 2015). We find him telling the audience and showing them various ways in which they can skip school. Ferris shows an example which is faking to be sick so that he could get a chance and stay home, and his tricks become unnoticeable even after an investigation by the dean of students, Rooney.

Cultural relativism is another concept which is viewing of moral values from different cultures in which they vary. It is generally about a culture that there is no better culture than the other also there is no provided measure of the perceptions. The concept also advocates for understanding cultures in their terms. Basing the argument in the movie Love, Simon the gay lifestyle is evident here we find Simon, Ethan, and Bram coming out as being gay. Although some of the people in the movie are against the culture which is seen as evil and unwanted in other cultures, we find their parents accepting their children's feelings.

Cultural universal is another concept which shows that some cultures or activities are in the whole world or universal; they may include courtship, marriage, and games. In another case you find some activities differing in other cultures. For example, in the movie Ferris Bueller's day off we see an event which is universal, and this is skipping school claiming to be sick. This happens mostly to truant students who don't like schooling. This is evident worldwide in various schools and cultures. Customs are the different ones in doing these activities for example in courtship male vs. women courtship is universally accepted, but we find other customs of courtship whereby men vs. men are courting. This courtship of men vs. men are not allowed in different cultures.

Research Methods

The topic of research of the movie Love, Simon is the sociological perspective. It focuses on how people are influenced by the society they live in. The film tries to look at the norms which are not accepted in the community, for example, same-sex relationships. The research problem is applicable in this case because it depicts the current environment, we have in our world which is having men vs. men relationships. It also shows the struggles these people go through when they decide to be true to themselves. The truth be told that the men vs. men relationships started in jails where jails were explicitly for men, and they began having sexual affairs after sexual urges.

The research method we can use in this research is case studies. A case study is an in-depth study of a specific situation in which it narrows down a vast field of study. For example, a linguistic can go and live in another tribe. In this case, our research is about when and how men to men relationships started, and this can be researched in living in looking for information among the people jailed.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we have noticed some of the social forces we have in the film one of them being Cultural relativism which is a force that brings change to the society in the case whereby it is involved in understanding various cultures for example in the movie Love, Simon the organization understand the gay lifestyle. In this sociological research its evident that each community has its norms and we should not make rash decisions about any religion or standard.

Work Cited

Chang, J. "Love, Simon is a sweet, disarming first: a gay teen romantic comedy from a major studio." Los Angeles Times 14 (2018): 2018.

Hughes, J., Broderick, M., Ruck, A., & Sara, M. (2015). Ferris Bueller's day off. Long Beach, CA: Paramount Pictures.