Are romance lovers, in general, as open to romance on screen as they are on the page? I find television and movies a good barometer of what the general entertainment audience is ready for.
Things have changed in a big, big way over the past ten years. A certain broadcaster, formerly fairly notorious for racist, sexist, and homophobic commentary across its news and sports programming and famous for ultra-conservative rhetoric, is now airing a reboot of ‘Fantasy Island’ in which the three main characters are all people of color and one of them is in a same-sex relationship. Not only that, a recent episode guest-starring Jonathan Bennett featured a M/M romance plotline - with a happy ending.
I do my best to take note of queer romance, especially HAPPY queer romance, in mainstream entertainment. The more of it there is, the more likely people are to get used to it - and by ‘people’ I mean the people who may not actually know any out queer people, much less witness a non-straight relationship within their own community.
With that in mind, here’s a brief run-down of four well-advertised and well-reviewed queer movies, three of which feature M/M romance storylines. Along with them, some reading recommendations (along the lines of: if you liked this movie, you’d probably like this book - and vice versa).
Love, Simon: this young-adult drama focuses on a closeted gay teenager who is outed by a schoolmate just as he’s fallen in love with an internet pen pal. Online, he and his crush admit to being gay - but his crush has said he’s nowhere near ready to come out. A first teenage love tends to produce very heightened feelings: everything feels like the end of the world. If good friends suddenly shun you - either because they can’t cope with you being gay or they’re mad that you didn’t tell them before - it’s really going to feel like the end of the world. Especially if your crush then ghosts you. This movie deals with some tough issues, is what I’m saying, and the hopeful resolution is a big relief.
My suggested Simon book pairing is New Adult M/M romance ‘Never Been Kissed’ by Timothy Janovsky, which features a similar tone and deals with similar conflicts. It’s low-angst in the sense that there’s no Mortal Peril or other obvious triggers, but the romantic drama is in the same vein.
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie: this English musical is based on a true story about an out gay teenager, an aspiring drag queen, who sparks controversy when he proposes to wear a dress to prom. Jamie doesn’t have coming-out drama; instead he’s got family drama - his father repeatedly rejects him. In the movie, a father figure is acquired in the person of a local drag artist. That character provides some historical context to underline the importance of allowing people to be who they are.
As a Jamie book pairing, I’d recommend the queer young-adult novel ‘Jack of Hearts (and other parts)’ by L.C. Rosen. This one isn’t a romance, though there are degrees of sexual interest and activity, plus emotional attachment. Jack is an unashamedly sexually-active gay teenager whose personal life becomes conflated with the advice column he begins writing for a friend’s blog. It’s supposed to be anonymous, but … .
On the adult end of the spectrum we have Fire Island, a gay romantic comedy inspired by ‘Pride and Prejudice.’ There are two romance arcs in this very funny movie. Both of them end, quite realistically given the entire story takes place over less than a week, with ‘let’s see each other again’ vs ‘let’s get married.’ Any gay-romance readers who also enjoy adaptations of Austen should definitely see this.
And for a book pairing, I’d go out on a limb and recommend ‘The Holiday Trap’ by Roan Parrish. Two romance arcs; pride and prejudice (though not at all an Austen homage); characters willing to make big life changes to address their own unhappiness, whether or not that leads to true love … though of course they hope they’ll get that too.
Last but certainly not least, there is Bros, a classically structured big-screen rom-com that happens to feature a central M/M romance. It begins with a hookup and hits all the classic rom-com beats along the way to a big climactic confession and offer of commitment. I thought this movie was very funny and emotionally resonant, with the effects of the relationship on both men and their friends and families (found family in one case) an important concern. No romance happens in a vacuum; the fully-imagined environment for this one made it satisfyingly rich.
I have two suggested book pairings for Bros. The first is Alexis Hall’s very popular ‘Boyfriend Material,’ a rom-com featuring two men just as messy as the ones in Bros (and in some ways similar: in both movie and book, one main character is a culture/arts person and the other is a lawyer).
The second is my own book ‘Public Offering,’ (click highlighted title for AMZ link) which features a lawyer and a billionaire venture capitalist who meet for a hookup and can’t stop meeting. ‘Public Offering’ (click highlighted title for Books2Read link) is not as funny as Bros - I wasn’t trying to write a comedy - but I think the concerns it addresses (friends, family, careers, and what a committed relationship actually changes for people who’ve never had one before) are right in line with those in Bros.
Happy viewing and reading!