In an effort to build a space for queer people like myself, every Tuesday I’ll be posting interviews, opinion pieces, listicals, reviews, and more focused on the LGBT community (and occasionally about the Latinx/WOC community since I am Latinx.) Welcome to Queerly Not Straight! Enjoy and leave a comment below if you have a suggestion for what I should cover next.
Happiest Season is the LGBTQ Christmas goodness that we deserve in 2020. And we don’t know about you, but even when the world tries to bring our community down, we keep on winning. Happiest Season is us winning. Happiest Season is us taking the right step to have better representation for the queer community. And we are here for it, especially if it means seeing Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis, who play Abby and Harper, working through their relationship ups and downs during the holiday season.
Bring on the Cheese, We Deserve It
One of our favorite things about holiday movies are the cheese and the antics. You know, the romance tropes that are present in each and every single Christmas movie because it’s the holiday season after all and what would life be without them? Happiest Season had that cheesiness and recognizable way of storytelling that we’re used to when it comes to Christmas movies.
For example, It had the hijinks music. You know, the kind where the main characters are trying to sneak around and bring in a Christmas tree into the house and they don’t want to get caught by the loyal servants of the home. Not to say that that happened in Happiest Season. Well, not in particular. But the hijinks were there and we love the movie all the more because of it.
That’s not to say it was all butterflies and rainbows. (Yes, we queer people are prone to random bouts of butterflies and rainbows.) This movie had its serious moments where we thought things were going to turn out badly because we as LGBTQ people are used to having the bad endings or the ambiguous/open ending aka the worst kind of ending in ending history. That doesn’t happen in Happiest Season.
There is a happy ending. There is a montage of pics after the movie goes black that shows our favorites happy, in love, and living their happiest lives. And we are here for it. It’s what we deserve, it’s what we’ve seen others be gifted with, and it’s something we hope to see more of when it comes to LGBTQ love stories like Happiest Season.
It’s a Coming Out Story, Again
Honestly, we were hesitant at the beginning when it came to Happiest Season. Coming out stories are a dime a dozen in Hollywood and it seems like it’s the only thing they know how to produce for the queer community. It’s like that’s the only thing we are and no one’s taken the time or effort to know us past the coming out story and into our daily lives as people, family, friends, lovers, and more.
And in the beginning, that’s what this story felt like. Harper was hiding Abby because she couldn’t be honest with herself or those around her that she called family. And as the story chipped away it became a portrait of who we become when we live our lives based on our families expectations and not what we want for ourselves based on our own feelings and wants.
That’s not to say that this coming out story isn’t important. While I cringe at ANOTHER coming out story, I have to think about people that have never experienced a story like this before. Crazy to think that there are people out there that don’t know anything about LGBTQ people but it’s true. Maybe a Christmas movie lover has never experienced something like Happiest Season and ends up loving it and opening their eyes to something they’ve never experienced before.
Changing one person’s mind, one person’s heart, to love and accept queer people like Harper and Abby matters. It’s the little changes, the little journeys, that change our world and how it runs. And Happiest Season is part of that. So, yes, a little blue about another coming out story but all cheese and smiles that it was a big movie theater release opportunity before coronavirus decided to be nosey and destroy all our lives.
Other Happiest Season Thoughts:
- Aubrey Plaza is a whole damn mood and 10 kinds of attractive in this movie.
- Dan Levy steals every scene he’s in and we adore him.
- The height difference between Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis is so adorable and we’re all over it.
- Mary Holland’s character Jane is who we want to be when we grow up.
- Victor Garber should be in all the stuff.
- We definitely need a sequel with more antics, more fun, and Christmas goodness.
Happiest Season premieres November 25th on Hulu.
Queerly Not Straight posts every Tuesday with opinion pieces, listicals, reviews, and more focused on the LGBT community (and occasionally about the Latinx community since I am Latinx.)
