If This, Then That

Love is love. There is no denying attraction, infatuation or chemistry with someone, but how much resilience and heartache does it take to refuse to accept such feelings when it goes against societies norms, or our own internal battles of knowing who we are, or what we really want?

If you have seen Imagine Me & You, a 2005 rom-com about a woman newly married to a man finding herself attracted to her friendly lesbian florist, then your go to movie for 2021 is Happiest Season, a rom-com about a girl wanting to propose to her girlfriend over Christmas, just to find out she hadn't come out to her family yet.

In Imagine Me & You, Rachel believes she is completely happy and confidently straight up to her wedding day, when she meets Luce, the florist she from that point on, can’t get her out of her mind for unknown reasons. Questions linger in your mind as the relationship between Rachel and Luce progresses: can someone love a man and a woman at the same time, or is one not real love at all? Can someone just change who they love so quickly? These all too juicy questions make this movie a must watch, no matter if you are gay or straight yourself. A rom com is a rom com, but with a added twist.

In Happiest Season, the girls couldn't be happier together when they are in their own little world, but when Harper has to face reality, aka her parents, who are prominent, conservative, societal figures who aim for perfection, her definition of happiness gets rattled. As the movie unravels, it becomes an unnerving question of what point would you give up your happiness so that you could fit in with the status quo?

Though a 15 year difference in making, the two stories continues to demonstrate the societal pressure of being open and honest about who we love, and especially about who we are. It is one thing to have an internal battle of our feelings and finding ourselves, but now we have to add the pressures of external factors. This 2020 holiday movie is just the right new angle of clever and funny, but real and raw. We all go through acceptance and wanting to fit in, but there are areas we don’t cross, or atleast tread lightly, and in Happiest Season, we are crossing family affairs, political views and gender identity.

These movies are a ‘if then, than that’ must because it is showing that this issue of true identity is still an on going struggle. It is showing that it doesn’t matter how old we are, in what point of life we are, or even what we think currently to be true, we all go through it in some capacity. We want movies that we can relate to, and so even if we aren’t the main characters, we sure have been on the outside looking in at one point in our lives. What about Luce, who immediately fell for Rachel but couldn’t have her because she was straight and married to someone else? Have we ever been a situation where we wanted something but couldn’t have it, or didn’t think we could? Or how about Abby, who was very confidant in her relationship, only to find out that her significant other had been keeping their relationship a secret? Have we ever been lied to by someone we care a lot about? To what point do we forgive them and keep trying to make it work by giving them the benefit of the doubt?

Oh, the reflection these movies stimulate of our own true self, and situations. They open the floor to ask their heart, head or both questions that sometimes we are scared to ask. And maybe we are only watching a movie here, but it is undeniable that these movies could, and most likely are have relations to, true stories of everyday people in our society today. There are definitely movies that are meant to just be watched, and then there are some movies that are meant to be watched and then felt.