Red, White, and Royal Blue: Trailer

I want to cry. Cry from just all of the emotions and excitement and...realness of it all. Casey McQuiston's "Red, White, and Royal Blue" novel is almost, almost a movie. Almost a month from now. The full-length trailer came out today, and I just watched it.

I want to cry. It look so perfect and sweet and angsty and British accents mixed with Texas accents. I know it'll be different from the book (which I plan on rereading this weekend--look for a post about it and it one-month count down early next week), in both good ways and not, but it'll be real.

Flashback slash Serious time. 
    A few years ago, I realized that gay love stories were a thing, not just a fanfic thing. There weren't many though, not at all. Now? Now there's so fucking many. So many different kinds and genres and age-ranges for so many different people; libraries and book stores can now have a full LGBT+ section. 
    Around that same time, "Love, Simon" came out in theaters. I went to see it, and I bawled my eyes out. It was one of the very first films (in theaters--for young adults) that showed it was okay to be gay, to be out and proud and in love and accepted. It was based off the novel "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli.
    But I do remember half a lifetime ago when another important queer movie debuted in theaters (barely off the AIDs Pandemic wave of the 90s). It was all over the news, little me just didn't know why. "Brokeback Mountain." I didn't understand why it was a big deal for two men to be in love, let about have a movie about it, let alone everyone debating about it on the news. Yes, it was public (the movie) and it was gay and in love, but it wasn't about being out and proud and accepted. True, representation in general for the queer community is vital, even seeing someone else being closeted and afraid is important (its the representation that's important, not necessarily the content). But it wasn't nearly as revolutionary as "Love, Simon." I've yet to see the movie adaptation of Annie Proulx's short story, but I did read the short story (and cried for a while, hated life for a while, hated this world for a while).

Then comes "Red, White, and Royal Blue." Right on Amazon Prime. Available to stream right there at your fingertips. It's just...crying again... It's so happy to see queerness being promoted instead of bashed (though I'm sure there will be bashing). It's so good to see the community and everyone in it being represented. It's out and proud of gay and in love and accepted and happy. But RWRB is also about being closeted and afraid, about alone and sad and ashamed for who you are and who you love. I can't tell you how many times Henry runs from his feelings or how fucking long it takes Alex to realize his, all of the inner turmoil and the self-doubt and the imposter syndrome and the self-hatred. It's a lot. As is their love story. But it's so fucking important and monumental and HISTORY MAKING.

Representation and availability are important. Not to mention just the mere presence of something like this. It's very existence--when not even a lifetime ago people were being arrested, being killed, being outlawed for who they are--it's groundbreaking and fundamental. Plus, having something out there to help people learn about the world, not just themselves, but who their neighbors are. Ground. Fucking. Breaking. Fundamental as fuck. 

I'm out of words. I'm speechless. I can't tell you what seeing this trailer means to me, and I'm only the + in LGBT+. It's just so much. I'm so excited for this to debut (the week before Heartstopper season two debuts on Netflix). I'm off to watch the trailer again (and cry some more).

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