Simon Vs. The Movie Version

 

Hey reader friends.  So, I re-read Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, and oh goodness did I forget some stuff.  After re-reading the book, I realized how much it drives me nuts that certain things happen the way they do in the movie.  

Now, listen, I do enjoy the Simon movie. Most of it is good.  (I hated the principal, but we'll get to that in a second.)

So, if you've read the book and/or seen the movie, you know it's about teenager Simon Spier struggling with coming out.  He goes to a school with very few out gay kids, and he knows he'll probably get a lot of shit because, you know, the south. 

Anyway, when Simon gets blackmailed and then outed without permission here's what happened:

In The Book: Simon gets blackmailed by Martin (puke) and when Simon gets outed his friends are all like "Hey dude, we love you and we're going to be there for you so much!" 

In The Movie: His friends didn't talk to him for weeks and just left him to his own devices in a place where other people were being absolutely horrific to him. 

When Simon is trying to go through all these different guys to figure out who Blue is:

In The Book: He didn't think it could be Bram until last.  Like, it never crossed his mind. Not even once until Bram was on the Tilt-a-Whirl with him.

In The Movie: Simon thought a couple times that it could have been Bram. 

Now, my LEAST FAVORITE THING: 

The principal (or was he the vice-principal?) was not even featured in the book.  But!

In The Movie: That damn P/VP was horrible. Absolutely horrible.  

#1: He tries WAY too hard to be all buddy buddy with his students.  He is all like "Hey where did you get those shoes," and "Hey Simon let me tell you about my Tinder date?!"  What kind of educational professional thinks it's okay to talk with your students about your Tinder dates? Or any dates for that matter? I mean, seriously?!??!??!

#2: This principal acts like he cares about his students and wants them to confide in them, and tells Simon "Oh, we have so much in common." But when that stupid jagoff finds out that Simon is gay, he becomes visibly uncomfortable, and tells Simon, "Oh, you know when I said we had a lot in common, I didn't mean..." and sort of stumbles over his words and wiggles a finger between himself and Simon. As if Simon being gay IS THE WORST THING IN THE WORLD, and he could NEVER EVER have that in common with him! God, It's been over a year since the first time I saw this movie, and I'm still fucking pissed about that.

#3: When Simon and Ethan get called to the office due to some kids that were bullying them, the Principal just ASSUMES that Simon and Ethan are dating? Because, as we all know, as soon as there are two gay people anywhere near each other they are automatically a couple....  And this dude keeps thinking that and shutting Simon down despite Simon telling him that Si and Ethan are not together. 

Ok folks, so really,we all know there are going to be differences between books and movies. We expect that.  But this was really getting on my nerves! 

If you've seen the movie and read the book, what did you think of each, and what did you think of the differences? Let me know in the comments down below! 

Book Vs Movie: Simon V Simon

Hey y'all!  With the large amount of totally awesome books that have been made into movies, I thought I would do a little Blog Vs. Movie of books and their movies that I loved.

Today: It's Simon V. Simon.

That's right: We're taking a look at Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, and its movie counterpart Love, Simon.

THE BOOK:

First off, you can read my review of Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda here!  (Spoiler Alert: I LOVED IT!) 

The book dealt a bit more with racism - which I like and appreciate.  I wish the movie would have been more upfront with this aspect of the book.  

It wasn't until later in the book that Simon thought Bram was the one writing to him.  In fact - he felt like it might be any number of theatre dudes, and at one point I believe he even thought it was MARTIN!! 

THE MOVIE:

I loved the actors cast in the movie.  I think they all did a great job! 

HOWEVER, there were things the movie missed out on. 

1. Why didn't Leah confront her friends about their racism toward Abby?

2.  Why is Leah straight in the movie?!?!?!??!

3. How come Simon thought it was Bram first, then went to thinking it was all the other dudes. 

I Did Love:
*Simon's family! 
* This moment with Simon's dad:

 

 

*And This Moment: 

 

*And the moment when his dad asks if he got someone pregnant!  Or if he was pregnant.  

 

* AND THE BEST MOMENT IN THE ENTIRE MOVIE RIGHT HERE:

 

Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli

Title: Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda
Author: Becky Albertalli
Format: Paperback
Rating: 5 Stars

This post may contain some minor spoilers.  If, for some unknown reason, you have yet to read Simon, and you loathe spoilers in any form, save this review for later.

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Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 I read another one of Becky Albertalli's books last year (The Upside of Unrequited) and while I enjoyed it, I LOVED Simon.  I found Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda to be an absolutely wonderful, charming coming of age book that deals with a tough topic (coming out) in such a good way (even in spite of Martin forcing Simon to come out, so to speak).

So, here's the lowdown: Simon is gay, but hasn't come out of the closet yet.  And he lives in Georgia.  Freakin GEORGIA.  He and his friends, Leah, Nick, and Abby are all pretty tight (though Leah does have some pretty heavy jealousy issues towards Abby.)  Through a series of events, Simon is sort of forced into coming out.  

So, let's break down what I loved about this story:

The Characters: I Love Simon.  I love how kind he is and how well rounded he is - and I love that he's a theatre nerd.  From one theatre nerd to another - I get you and your friends, Simon!  I love that the characters all have their own distinct personalities. The author does a great job of making sure each character has their own characteristics and traits that help them stand out from the other characters.  

The actual story/plot: This story is so well thought out and well developed from beginning to end.  There were plenty of moments of tension throughout the book that made me want to keep reading just to find out how it would all end.  I also loved the development of the relationship between Blue and Simon.  I loved that there was the guessing game between the two of them where they tried to figure out who the other was.  I love that their were moments of light heartedness thrown throughout the book as well.  The book deals with a tough topic, but life isn't serious all the time, and this book shows that.  

Simon's Parents: Yes, Simon's parents deserve their own heading.  Now, yes, Simon's dad made a few very inappropriate jokes throughout the book, and he was called out on that.  He apologized and promised that he would not make those jokes any more.  Also, when Simon actually came out, he parents were so cool, and chill, and they let Simon know that they would love and accept him no matter what.   Every kid should be so lucky to have parent's like Simon's.  (Because yes, even in 2018, there are still parents who do shitty things like kicking their kids out of the house for coming out.) I also really appreciate that this is another book where the parents are, you know, in the picture. There are so many YA books these days where the parents are just MIA through the whole book.  Like, you're a minor - where the heck are your parents?!!?!

The Drama Stuff: Now, I know this sounds weird, because usually all the drama in books drives me crazy.  So what I mean by this is that the author does have *some* drama in the book, but she shows us that, when given the chance, teenagers are actually very capable of talking about issues and resolving them in their own way.  Teenagers are smarter than you think they are folks. These friends did a great job of talking about things that were bothering them, even when they did get mad and needed a break.  Eventually they were able to work out their problems without being a bunch of whiny little bitches.

A Gay Main Character!:  I know I shouldn't be this excited about it, because there are other books that have gay MC's, but this book is just so amazing.  Having Simon in the front and center, being gay and coming out is just awesome. I think it is so so important for gay teens to have books like this, so they know that it's okay to be gay, and so they know that there will always be people around them who love them just the way they are!

Really, there wasn't anything I didn't like about this book (other than the whole Martin thing - go read it and find out what I mean!)  

I think my love for this book could very well be summed up with the following memes: