Ha, you thought I was done doing “Lesbian Trash Panda” posts. Well I have dozens of half-written blogs about lesbian content. Dozens of them! All I need to do is, uh, finish and publish them. Anyway.
Summary
Ellie Chu is an outsider in her rural small town. She’s the only Chinese-American student in her high school, the smartest kid in her class, and she’s gay, though that’s a secret. Ellie only interacts with her fellow students when she’s ghostwriting their essays — that is, until sweet, dumb jock Paul asks her to write letters to woo school sweetheart Aster for him. The problem? Ellie starts crushing on Aster too.
Why You Should Watch This (No Spoilers)
Ok, so. This movie is adorable. Written and directed by Alice Wu (who also brought us Saving Face, aka one of best lesbian rom-coms ever), The Half of It is a high school coming-of-age Cyrano de Bergerac-style story with a queer spin. Ellie Chu is a great protagonist and her story is enough to justify watching this movie. Supporting characters Paul and Aster are charming, and the tone is down-to-earth and funny. The film also hits a lot of my personal storytelling favs – mythology, philosophy, second-generation immigrant narratives, and sweet, sweet dramatic irony. Definitely recommend for a fun, light watch with a lot of heart.
Why I Love This (Yes Spoilers)
The Half of It falls into the “lone closeted gay in small-town America” storyline, a well-worn trope in queer media. Usually those stories either have the queer teen learn it’s Okay To Be Yourself, or they, uh, die.
Alice Wu’s take on this story isn’t generic or cloying. Ellie is an outsider in the community, sure, but not especially for her queerness. Ellie is queer and not out yet, but the most pressing issues in her life are racism, poverty, and having to care for her depressed father. They affect her throughout the film and bring a new perspective to what could have been a tired plot.
The strength of The Half of It, to me, is Ellie’s character, amazingly portrayed by Leah Lewis. I love the drama of “matchmaker falls for matchmakee” as much as anyone, but the fact that Ellie has so much more going on than looking for romance makes this story feel bigger than its premise, and actually makes the love triangle stronger. Ellie has struggled for so much and she works so hard, you just really want the romance to work out for her — no matter how obviously doomed it is. Ellie is a queer teen girl unlike any I’ve seen in film – a bit cynical, a bit soft, and full of real feelings. She is wholly herself, while also discovering herself. Love it!
Paul, a classic himbo archetype, is a decent balancing act of meathead and sweetheart and his interactions with Ellie are fun and charming. Unusually for a teen rom-com, the bulk of this movie actually focuses on their developing friendship, with Ellie essentially “My Fair Lady”-ing Paul through the film. There’s some AMAZING drama and pining when Ellie takes over Paul’s text convos with Aster, the girl they both like.
Aster, the subject* of our two main characters’ affections (*because she is an active participant in this movie, not an object) is also delightful. An actually well-developed love interest? What a treat! Aster is the girl everyone loves, and as Ellie and her write back and forth, you really do understand why everyone would like her.
One thing I will say, and it’s not specific to this movie, is that Cyrano stories are kinda gross as a baseline. Both the “wooers” are lying to the person they purport to like, which is fucked up, obviously. While The Half of It doesn’t call out the manipulative aspects as much as I feel it deserves, it is called out and leads to some post-climactic soul searching. I know stories don’t have to be moralistic, but this is something I always think about with these plots. I dunno! I guess, don’t pull a Cyrano IRL kids, leave it for the screen.
So, yeah. Watch The Half of It. It’s just a good movie.
Queer Context Corner: Queerano de Bergerac
Originally a French play published in 1897, Cyrano de Bergerac is the story of a Frenchman who is an excellent warrior, a charming poet, a great friend – and also he has a big nose, which apparently makes him unfuckable in 19th century France. Cyrano loves his distant cousin Roxanne (why is it always cousins, media from the 1800s?), but doesn’t tell her how he feels because thinks he is too ugly for her. Cyrano’s friend, the charming dolt Christian, also falls for Roxanne. Christian asks Cyrano for help wooing the sophisticated woman, and so Roxanne falls for Christian, via Cyrano’s letters and poetry, so it’s maybe Cyrano she’s in love with?? Oh, the intrigue! Classic comedy of errors! Until Christian dies, and Roxanne swears she will never love again and she goes to live in a convent (eyeroll), and Cyrano doesn’t tell her he wrote the letters, and then years later he also dies and Roxanne realizes it WAS him who wrote the letters and it’s like “lmfao Roxanne you lost both men you loved.” The end.
There have been lots of retellings of Cyrano – it’s a great plot full of drama and irony and dramatic irony – all the good stuff. True, the entire premise is built on a lie, but that’s also the point. It’s not a morality play, but there is a message: When you pretend to be someone you’re not, everyone loses. It’s basically the precursor to every “Be Yourself” storyline in Hollywood.
There are lots of elements in this play that fit with queer experiences. Feelings of inadequacy because of a trait you cannot change? That’s a queer story. Being in unrequited love with your best friend? That’s a queer story. Having to hide a part of who you are, holding onto a secret your whole life? Yeah, I spose I feel that.
But Cyrano also hones in on a particularly raw, universal human emotion – insecurity. It hinges on the hero believing that, no matter how great they are, one flaw (or perceived flaw) makes them undesirable. This was emphasized in a recent UK production, where James McAvoy played Cyrano without the characteristic large nose. Actor and playwright Virginia Gay, commenting on this choice, wrote:
When you do it without a nose, it becomes abundantly clear that this is the most interesting person on stage, but they have decided that, for some reason, they are not worthy of love.
Damn, but doesn’t that hit home.
Gay herself played a female Cyrano in a queer feminist adaption produced in 2021. For this performance, they added or changed parts of the original play to make some of the plot elements less… gross. Her interview about this adaptation is really cool. Also her last name is Gay, which is coincidental but I feel homosexually compelled to point out.
More retellings of Cyrano spring up all the time. “Love Somebody,” which I have not read, is a 2022 addition to the queer Cyrano family. And there’s the new Peter Dinklage musical, wherein Cyrano’s “insecurity” is something that actually marginalizes him.
Also, in researching this I discovered that Cyrano de Bergreac the play is REAL PERSON FANFIC???? Cyrano de Bergerac was a REAL GUY, but basically the entire plot of play was made up, because obviously it was. Cyrano fights 100 men singlehandedly in the play while reciting poetry, that’s an X-Man comic.
And not only was Cyrano a real guy, he might have been gay! It’s hotly disputed in the Wikiepdia Article Talk Page, and mostly based on speculation – but that’s true of any queer history in Europe prior to, um. Now. Here’s more on this from the Gay & Lesbian Review.
Well, this got away from me again. This is why these take me so long.
“THE HALF OF IT” CHEAT SHEET (Trigger warnings/rating/etc.)
Age Group: Teens
Is this actually gay? Yup!
Does the lesbian die? Nope!
Triggers? (Rape, violence, domestic violence, etc.) Religion, racism, Ellie’s dad has depression
Trauma Meter: Low.
How Would I Tag This on AO3? High school, rom-com, cyrano plot, pining, coming of age, lesbian, dumb jock/lesbian solidarity, did i mention pining
Veronica Dymond 