Compared with Netflix, which produces global hit dramas every year, Hulu has a lower recognition on the Chinese Internet. But since "The Handmaid's Tale" caused a sensation, the streaming media has put more attention on the episodes, trying to achieve a turnaround in influence.
Throughout the first half of this year, Hulu's performance is undoubtedly the best among streaming media, and "Singapore", "Developer", "Mrs. America", "Ordinary People" and "Alien Refugees" have all performed very well.
Perhaps because of the platform's strong development momentum, Disney also put the new drama "Love You, Victor" on Hulu. As a spinoff of the hit gay film "Love You, Simon", the highly anticipated "Love You, Victor" lived up to expectations and won the media and The audience's word-of-mouth has ended the first half of Hulu perfectly.
Due to the irresponsible and misguided guidance of the domestic marketing account, many viewers preconceived that "Love You, Victor" is a remake of the TV series "Love You, Simon".
But in fact, the two works are completely different from the characters to the plot. As a spin-off series, "Love You, Victor" is just a successor to "Love You, Simon" on the background of the story.
In Love, Simon, the Victor family moved here after Simon came out and went to college in New York. In this community with Simon's memories, Victor fantasizes about being out of the closet like Simon without being treated differently. But reality did not give Victor a favor. This soft-hearted boy is now facing pressure from many aspects. Except for revealing his thoughts to Simon on social platforms, he has never come out to anyone in real life.
The Victor family's move to a new place was not due to parental work schedules or deliberate arrangements. This sudden decision made the family collectively fall into a kind of impetuous mood.
Parents have their own concerns and hide the real reason for the move from their children; sister Pila is full of complaints and is reluctant to part with old friends; Victor is both looking forward to and worried about his new life, and he longs to release himself in the place where Simon is treated tenderly, But they are also afraid of the new and unknown environment.
Victor and Pyla's situation at their new school, Creekwood High School, is completely different. Pilla is cynical and has a strong hostility to this place with a strong middle-class vibe. Because of the difference in family background and ideas, she couldn't get along with these wealthy children at all.
On the contrary, his docile and considerate character and excellent basketball skills made Victor live quite well at the new school. The high-profile Mia in the school is also deeply attracted by Victor's temperament.
The main reason why Victor is afraid to come out is the family concept. Victor grew up in Texas, the stronghold of conservatives in the United States. His parents were not so open to LGBT, and the hostility of his grandparents to LGBT was self-evident.
Thus, in Victor's view, his sexuality will bring shame to the family. Between family and self-expression, he chose the former that gave him a sense of security.
Under the negative pressure of family and new environment, Victor also hesitated and resisted his sexual orientation, and he finally accepted Mia's offer. Mia and Victor's love relationship is very harmonious, causing Victor to have the illusion that he may be heterosexual for a while, and he is relieved. But he never thought that his self-deception had actually caused harm to outsiders, especially Mia.
Pila, who was already indignant about the move, received a letter from a stranger on her mother's social account. According to the content of the letter, she discovered the secret of her mother's derailment in marriage. Pila told Victor about this, and the two privately made an appointment to meet the person who cheated on their mother. Unexpectedly, this person was actually the father's former boss. It turned out that the reason why the parents moved was because the mother cheated.
Although the mother has already been honest with the father, it is an established fact that the intimacy of the husband and wife has been damaged. After the children know this secret, the father and mother no longer need to pretend to be in harmony.
Meanwhile, Victor has a crush on Benji, who has come out and is in a stable relationship. Two people with similar family background work in a coffee shop, and their relationship has become more and more tacit and ambiguous as time goes by. During the two of them on a business trip together, Victor couldn't hold back the urge to kiss Benji, and Benji was overwhelmed by the sudden situation. It's not that he doesn't have a bad impression on Victor, but he bears the moral sense of the existing relationship, and he has to distance and avoid Victor.
When and how to explain and apologize to Mia? What will happen to the marriage of the parents? How to resolve the estrangement with Benji? A series of problems followed, and Victor's original expectations for life were almost all derailed. If he continued to be passive like this, his life would only get more and more out of control...
When it comes to "Love You, Victor," there's obviously no way around "Love You, Simon." "Love You, Simon" is undoubtedly one of the most important LGBT films in recent years. This is because on the one hand it has achieved good results and has a high reputation and popularity; on the other hand, "Love You, Simon" " is also a comedy about LGBT themes produced by Hollywood studios and released on a large scale, with commercial milestones and a role in promoting LGBT social status.
And "Love You, Victor" is a teen drama created by the same team as "Love You, Simon", and the style and rhythm of the whole drama maintains a high degree of consistency with the movie. But what is really surprising is that the show does not completely imitate "Simon", and it can even be said that it has made a more comprehensive correction compared to the movie, and the story concept has more realistic considerations and expressions than the movie.
Although both works tell the story of a boy coming out of the closet, "Victor" largely corrects "Simon"'s blindly immersed in the atmosphere of middle-class self-talk and lacks more dimensional thinking. "gay".
The entire show tells viewers that "coming out" is a serious business that "needs to be prepared to lose everything," especially for sexual minorities who are disadvantaged by class, social status, and age. Coming out of the closet will directly reduce them to the weak of the weak, and this "weak of the weak" is precisely the status quo of the vast majority of sexual minorities in society.
On the premise that LGBT equality has not yet been truly achieved, coming out of the teens means a huge risk. This kind of risk is not only "can the family accept it", but for teenagers without survival skills, being abandoned by one of the links in the family, school, and community may lead to the obliteration of a bright future.
Therefore, even today, even when same-sex marriage has been legalized in many countries, LGBT youth suicides still occur frequently. From this perspective, "coming out" like "Simon", which belongs to the lucky few, is somewhat of a cheese trap.
The writing of the drama "Love You, Victor" is now in the controversy of the whole show, to be precise, the controversy suffered by the character "Victor". Unlike Simon's cute and sweethearted character, Victor is not so perfect. He deceived the kind-hearted Mia and still kisses Benji, who already has a boyfriend. He is cowardly, hesitant, selfish, and even a little awkward in character. Can't move.
Because of this, we have more reason to believe that Victor is a character close to the real human psychology, rather than Simon's slogan ideal. Although over-perfect characters are lovable, they do not have the beauty and vitality that are unique to human beings, and they also lack realistic reference value.
Only by seeing the weaknesses and contradictions in people can the audience further understand human behavior. Because of seeing Victor's "badness", the audience can understand Victor, who came from a low-class conservative family, and struggles with his sexual orientation.
Of course, we need to objectively criticize "Love, Simon" as a film that is immersed in an overly idealized atmosphere and with distorted characters, but also recognize its important value for LGBT equality and film diversity. "Simon" promotes the birth of "Victor", while "Victor" corrects the shortcomings of "Simon". There is no absolute winner between the two works.
With the broadcast of "Love You, Victor", the British and American dramas in the first half of the year also came to an end. Hulu's eye-catching performance in the first half of the year shows that the development of TV streaming has not stayed in a fixed pattern. No platform can dominate, and each platform needs excellent original works to consolidate the value of the platform. The metabolism continues, and a new golden age of TV shows is coming.
Author | Carlos's Three Trees; Public Number | Watch Movies to See Death
Editor | Teenager on the Roof; Please indicate the source for reprinting
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