The “happiest” ending?
If you are going to use a trope, at least make it fun! Thoughts on Clea DuValls The Happiest Season
Foto: Lacey Terrell/Sony Pictures
The Happiest Season was hyped by Kristen Stewarts fans long before it came out, and with a great cast list and Clea DuVall as a director, expectations were high. First off, let us acknowledge that with Kristen Stewart they cast an openly queer woman as the protagonist, and that the director is lesbian (which is also only a fact about her that is listed in her personal life section on Wikipedia). Having queer people both behind and in front of the camera usually ensures a more authentic portrayal of LGBT+ relationships and struggles.
So how did The Happiest Season do?
My answer is: meh…
There are many awful tropes around LGBT+ and especially wlw (women loving women) relationships in Film and Television. For example, the “bury your gays trope” or the “dead lesbian syndrome” (one of the same-gender-lovers must die or be destroyed otherwise by the end of the story), which has been around long enough to even get an academic definition. With a holiday Rom-Com, this wasn’t really something the audience had to worry about however.
Spoiler alert from here on!
Abby (Kristen Stewart) and Harper (Mackenzie Davis) try to hide their relationship during a Christmas visit at Harper's conservative parents. The only person that really acknowledges Abby being hurt by her girlfriend’s secrecy, and supports her, is Harper's ex-girlfriend Riley (Aubrey Plaza). She reveals more facts about Harper's past that make Abby question her character and their relationship. Noticing this, Harper comes out during a Christmas party expecting Abby to come back to her.
Although the movie doesn’t play into the worst queer tropes it still manages to check quite a few
Even though the characters seem to be well into their twenties, it is still a coming-out movie. The LGBT+ community has been long criticising the fact that most queer movies are about young teenagers coming out or a first love. This is important to see for queer youth but doesn’t really normalise same-sex relationships. Something that a Christmas Rom-Com would seem to be a good fit for. The movie also manages to check some other tropes in passing. The main character has a fashionable gay best friend and both women in the couple are typically feminine and conventionally attractive.
Of course one could argue that Rom-Coms always base their humour on cliché and negative stereotypes. The movie is admittedly entertaining to watch and manages to make jokes about queerness without being offensive or unoriginal. But for me and for many other viewers that wasn’t enough from a movie that was so highly anticipated. Rom-Coms are usually based on the audience's expectation to leave the movie with a heart-warming happy ending. The Happiest Season's writing is very confusing at times, with Abby outright stating in what seems to be the finale, that she cannot forgive Harper and that her attempt at winning Abby back came too late. The plot of the movie seems to lead up to a break-up for the whole second half and it is not really comprehensible for the audience why Abby would change her mind at this point. In the end, the conflict that was building up for almost two hours was resolved however by nothing more than a romantic kiss at a gas station, which makes for a very unsatisfying “happy” ending to The Happiest Season.