February is the month of love – but it’s also LGBT History Month! Here are our top ten picks of films that celebrate underrepresented relationships and unconventional love stories that you and your family can watch this Valentine’s Day.
1. ANDI MACK
Disney Channel, 2017-present.
Ok, so this isn’t strictly a romance or a film. However, this TV series is filled with unconventional and underrepresented stories and topics, including mental health, religion, interracial relationships, and even unplanned teenage pregnancy.
Most notably, this is the first Disney Channel series that stars a gay character – Cyrus Goodman. In the third season, Cyrus came out to his crush Jonah. This was the first time that a character on the Disney Channel has said “I’m gay”.
2. FROZEN
Walt Disney Pictures, 2013.
Ever since Frozen’s release in 2013, some fans have suspected that Elsa might be gay. The filmmakers have neither confirmed nor denied the speculation. Nonetheless, many fans have their fingers crossed that Elsa will become the first openly gay Disney princess in Frozen 2, which is coming this November.
Even without this storyline, Frozen continues to celebrate unconventional love stories. At the end of the film, Anna sacrifices herself to save Elsa. It is this “act of true love” that ultimately allows Elsa to end the winter and to save Arendelle.
3. LILO AND STITCH
Walt Disney Pictures, 2002.
Like Frozen, this animated adventure film focuses on familial love and relationships. The film is famous for its quotation “ohana means family”. In Hawaiian culture, ohana includes close and extended relatives, friends, and neighbours.
The film explores this concept, as Lilo tries to rebuild an ohana after the death of her parents. Lilo is a lonely girl who is raised by her older sister Nani. Lilo encounters Stitch, a mischievous alien intended to cause chaos and destruction, and they soon develop a close bond. Together with Nani, they do all they can to preserve their new family and to overcome any obstacles thrown their way.
4. MULAN
Walt Disney Pictures, 1998.
Mulan also focuses on the extremes to which people will go for their family. The film is set around 2,000 years ago in China, back when women were expected to be wives and mothers and to leave war and work to the men.
To save her ageing and ailing father from having to fight in the war against the Huns, Mulan uses her wit, courage and strength to take his place. She defies gender stereotypes, protects her father, defeats the Huns, and brings honour to her family. Although she falls in love with her captain Li Shang along the way, the film stresses the importance of female empowerment, intelligence, self-acceptance, and love for family and friends.
5. SHREK
Dreamworks, 2001.
In traditional fairy tales, Prince Charming slays the fire-breathing dragon, finds the sleeping princess in the “highest room of the tallest tower”, wakes her with true love’s kiss, and together they live happily ever after.
Shrek subverts this conventional fairy tale and replaces the prince and princess with ogres. The film mocks chivalry and instead emphasises self-acceptance, friendship, and overcoming prejudice.
6. LOVE SIMON
20th Century Fox, 2018.
Based on Becky Albertalli’s Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, this 2018 romantic comedy is the first film by a major Hollywood studio that focuses on a gay teenage romance.
Love Simon follows the life of Simon Spier, a closeted high school student who has fallen in love with an anonymous classmate online. This heart-warming story follows Simon’s journey of self-discovery and coming out to his family and friends in the 21st century.
7. MRS DOUBTFIRE
20th Century Fox, 1993.
Starring the late Robin Williams, Mrs Doubtfire is remembered as an iconic comedy. In an effort to spend more time with his children after his divorce, Daniel Hillard impersonates a female housekeeper.
In addition to the comedy, the film also focuses on the breakdown of love and explores the effect of separation and divorce on parents and children. The film reminds the audience that not every relationship ends in a happily ever after, but that family relationships can last. As Mrs Doubtfire says, “Just because they don’t love each other anymore, doesn’t mean they don’t love you. There are all sorts of different families”.
8. THE GREATEST SHOWMAN
20th Century Fox, 2017.
This instant hit musical was inspired by the life of P.T. Barnum and the creation of the Barnum and Bailey Circus.
Whilst the majority of the film centres on Barnum’s relationship with his family, there is a subplot that follows an interracial relationship. Barnum’s business partner Phillip Carlyle falls for Anne Wheeler, an African American trapeze artist. Although they both have feelings for each other, the film and the song “Rewrite the Stars” explores the difficulties that interracial couples faced in the US during the mid-19th century.
9. HAIRSPRAY
New Line Cinema, 1988 and 2007.
Originally released in 1988 and remade in 2007, this musical is revolutionary and iconic for countless reasons. It features Tracy Turnblad, a body-positive plus-sized female lead, and Edna Turnblad, a drag performer.
Set in Baltimore in 1962 against the backdrop of segregation in the US and the Civil Rights Movement, Hairspray also presents an interracial relationship. Despite the efforts of her racist mother and society, Penny Pingleton falls in love with Seaweed J. Stubbs.
10. THE FAULT IN OUR STARS
20th Century Fox, 2014. Available on Netflix.
Based on John Green’s novel of the same name, this romantic-tragedy is a heart-warming and heart-breaking story of first love and terminal illness. Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters are both cancer patients and incredibly witty. They bond over their illnesses and fall in love.
This is one for the teens and it is an absolute tearjerker, so grab the tissues, okay? Okay.
