Celebrate Representation by Watching ‘The Half of It’ on Netflix

If you love watching heartfelt comedies, and wish for more representation on-screen, then Netflix Original The Half of It is the perfect movie for you. 

The main stars of the movie are Leah Lewis, Alexxis Lemire, and Daniel Diemer, who play the roles of Ellie, Aster, and Paul, respectively.  The film was released on May 1 on Netflix, and was directed by Alice Wu.

While at first glance The Half of It seems like a classic, run of the mill teenage rom-com, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Ellie is a queer Chinese-American girl, in love with one of her classmates, Aster. Unable to express her own feelings, she tries to help a boy, Paul, win over Aster by helping him write letters and text messages, a modern take on ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’. It is a gorgeous coming-of-age story about friendship, love, and empathy. Notably, this is director Alice Wu’s second film to discuss queer Asian-American identity, her first being Saving Face, back in 2004. Catch a glimpse of one of the conversations that Ellie and Paul have about Aster below.

This love story is not only heartwarming and clever, but also dives deeper into each of the character’s lives and traits, fleshing them all out in a beautifully complex manner and drawing audiences into the narrative. The story has been highly praised for its representation of queer and POC characters, not usually portrayed in typical teenage rom-coms. We can only hope that Netflix continues this trend in the future.

So what are you waiting for? Go watch The Half of It today, and celebrate Netflix’s newest LGBT, POC romantic comedy.