Whoops, sorry, forgot to answer this above. But I think it’s still feel-good, just not purely in a romantic direction? Anyway, by now you’d have seen the trailer and what it’s aiming at. I think it’s still a pretty uplifting ending for Ellie.
how do people know the ending of the half of it already?? was the script leaked or smth
And another anon:
Hey, I was wondering where the supposed “leak” of the half of it is? I would like to read it
A whiiiile back it was up on reddit (and probably other places?), I found out through this post which summarizes much of it:
It’s been removed since but it should be reinforced that we have no idea what the actual ending or even movie itself are like now, anything could have changed from that script to actually being shot. For what it’s worth, the ending as it was written was open-ended but hopeful for the f/f pair.
I’m pretty excited for The Half Of It. It looks wholesome! I’m fine with the not HEA ??♀️ Somehow, as you said, with all the other releases not finishing with a HEA and still embraced by the community I feel like it may be a bit hypocrite if this one get rejected but oh well let’s see the final result first
Hey, those movies have never been embraced by ME. 😛 Although, I think a lot has to be said for those movies still focusing on the f/f relationship to the extent they did. What a story spends its time on matters. And how, lol. Not to be a defender or apologist for a movie that I have only ever said I don’t want to watch, but Portrait’s like, this cinematic piece of art, right? While this movie is deliberately subverting a romcom trope to be about a platonic friendship, and that’s not really particularly subversive when it comes to f/f media.
Again, Alice Wu can make whatever she wants and it’s not her fault if people take the impression that it’s a lesbian romcom, but I would absolutely not blame anyone for being disappointed. Although I don’t really think people especially are? The trailer was very much about Ellie and Paul and I’m only seeing positive remarks so far.
THE HALF OF IT TRAILER IS OUT!!!! it’s so surreal seeing it because I’ve been waiting since before anyone was even cast but it’s still so exciting and looks like it’s going to be another alice wu masterpiece. while some people are probably going to be upset at the opening ending I think the way aster and ellie’s interactions play out on screen vs just reading off a page are definitely going to color it more positive
Aah, thanks for telling me! And right, right, absolutely! And honestly, of the possible endings when you see the actual dynamics at play, it’s only a little bit short of a full f/f HEA.
It seems that the excitement for the half of it is misplaced and will only lead to whining about the movie after it comes out, people have been selling it as this glorious lesbian romcom when it really isn’t.
Ah, well, if the ending holds, maybe, although I wouldn’t characterize it as “whining”, I think people are allowed to be upset at the difference in what’s available. When you see Netflix put out a bunch of m/f romcoms and then one f/f movie which totally reads like a romcom, if it’s not…I get it.
But of course on the flip side, Alice Wu is entitled to make whatever she wants, she’s not solely responsible for making up for decades of underrepresentation (especially when she made one of the first good and still tragically rare f/f romcoms we DO have) and people shouldn’t go after the cast or crew or even fans who do like it or ruin it for them. It’s always a balance, right, unless something is clearly deliberate and egregious, stick with criticizing the trends more than individual creators, don’t fill the tags with hate, etc.
And maybe it won’t be so bad, Portrait of a Lady on Fire wasn’t the happiest ending but the f/f community embraced it. And this ending should be happier than that, at least. And you know, I realize you might be talking about two different reasons people’ll be disappointed, both the ending and the fact that it’s more about a friendship between Ellie and the dude, but Saving Face wasn’t just between Viv and Wil either. In fact, it had not only Wil and her mom but the whole separate subplot of Wil’s mom and her bf. And most of us were okay with it. It depends a lot on how it’s done and Alice Wu is pretty skilled at balancing it all.