Living in a culture devoted to raising awareness for diversifying groups, is there a line to the amount of information provided to the general public? The diversifying group in question comes from the LGBTQ+ new movie film ‘Bros’.

‘Bros’ has been labeled as the first Hollywood studio-backed rom-com featuring two men as the leads. Cowritten and starring Billy Eichner, star comedian and actor, this film piggybacks off some of the common rom-com movies giving nods to actors like Meg Ryan with many references. However, compelling this lead actor exhibits his story, in attempts to highlight the life of a cis gay man, this movie may have gone too far.

Lead Billy Eichner portrays the life of a gay man who owns his own podcast, 11th Brick, and works as the director for the first national LGBTQ+ history museum. Eichner’s character touts many times throughout this movie that he believes he is better alone and thrives within the hookup culture. However, his plans change when meeting Aaron, Luke Macfarlane (co-lead), as the two begin navigating their way through a relationship.

Throughout this film, Eichner uses a dry delivery of humor in order to exhibit the most extreme side of dating while being a gay man. While this humor, in my opinion, was landing for many audience members including myself, I think that it would take a knowing perspective to perceive certain scenes correctly rather than extreme.

In order to state my opinion correctly, it is important that you understand the background perspective that allows me a platform to speak my opinion. Visiting my brother a couple weekends ago, we decided to go to the premiere of the new rom com, ‘Bros’. We both grew up in a “bible-belted” community and because of this, many of our perspectives were laced with knowledge formed around our upbringing. While this is true, my brother came out as gay during my freshman year of high school and over the past 7 years, he and I have grown in our perspectives and understandings of what the LGBTQ+ community entails.

While watching this new film, my brother and I found ourselves turning away from the screen and he even felt the need to cover my eyes during many of the more explicit scenes. I understand that as brother and sister it could be awkward to watch certain scenes together in the same room, however for a movie that touts itself as a “queer rom-com for straight people” according to The New Yorker, I think that this act alone was telling as to what the directors and writers of this movie were trying to tell the public.

I understand that the purpose, or mission if you will, of this movie is meant to complicate people’s understanding of the queer community and portray that relationships are not perfectly ideal or socially acceptable to some. In doing this, director’s casted 2 white cis gay men is a more ideal or acceptable type of relationship when speaking about the queer community. Directors also employed parodying these identities in the beginning by showing how a person belonging to the LGBTQ+ community may act on a regular basis.

In my humble opinion I think allowing the entire first half of this movie to be based around Eichner, the white cis gay leads, opinion about the entire community does not land well for the general public. I found myself struggling to find the motive or reason for the overabundance of information shared.

If this movie was trying to show the most extreme side of the gay, LGBTQ+ community, they hit the hammer on the nail. However, with this overabundance of knowledge have they managed to push the general public, not belonging to the LGBTQ+ community, farther from the truth? Have directors managed to stereotype the entire community as extremist or will the general public understand the humor and enjoy this movie?

As for me, these questions have rolled around my mind since first viewing this movie. Because I come from a place of gained perspective and knowledge over the past decade of my life, I know that the entire community does not fit the mold portrayed in this movie. However, for the general public does the community now face a larger problem?

The purpose of my bringing attention to this subject, really is more to prose questions in hopes for answers. It is my opinion that every person, regardless of background, gender, sexuality, cultural group, etc. has a place in society that should never be fought for. However, I hope that in attempts to raise awareness, this group has not taken a step backward.