Red, White, and Royal Blue
A love that holds onto itself
Watching two people learn to accept themselves while falling in love is beautiful. Finding truth in each other and themselves while trying to navigate individual cultures and traditional values is empowering.Β Β
That’s the beauty and power Red, White, and Royal Blue brings to the screen.Β It follows the son of the American President, Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez), and the British spare to the throne, Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) as they fall into a fun and endearing enemies-to-lovers romance under the prying public eye.
Adapted from the novel by Casey McQuiston, there will be a lot of readers who will point out the differences between the page and the film. But the most important thing a screen adaptation can do, especially when transplanting an over 400-page book into visual media, is to maintain what makes it powerful.
Like a bullet point presentation that focuses on the highlights.
While modified to fit a condensed format, Red, White, And Royal Blue truly maintains the novel’s essence and the beauty of a love story that holds onto itself and doesn’t let go. It felt good to hold onto that love with them. It also beautifully shatters the wall of shame homophobia is determined to shove at same-sex relationships. All while offering moments that those who haven’t found the support they crave can cling to.
As beautiful as the love story is, the coming-out sofa scene between Alex and his mother, Ellen Claremont (Uma Thurman), stands out the most. It’s vital to offer scenes of parental acceptance on screen to those in the community who don’t/didn’t find acceptance. It gives them a parent to look up to and a voice to cling to in a world where they are spiraling.
The only truth we’re bound by is our own. And that’s the message this film delivers.
Red, White, and Royal Blue did what fiction does best. It throws away the chains we all feel bound by. It turns the real world into the world we wish we lived in. The kind of world we can throw a middle finger up at while still wanting to change it. The kind of world that we can break away from when it starts to choke us.
It’s impossible not to throw politics into a love story between two men tied to their countries. But beyond that, and beyond however you view politics, is the need to push for equality, acceptance, and love no matter where the viewer lives.
And for that, Red, White, and Royal Blue delivers. Check it out now on Amazon Prime.
You can find the book on Amazon at the link below.