All eyes were on the royal wedding this weekend as the world tuned in to watch Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tie the knot. And while an event of that magnitude always gets a lot of attention, the fact that it was a woman of color joining the royal family made it a hugely significant moment — a fact that’s not lost on Alexandra Shipp.
The actress has been thinking a lot about diversity and inclusivity lately thanks to her starring role in this year’s Love, Simon, about a closeted high school student looking for love. Shipp says that while the film serves as a vital piece of representation for LGBTQ youth, it was just as important for its story to help create allies as well.
“I think one of the most beautiful things about this movie is that people who don’t identify in the gay or queer community were able to see another side of this community that we hadn’t been able to show on a massive scale,” Shipp told FANDOM about the significance of a gay teenager being the center of a mainstream film. “That’s a really real, true love story.”
“What we want to do is create allies,” she continued. “We want to show people that everyone deserves love. Everyone deserves happiness. Everyone deserves that knight in shining armor — whatever they look like or however they show up on this planet.”
Shipp says that the concept hit home for her again when she tuned into the royal wedding over the weekend.
“I was thinking, ‘Oh my God, 100 years ago this wouldn’t have happened. Shoot, 50 years ago this wouldn’t have happened!'” she said. “And [Markle] is straight. She checks all of the other boxes, but she’s born black and she’s still allowed to be in love with this amazing man and he’s allowed to marry her now because that’s the way society’s going.
“We’ve created allies throughout the last 100, 50 years. So it’s moments like that where [I see] a chance for us to create a new perspective, create allies, and show that love can cross any bounds at any time in any moment.”
It was important to help normalize the queer experience for a mainstream audience, but the effect that the film had on young gay people was, of course, just as significant.
“Everyone had a story about how this book or movie touched their lives and how grateful they were,” Shipp said about fan reactions to the film. “It’s really beautiful when you get a firsthand taste of the change that we can create with our movies.”
“I was just really thankful that people enjoyed the film,” she added, “and I was beautifully surprised at how it inspired people to speak their truth.”
You can find your own inspiration by watching Shipp and her costars in Love, Simon, available digitally starting May 29 and arriving on 4k Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on June 12.
