Happiest Season can actually be considered as the first mainstream film made in Hollywood for Christmas. It centers on a lesbian relationship set at the center of the show. Clea DuVall has come up and directed this project. She is a lesbian herself and thus, a proud member of the LGBTQ community. All the critics have generally cast a lot of positive responses in the favor of the film. Also, there is literally a colossal group out there that regards the film in the form of a huge step for the representation of this community. All this while, there might be some people out there who are being way too critical about Harper. Even though throughout the film we see that Harper makes the choices that eventually lead up to hurting other people, there is surely a reason why she does so.
We all witness that Harper invites her girlfriend, that is, Abby, to the place where her parents reside for celebrating Christmas. Although, the two of them are pretty much forced to keep their relationship a secret because Harper has yet not revealed that she is a lesbian. Thus, this sort of experiment puts potential pressure on the relationship shared by the two. This is why many people from the audience judge Harper for what happens to be a pretty complicated situation.
Why Harper is actually someone to sympathize with?
It is obviously not her fault that her parents do not accept the LGBTQ community. Also, we see that Harper ends up experiencing homophobia which is actually induced in her by her very parents throughout her existence. All the bad actions she takes in the film, such as asking Abby to lie and hanging out with her ex-boyfriend Connor as well as smashing the painting of her sister are all made out of fear of rejection from her community.
Despite all of that, the most prominent issue that the people have with Harper is that she asks Abby to lie. She even makes her pretend to her parents that she is straight. By doing so, she asks Abby to hide a part of herself in her own very emotionally complicated situation. Thus, Abby accuses Harper of hiding her. Here, we see Harper responding that she is not hiding Abby but actually her own self.
Happiest season: Harper should be understood.
The main motive that Harper has is for her family to get to know Abby and thus, like her for who she is. Well, it is all because she is hiding from her own family. This is out of the fear that they will never accept the fact that she is a lesbian. Obviously, we can all understand her as well as her fears because she has heard bad comments about the LGBTQ community her whole life. Thus, it is understandable that she does not want Abby to go through the same pain.
