If there are two things I love, it’s a good meme and a bad funny movie. So, when I heard  that everyone was trashing on the new “Dear Evan Hansen” movie, I was totally on board. Amovie about this awkward creep who uses a classmate’s suicide to get close to his family and date his sister? It sounds like it would be a great psychological horror film (which I still kind of want, by the way), but as a musical about teen mental health issues? Needless to say, I was concerned.

I had to see what all the hype was about. So, I watched the movie, along with the play and reading the book, and surprisingly enough, I fell in love… partially with the main character, Evan Hansen, himself. This was a bit shocking and honestly, super embarrassing for me. Why is this character that the internet is hating so much speaking to me? Well, it’s because he’s actually one of the disabled characters that I actually connect with.

A lot of the criticism is understandable, but I think it has gone too far. A huge criticism of the movie is that Ben Platt at age 28 is too old to be playing Evan and that he looks laughably bad in this movie. I’m seeing a lot of comments saying that Ben Platt’s acting is too awkward and jerky in the movie.

“The reason Ben Platt acts like a socially awkward, nervous person is because Evan is a socially awkward, nervous person. I find it extremely ableist that a movie about an austitic coded person with social anxiety and PTSD has become a meme and the poster child for creepy predators and the next downfall of teenager’s brains or something.” 

The comments are straight up ableist at this point. To describe Evan’s life as stressful would be a vast understatement. His dad left his mom and him when he was seven and his mom is almost never home due to her busy work schedule, making her emotionally unavailable for the most part as well. He also has severe social anxiety and depression, to the point where his only friend is a family friend who makes fun of him and doesn’t try to understand him. But, beyond that, disabled fans such as myself, have seen Evan as autistic and have latched on to him as an example of positive representation. 

The reason Ben Platt acts like a socially awkward, nervous person is because Evan is a socially awkward, nervous person. I find it extremely ableist that a movie about an austitic coded with social anxiety and PTSD has become a meme and the poster child for creepy predators and the next downfall of teenager’s brains or something. 

People like Evan and myself were born into an ableist hellhole that was designed for us to fail. We have been background weird comic relief characters in your stupid, boring love triangle teenage love movies for far too long. We’re just there for you to point and laugh at and let me tell you, it sucks!

And when our stories do get told, we are painted as inspirational work machines who never get stressed or tired or exhausted. We’re just there to lift up and give encouragement to our non disabled counterparts.

So, when a movie comes out where we are finally allowed to share our struggle and our trauma and everyone bashes it on their YouTube channel… no wonder I’m so pissed!