The sentence “love is love” has been used to fight for LGBTQ+ acceptance, but Billy Eichner’s song at the end of brothers opposes this adage. Dubbed “Love Is Not Love”, the song may seem counter-intuitive at first glance, since brothers is a romantic comedy about LGBTQ+ relationships. However, “Love Is Not Love” brings to light important aspects of gay relationships previously unexplored in the mainstream media, providing a more accurate picture of the LGBTQ+ community.
Billy Eichner’s character, Bobby Leiber, performs “Love Is Not Love” at the LGBTQ+ Museum opening at the end of brothers. A play on the adage”love is love”, the song is about the uniqueness of his and Aaron’s relationship compared to others. Despite being previously estranged from each other, the feelings Bobby expressed in his song led him and Aaron to find themselves in the brothers end and embrace their personal differences once and for all.
Say “love is not love” in brothersThe song’s ending may seem like a pushback against a phrase that has been used before in support of LGBTQ+ people, and in a way it is. Like Bobby at the beginning of brothers“love is love” should help straight people accept members of the LGBTQ+ community. However, saying “love is love” has been used to imply that all relationships, regardless of sexual orientation and/or gender identity, are the same, which inadvertently erases the nuances of LGBTQ+ relationships. “Love Is Not Love” brings this to light and shows that not all love is the same, and that’s okay.
Bobby Leiber’s song shows how far we’ve come
Bobby’s song “Love Is Not Love” may challenge reductive phrases, but it also shows how far LGBTQ+ representation has come. In the 20th century, mainstream media in which LGBTQ+ people were supposed to normalize their existence, but now that the community has gained wider acceptance, it is possible to positively emphasize their uniqueness, which brothers‘ goal. Instead of normalizing only LGBTQ+ people, brothers“Love Isn’t Love” takes it a step further by celebrating the ways LGBTQ+ people and relationships are different from straight relationships. This is an important step for the mainstream public to get a more accurate picture of the LGBTQ+ community.
“Love Is Not Love” marks another step in the right direction for LGBTQ+ representation by showcasing LGBTQ+ people and relationships aimed at community members. Because previous mainstream representation was aimed at normalizing the LGBTQ+ community, their stories had to be filtered to appeal to a cisgender, heterosexual audience. brothers aims to break this pattern by telling stories and jokes that would only resonate with the LGBTQ+ community. This is exemplified by “Love Is Not Love,” which shares Bobby and Aaron’s experiences without purging them to be widely recognizable.
although brothers“Love is not love” may not seem important at first glance, its deeper meaning is an important step forward for the representation of LGBTQ+ in the mainstream media. Rather than trying to be recognizable to a mass audience, “Love Is Not Love” celebrates the uniqueness of LGBTQ+ relationships in a way that only resonates with members of the community, which is an uncommon phenomenon in the media. “Love Is Not Love” message that LGBTQ+ relationships should be celebrated for their differences rather than compared to straight relationships not only shows how far representation has come in the mainstream media, but will also lead the way. freeing up for more unfiltered LGBTQ+ stories valiantly celebrated on screen.
