Film / Love Is All You Need? (2016)

Emily: "Why do people hate us so much?"

Jude: "I guess they don't understand love like ours. Maybe they never will"

Emily: "But...Isn't our love same as theirs?"

Jude: "It is."

Emily: "Maybe someone should teach them that."

Originally, Love is all you need? was a 2012 short film by Kim Rocco Shields, detailing the life of a heterosexual theater-loving girl falling for her male classmate in a world where heterosexuality was tabooed and prosecuted, just like homosexuality is in ours. After a period of initial obscurity the short suddenly rose to fame on YouTube, prompting Rocco Shields to make a full-length movie in 2016. The movie expands upon the story from the original short, while also adding another story of star quarterback Jude Klein falling in love with Ryan Morris, a shy but sweet journalist, with both girls facing dire consequences after others find out about their sexuality. The film also goes into more detail about the attitude towards heterosexuality than the short did: the church officials preach against it, as do officials of all levels, there are derogative slurs for heterosexuals and the bullies of all ages are more than happy to brutalize people for their 'deviant' sexuality.

The original short has an IMDB page and can be viewed here. The movie also has a page on the other wiki and its own official website. Watch it here.

Not to be confused with a Danish movie of the same name staring Pierce Brosnan or a song by The Beatles.

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Examples

Examples shared by the short and the film

• An Aesop: Bullying and sanctimonious attitude are never right, regardless of which sexuality they target. So sad as it is to say, no. Love isn't all you need.
• Bath Suicide: Attempted by Ashley in the short and Emily in the movie. The former actually dies.
• Bizarro Universe: Heterosexuality is considered abnormal instead of homosexuality.
• Bury Your Straights: In the short Ashley kills herself after being brutally beaten up by the bullies in her school, while in the movie Ryan is kidnapped by heterophobic bullies and brutally beaten to death at the same merry-go-round where he and Jude first kissed.
• Cure Your Straights: Alluded to in the opening sequence of the short and expanded upon in the movie. To be more precise, Reverend Duncan lives and breathes this trope, actively preaching it to her parishioners even before encouraging some of them to kidnap and brutalize Ryan.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Heterosexuality in the movie is treated much like homosexuality is still viewed by some of the most conservative people in real life, complete with bullying, religious propaganda and firing teachers over speaking out for gay rights.
• Forbidden Love: Every heterosexual relationship is treated this way.
• Forced Out of the Closet:
  • In the short Ashley gets caught by a bunch of bullies, when trying to kiss Paul. Said bullies then chase her across the school, beat her up and write 'Hetero' on her face, thus outing her to her parents when she comes home.
  • A similar thing happens to Emily in the movie.
  • Then there's Jude, who gets outed after Kelly prints out the pictures of her and Ryan and spreads them all over the university.
  • Finally, Ryan was suspected of being straight anyway and basically confirmed this when refusing to play 'seven minutes in heaven' with another guy and walking out of his fraternity.
• Gender Flip:
  • We only get to see all-female American Football teams in the movie, while theater is generally considered to be something for boys.
  • We now have Adam and Steve instead of Adam and Eve.
  • Also Romeo and Juliet was re-written in-universe as Romeo And Julio.
• Hate Sink:
  • Reverend Rachel Duncan from the movie: she's a manipulative, shallow community leader, who not only preaches hatred towards heterosexuals and instigates the events of the latter half of the movie but feels no remorse for any of it.
  • Bullies from both the short and the movie possibly count as well, what with mercilessly bullying an innocent girl and driving her to attempt suicide and all. Specific mention should go to Paula from the movie though, who casually tells her shocked fathers about what she did to Emily.
• Have I Mentioned I Am Gay?: Could be applied to both the short and the movie. Even though the setting makes it clear to us that most people are gay, we don't get to see all that many displays of affection between same-sex couples and only get a heterosexual sex scene in the film. However, this is more than justified, given both the short's and the movie's anti-bullying message.
• Have You Tried Not Being a Monster?: How nearly everyone reacts upon learning that a person is straight.
• Heterophobic Hate Crime:
  • Ashley in the short and Emily in the movie get severely bullied by other schoolkids and harassed. And try to commit suicide. And Ashley's attempt pays off.
  • Ryan in the movie is kidnapped, beaten up and left to die.
• Homonormative Crusader: Pretty much everyone around the main characters in both stories but specifically:
  • Ashley's teacher from the short.
  • Reverend Rachel, full stop.
  • Guys from Ryan's fraternity take it to the extreme by kidnapping, beating and ultimately murdering Ryan for being heterosexual.
  • Bullies in both the short and the movie.
• Irrational Hatred: How most of the society treats heterosexuals. Especially Reverend Rachel.
• Love-Interest Traitor: Paul in the short and Kelly in the movie. Both, however, either regret their actions right away or come to regret them later.
• Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple:
  • Ashley's/Emily's mothers. Vicki is seen coming back from work, while Karen stays at home in the short. Vicky is also the one who wants her daughter to get into football and pays for her coaching and demands to know what happened when Emily comes home after getting beat up and defaced in both versions. Karen in the meantime acts more emotionally and gently and seems to be more encouraging when it comes to her daughter's hobbies.
  • Jude and Kelly in the movie. Kelly is a sports player and generally acts more like One of the Guys, while Kelly is more of a Girly Girl.
  • The movie also gives us Mr. Thompson, Emily and Ian's drama teacher, and his husband, the coach. The latter is seen cooking and doing chores, while the teacher himself works on rewriting Romeo and Juliet for his school production.
• No Bisexuals: Bisexuality does not get addressed. At all. Jude for instance has a girlfriend (Kelly) whom she seems to be genuinely into, but the film treats it like her becoming attracted by Ryan makes her straight, full stop, and the possibility she is bi isn't brought up.
• No Heterosexual Sex Allowed: Played With. Heterosexual sex is considered necessary for procreation but actually enjoying it is considered perverse. It also only should happen while in a "breeding season" most people think (details aren't given) and outside that it's taboo.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • In the short that's how Ashley reacts when the bullies catch her trying to kiss Paul.
  • The movie has quite a few:
    • Ian gets one when Paula sees him reciting Romeo and Juliet.
    • Jude's reaction when she sees the first of many pictures of her and Ryan that Kelly has hung all over the campus.
    • And later right before the entire enemy team tackles her.
    • Karen when she sees that Emily has found videos of Ryan being maimed on the internet and realizes that her daughter is about to try and kill herself.
    • On a more positive side, Reverend Rachel when the FBI show her the proof of her instructing her acolytes to 'Do God's work'.
  FBI Agent: Congratulations...You are now an accessory to a hate crime.
• Out of the Closet, Into the Fire / Trauma Conga Line:
  • In the short:
    • Ashley gets chased through the school by a gang of bullies and brutally beaten up after they find her trying to kiss Paul. She comes home, gets seen by her parents, who start arguing about moving away and harm that might come to her brother, leading Ashley to lock herself up in the bathroom and slice her wrists with razors. She bleeds to death.
  • In the movie:
    • Jude gets attacked by a rival football team, while her teammates just stand around, watch and even high-five at the sight of it. The attack is so severe that she ends up being hospitalized and is later seen using crutches to walk with one of her arms bandaged.
    • Emily is at first harassed by a tidal wave of hate messages and called names and is then beaten up by Paula and other bullies at the end of the movie. Her parents freak out when she comes home and end up arguing about her being sick, leading her to attempt suicide. She survives but still...
    • Ryan gets it the worst. He is tied up, kidnapped, beaten up and left to die by a group of religious fanatics.
• Persecution Flip: The Movie. The whole plot of both versions is about a world where things are turned so homosexuality is the norm, with heterosexuals bullied, harshly denounced, harassed and even beaten to death by bigots.
• Puppy Love: A rather bitter variation thereof between Ashley and Paul in the short and Emily and Ian in the movie.
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • First off, we have Karen, mother of Ashley/Emily. She is far more encouraging than Vicky when it comes to her daughter's hobbies and tries to soothe her when she comes home after getting beaten up.
  • The movie gives us Mr. Thompson, the drama teacher. He protects Emily from Paula and the bullies and encourages her to still audition for Romeo and Juliet.
  • His husband counts as well. He doesn't seem to care about Jude's sexuality as long as she is good on the field, supports her before and during her big game and even defends her against the infuriated crowd when she gets hospitalized after being tackled and severely injured by the enemy team.
  Coach Thompson: Look at what you're doing! This is God's work!? You'd better pray to God she's alive!
• Secret Relationship / Star-Crossed Lovers: Two pairings, both due to prejudice as they're opposite sex:
  • Ashley and Paul in the short
  • Ryan and Jude in the movie.
• Tears of Fear:
  • In the short:
    • Ashley in the bathroom after getting brutally beaten up by the bullies and right before committing suicide.
  • In the movie:
    • Emily while facing the same situation.
    • Jude after Kelly outs her to the entire university by spreading pictures of her and Ryan
  Jude (sobbing): Ryan...Everybody knows!
• Think of the Children!:
  • Vicky orders Ashley to take a longer road to school to avoid going by a heterosexual couple's house. Ditto for the movie.
  • Also in the movie re-writing Romeo and Julio to be heterosexual and thus more historically accurate gets Mr. Thompson fired.
• Wanted a Gender-Conforming Child: In both short and the movie Vicki wants her daughter to join the football team, which in that universe is considered to be a true feminine sport.
• Your Normal Is Our Taboo: Heterosexuality is tolerated at best but usually violently prosecuted.

Examples specific to the short

• Allohistorical Allusion:
  • The opening montage gives us the infamous slogan used by Christian fundamentalists in their protests. Except instead of promoting Adam and Eve it actually defames them by insisting that God has made Adam and Steve.
  • It is also fairly easy to spot Barack Obama's 'Yes, We Can!' slogan with '(Unless You're Staight)' added to it.
• Betrayal by Inaction: Paul could've stopped the bullies from chasing Ashley but chooses not to do so.
• Conflicting Loyalty: Paul likes Ashley but is also afraid of his family's potential disapproval.
• Creative Opening Credits: We get the brief overview of the attitude towards heterosexuals in this universe through pictures and leaflets. It's not very positive.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Paul pretends that Ashley made him kiss her when they are cornered by the bullies. She is shocked beyond belief.
• Face–Heel Turn: Sort of. Paul not only doesn't protect Ashley from the bullies but actually encourages them to attack her.
• The Farmer and the Viper: Ashley trusts Paul, who in his turn essentially unleashes the bullies upon her.
• I Have No Son!: Mentioned by Paul: his family has chosen to forget about the existence of their straight cousin to the point of the children not being allowed to mention her by name.
• Now or Never Kiss: What Ashley asks of Paul after he says that he can't see her anymore because of his family's disapproval.
• Opening Narration: Ashley, recounting how she always felt different.
• Photo Montage: How the opening credits are done, showing us heterophobic slogans, pictures from demonstrations and advertisements for what looks like religiously charged conversion therapy.
• Tough Love: Ashley's teacher tells her to stop crying and get a girlfriend to help her heterosexuality go away.

Examples specific to the film

• Act of True Love: Ryan repairing the merry-go-round for his second date with Jude.
• Ambiguously Bi: Did Jude date Kelly to keep her image of a good popular Christian quarterback or did she genuinely love her? The movie leaves that question hanging.
• Ambiguously Straight: We never see Ian showing interest in other guys and yet he seems to be genuinely enjoying his time with Emily and is absolutely terrified when his sister casually mentions that she has beaten her up.
• Adaptational Sexuality:
  • Done In-Universe with Romeo, who, much like in our reality, was straight but was changed into a gay man to fit society's norms.
  • Also interestingly Played With when it comes to William Shakespeare. In the movie's universe he is established as being secretly straight, while actually his sexuality is still debated upon, with many of his sonnets said to be referring to another man.
• Bisexual Love Triangle: Jude is initially dating Kelly and appears happy with her. Then she gets attracted to Ryan though, and eventually has sex with him. Kelly on finding this out tells others about it who viciously beat her (as this is a world where heterosexuality is widely condemned).
• Bittersweet Ending: Emily and Jude survive their respective share of heterophopic abuse and Reverend Rachel gets arrested by the FBI along with some of her most enthusiastic followers. However, Ryan is dead with Jude still mourning him and it's not clear whether Kelly, Paula or Emily's parents will become more accepting towards heterosexuals.
• But I Would Really Enjoy It: Jude treats her attraction to Ryan this way but only at first.
• Cool People Rebel Against Authority: Mr. Thompson when trying to show everyone the true colors of Romeo and Juliet.
• Date Peeper: Kelly becomes one when she decides to follow Jude and sees her making out with Ryan in the swimming pool.
• A Deadly Affair: Jude's and Ryan's affair leads to the latter being maimed and killed.
• Downer Beginning: The movie opens with Emily crying in the bathroom, Jude being hospitalized among ruthless protesters and Ryan being dragged away.
• Everybody Cries: At the end at Ryan's funeral.
• Falling-in-Love Montage: Between both Jude and Ryan at the library and Emily and Ian outside, while playing crochet, juxtaposed with Reverend Duncan's heterophobic sermon.
• Fantastic Slur: Heterosexuals are called "Heteros" or "Ros". Emily gets the former written on her forehead after bullies assault her, and the act leads to her attempting suicide.
• Get Back in the Closet: An attempt to reveal the heterosexual truth behind Romeo and Julio does not go well for Mr. Thompson.
• Good Adultery, Bad Adultery: We get a rather sympathetic portrayal of cheating, when it comes to Jude.
• Grand Romantic Gesture: Ryan repairing the merry-go-round and encouraging Jude during her big game after she gets outed as straight by her girlfriend. The latter doubles as Tear Jerker since he gets kidnapped during that very same game, and killed at that very same merry-go-round shortly afterwards.
• Have I Mentioned I am Homosexual Today?: This is how Jude reacts to Susan's invitation to join Heterosexual Alliance. Ian displays some shades of it as well.
• Her Heart Will Go On: Jude after Ryan gets killed in a hate crime.
• How We Got Here / In Medias Res: The movie opens with a montage of Jude being hospitalized and Emily crying in her bathroom and then rewinds back to show us all the events leading up to it.
• Intertwined Fingers: Jude and Ryan at the library, then at the merry-go-round and the swimming pool.
• It's Not You, It's Me: Jude breaks up with Kelly because she "doesn't want to lead her on". She does not take it well.
• It's Personal: Reverend Rachel has declared a crusade against heterosexuals after her sister-in-law ran away with a man.
• It's Always Sunny at Funerals: Ryan gets buried on a pleasant and cloudless day.
• Just Giving Orders: How Reverend Rachel tries to defend herself when FBI decide to investigate her involvement into Ryan's murder. It doesn't work.
• Love Confession: Ryan to Jude at the swimming pool before they make love and also at the end of the film via voicemail.
• Make Up or Break Up: Jude and Kelly's relationship hits a strain pretty much as soon as Ryan appears until eventually Jude dumps Kelly for Ryan.
• Meaningful Funeral: Pretty much all of the important characters end up getting together at Ryan's funeral.
• Nervous Wreck:
  • Jude becomes one after Kelly outs her to absolutely everyone.
  • The scene with Emily trying to commit suicide. Paula and her family heard the chaos over the phone and Ian ran away in horror. You can see the guilt and horror look on Paula’s face when she heard the commotion on the phone.
• One True Love: Jude refers to Ryan as hers when giving a eulogy at his funeral.
• Official Kiss: Jude and Ryan kiss at the merry-go-round to indicate that they do love each other.
• Personal Horror: Poor Jude...Her entire life was built around being popular and yet as soon as she gets outed her teammates and her fans alike abandon her. And her boyfriend gets killed by an angry mob encouraged by someone she trusted.
• Plot-Inciting Infidelity: A large chunk of the third act is the result of Kelly's actions after she saw Jude cheating on her with Ryan.
• Pride Parade: Mentioned briefly by Reverend Rachel in one of her sermons.
• Religion of Evil: The Church comes off this way with the way Reverend Rachel acts and how this world's version of Christianity seems to teach its devotees. Thankfully, the actual law of the land does not support this.
• Sinister Minister: Something's off about Reverend Rachel right from the start.
• Tearful Smile: Jude when talking to Emily after Ryan's funeral and later while listening to his final voicemail.
• The Talk: Ian gets a very awkward one from his dads.
• This Is Unforgivable!: How everyone reacts upon learning that Reverend Rachel encouraged her followers to kidnap and beat up Ryan.
• Two-Person Pool Party: Jude and Ryan go at it in the swimming pool.
• Was Too Hard on Her: Kelly looks absolutely terrified when witnessing the heterophobic riot that erupts after Jude gets badly hurt at her big game. She even shows up to Ryan's funeral in the epilogue, looking genuinely sad.
• Woman Scorned: Kelly sees Jude and Ryan together in the swimming pool, documents it and puts the pictures of it all over the university, thus outing Jude as heterosexual to everyone. That leads to her being beaten up at her big game and hospitalized and Ryan being killed.
• Written by the Winners: Romeo and Juliet was rewritten as Romeo and Julio to hide The Bard's heterosexual past.
• You Are Worth Hell: Basically, what Ryan tells to Jude right before her big game to support her after Kelly has outed her to everyone.
• Your Tradition Is Not Mine: As the conversation at the top of the page implies, both Jude and Emily decide to continue living their lives this way.