Enola Holmes: Aro Movies Monday

 Happy Aro Movies Monday! A weekly call on Aggresively Arospec's Tumbr for movies that "you identify with from an arospec perspective or the ones you think the community should avoid."

The original intention of Aro Movies Monday is to submit movies to Aggresively Arospec, but I like having the space dig deeper. 

[Image from Netflix. Enola Holmes, played by Millie Bobby Brown, is at the front in a fancy red dress. Behind her is a large magnify glass filled with the other characters. There is a teal background with bird silhouettes and washed out images of London buildings.]

Reasons I liked Enola Holmes:


SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

  • Enola is raised with limited exposure to amatonormativity. She is encouraged by her mother to be independent and not let a boy get in the way of a mission. However, she makes choices based on her feelings and not her mother's expectations.
  • When Enola first saves the romantic lead, it is out of sympathy not romance. When she seeks him out to protect him a second time, there is a hint of romance but the larger motive seems to be to protect an innocent person. When Enola prioritizes the romantic lead's safety over her own, it is a logical decision.
  • Enola uses expressions of gender and class to access different spaces, and to be seen and unseen as needed, and to play into societal expectations to outsmart her enemies. 
  • Familial relationships and allies are centered. 
  • Enola says something along the lines of "without you around I realized I liked you more." I appreciated the gradual pace and lower intensity of this romance. Showing a greater variety of experiences in romance is part of dismantling amatonormativity. 
  • The small romantic plot 1) in no way hinders the major plot 2) is relevant to the protagonist's character development so it doesn't feel like it was just added for the sake of having romance


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