Watching movies on Valentine’s Day is a popular way to spend the holiday, with sites like TV Guide and ScreenRant curating lists of movies to watch with friends and loved ones.

While these lists offer up plenty of movies to sit down and enjoy, there is one problem:

A majority of the movies on these recommendation lists focus on heterosexual romance, with only a few exceptions.

Queer representation in film has come a long way since the 1930s, when the Motion Picture Production Code regulated and restricted any depiction of relationships that were considered outside of the “norm” of heterosexual relationships: including any depictions of same-sex relationships. Gradual change following social movements and filmmaking movements like the wave of New Queer Cinema in the early ‘90s began to deliver films with LGBTQIA+ characters and relationships.

Valentine’s Day is a time of love and to spend time with significant others and loved ones, but many of the movies produced by Hollywood fail to reflect relationships that are anything but heteronormative.

For those wanting to see themselves in film or those who want to see more diverse pictures, members of the DePaul community have recommended a wide range of queer movies, from coming-of-age dramas, to satirical rom-coms and feel-good movies.

Moonlight (2016)

A coming-of-age drama told in three acts, “Moonlight” follows Chiron (Trevante Rhodes, Ashton Sanders, Alex Hibbert) as he grows up in Miami while struggling with his identity and his sexuality. Chiron finds a father figure in Juan, played by Mahershala Ali in a breakthrough role that won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Michael DeAngelis, chair of DePaul’s Media and Cinema Studies program, has an expertise in queer cinema and has written books on gay fandoms and the phenomenon of “bromances” in film and television.

“I think it ultimately is about two men who have some kind of very, very difficult and yet ultimately very erotic relationship that don’t ever consumnate it in the same way, but acknowledge it, in ways that I think is important to both of them in a beautiful way, in a subtle way,” DeAngelis said. “I don’t know if it’s the perfect date film, but it’s actually I think, a very, very powerful experience about non-heteronormative desire, and also about race on top of it, which makes it even more resonant.”

Senior Lily Merryman is part of the Black Cultural Center’s team and agrees that “Moonlight’s” plot is very well done.

“I think it’s a good story,” Merryman said. “It’s like showing how you find yourself. It’s a nice coming of age story with Black men.”

Teanla House, another member of the Black Cultural Center’s team, also enjoys Moonlight for its story and artistry.

“‘Moonlight’ is really good — I just love it,” House said. The cinematography is gorgeous, the colors in it. It’s just amazing.”

The Watermelon Woman (1996)

Selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2021 for its cultural and historical significance, “The Watermelon Woman” follows Cheryl (Cheryl Dunye), a young Black lesbian who works at a video store while producing a documentary about “the watermelon woman,” an uncredited actress who was made to play the stereotypical “mammy” roles in films of the 1930s and ‘40s.

“I really liked it,” said senior Madison Hill, who also works at DePaul’s Black Cultural Center. “Especially because the main character, she’s more masculine, she’s a Black masculine woman, which I really appreciate. It’s like a masc and femme relationship.”

In “The Watermelon Woman,” Cheryl begins dating Diana (Guinevere Turner), a white woman. Hill notes the representations of interracial sapphic relationships and sapphic friend groups as interesting parts of the film.

“Plus it’s interracial, which is an interesting dynamic, which I think is cool for like the ‘90s,” Hill added. “I think it’s a good Black sapphic movie, plus it shows like Black lesbian friend groups, which I think is cool, and sapphic friendship, which I think is fun.”

“But I’m a Cheerleader” (1999)

Natasha Lyonne plays Megan, a typical high school cheerleader whose life changes when her parents send her to a conversion therapy camp. While there, she meets Graham (Clea DuVall), and the two begin to fall in love in this satirical teen rom-com.

“‘But I’m a Cheerleader’ is a classic,  I love that movie,” Hill said. “It’s from the ‘90s, but I think it’s like a really good take on a lesbian story. Plus, it just makes fun of straight culture and conversion therapy which I feel like could be really a sensitive topic, but it handled it in a very satirical and fun way which I think a lot of people could relate to. It’s just a fun, campy watch.”

Saving Face (2004)

This comedy-drama film follows Wil (Michelle Krusiec), a young Chinese-American surgeon who keeps her sexuality a secret from family. When it is revealed that her mother is pregnant, Wil’s traditional grandparents kick her out of their home, causing her to move in with Wil — which causes difficulties between Wil and her growing relationship with a woman named Vivian (Lynn Chen).

“ I really enjoyed it,” Hill said. “It’s very heartfelt, which I love and appreciate. Plus, it’s good Asian representation, which I don’t see a lot of in terms of like sapphic movies.”

GLAAD’s yearly Studio Responsibility Index tracks the quality, quantity and diversity of films with LGBTQ characters. In 2020’s overview, only two of 50 LGBTQ characters from films released by a major studio were Asian/Pacific Islander. However, “Saving Face” and other films like “The Half of It” (2020) and “The Handmaiden” (2016) offer Asian and sapphic representation.

Luca (2021)

Disney and Pixar’s coming-of-age film “Luca” follows the titular Luca, a young sea monster who explores the human town of Portorosso with his friend Alberto. While not explicitly a story about queer relationships, “Luca” parallels many experiences of members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Luca’s struggles to come to terms with his identity and find his place in a society that initially hates what he is on the inside struck a chord with viewers that see the narrative as queer-coded.

“I would recommend it because it’s very sweet and wholesome, and even though it’s not technically a queer film by Disney, I feel like it still is,” said Sara Fenton, a sophomore working at DePaul’s LGBTQIA+ Center. “And even if it’s not queer, I feel like it does show how there can be two guys having a vulnerable relationship with each other.”