Thursday, May 20, 2010

Views of sexuality in "But I'm a Cheerleader"



The movie "But I'm A Cheerleader", being as comedic as it turned out, also had a very powerful point of view on sexual orientaion. Actor Natasha Lyonne does an incredible job playing the role of Megan Bloomfield, a cheerleader who claims to be heterosexual because of her "normal" lifestyle; has a boyfriend, is involved in a school activity, etc. Her family and friends eventually schedule an intervention, telling her that they think she's a homosexual from what they've noticed going on in her life that seemed out of the ordinary--having pictures of girls in her locker, not enjoying kissing her boyfriend, being vegetarian, and much more.

Some aspects that stood out to me in the film, connecting really well with one of the readings we had in class was "Naming All The Parts" by Kate Bornstein. All of the main points she gets to, that triggers how we tend to judge people in society today, are Gender Identity, Gender Attribution, Gender Roles, Gender Assignment, Kinds of Sex, Basic Mix-Up, Sex Without Gender, and Desire. With these put into mind, here are those connections of the movie (mainly discussing the main character, Megan) and these topics:

Gender Identity: She definitely feels feminine and comfortable being a girl.

Gender Attribution: Looks like a girl at first glance.

Gender Roles: She believes that it's very feminine and normal to have the typical "preppy girl" lifestyle as a cheerleader with a botfriend.

Gender Assignment: Has been treated like a girl growing up.

Kinds of Sex: Feels feminine.

Basic Mix-Up: Parents want her to be heterosexual; thinks being a lesbian is not "normal".

Sex Without Gender: This one is a major point to consider because she slowly realizes her homosexuality and accepts it.

Desire: When Megan falls in love with another girl in the film named Graham Eaton.



~ picture link: http://www.google.com/imglanding?q=but%20im%20a%20cheerleader&imgurl=http://ilarry.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/but-im-a-cheerleader.jpg&imgrefurl=http://ilarry.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/the-best-movie-in-the-history-of-movies/&usg=__5iM3COKVheeN_FE7pGPq7i9H9jo=&h=500&w=333&sz=44&hl=en&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=zCSbw6wMzlg0sM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=87&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbut%2Bim%2Ba%2Bcheerleader%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&sa=N&tbs=isch:1&start=0#tbnid=zCSbw6wMzlg0sM&start=0

~ also used the source "wikipedia.com"

1 comment:

  1. Amanda -

    This is such a great start, but there isn't much of a conclusion. Try wrapping things back together at the end next time.

    - Ruth

    ReplyDelete