But I'm a Cheerleader (1999)

Introduction

Queer Cinema has been in existence but without a name and it identified with avant-garde cinema. Queer Cinema was introduced at Toronto Film Festival as a concept in 1991.Queer Theory basically is the concept of the dominant group fight with the minority group. Dominant group always think about themselves first and put less concern about the minority group. Queer Theory is about to remind the audiences there has minority group that people did not pay attention. Therefore, Queer Theory is interesting in the topic of homosexuality such as lesbian and gay.

Theory Discussion

Queer Theory challenges and re-examined on the topic of gender and sexuality, explores how the homosexual to become normal as heterosexual. It also challenges how a person make conjecture homosexual and heterosexual for example the traditional stereotype lesbian must act like masculinity. New Queer Cinema is not only an aesthetic, that taking pride in difference. The key aesthetics is how we categories thing and the way we looking something as the same.Queer Theory is also one of the first postmodern theories because it always re-examined about gender and sexuality.

There are four approaches in Queer Theory to conduct queer reading of texts. First of all audience reception is basically to assessing popular cultural texts such as homosexual story to overtly address non-straight audience.

Secondly, the texts that deliver to straight audiences but also have gotten appreciation from non-straight audiences. It meaning that sometimes the story is to deliver to straight audiences but unintentionally attract the others group also such as non-straight audiences.

Thirdly, queer theory tend to describe straight-identifying film and popular culture theorist, critics, or producers that is concerned with non-normative straightness. Queer theory is focus on how the dominant group fight with the minority group and it do not concern on the filmmaker itself is a homosexual.

Last approach is films and popular culture texts, spectator positions, pleasures and readings that articulate spaces outside gender binaries and sexuality categories, whether these are outside normative straight understanding of gender and sexuality or outside orthodox lesbian and gay understanding. 

Synopsis

 Megan is a high school girl who loves cheer-leading, and also likes to look at her fellow. Her family and one of her fellow suspect Megan is a lesbian because she is a vegetarianism. Beside, Megan stick the poster of Melissa Etheridge who is a lesbian in her room and also the female photo in her locker. So her family sent Megan to a reparative therapy camp which is call true direction to convert to. Heterosexuality. In the camp, Megan meet Graham who is a lesbian and they slowly fall in love with each other. Although, they face a lot of problem to love each other, they escape the camp during the Graduation at the end.

Analysis

The movie of “But, I’m a cheerleader” directed by Jamie Babbit) is a Queer theory film. The story of this movie is taking about the homosexual in the society. We can see the mise-en-scene play very well in the movie. The filmmaker emphasize the society put the stereotype for male and female. For example, we can clearly notice that the colour to represent a gender for male is blue colour and female is pink colour. Not matter in their room decoration or their clothing most of the colour is blue and pink. From this movie, in order to “cure” themselves not to become a homosexual there are five step program. Some of the step is teaching them to act like what they should behave. For example men have to repair vehicle, and female have to take care about the baby. This is one of the example society expectation because of the majority group is behave like this so people force the minority group have to follow the rules.

Besides, we can see a lot of discrimination of homosexual in the movie that reflect to our society. For example Megan’s family think homosexual as an illness and sent her to the camp to cure the “illness”. Although Homosexual is not an illness but people often put the traditional stereotypes and discrimination to that person. They put the stigma to homosexual as an abnormal person and treat them in a very bad way such as Graham’s mother. In our society, people even blame the virus of AIDS is because of homosexual, and some more ridiculous mind-set. Only because of heterosexual is dominant group but what if the homosexual is the majority group?

Next, in this film we can also notice that the filmmaker is emphasize the stereotype that set in our mind. A gay must behave very girly such as in the way they talking, walking. For the lesbian behave very masculinity. But the main character Megan did not behave such way in the beginning until the end of the movie. She is just like a normal girl. The founder of the camp Mary Brown’s son Rock is also one of the example. Rock also likes to behave very girly but his mother ask him to behave like a straight man. This make the audiences to re-examined homosexual, because people always think that the certain behavior represent a person gender.

Conclusion

Queer cinema is basically talk about the lesbian and gay topic. This theory remind us there are some minority group that people have ignore. This theory also express the problem that really exist in our society.

References :

“Queer Theory.” Film Reference, www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Independent-Film-Road-Movies/Queer-Theory.html.

“Queer Theory - Cinema and Media Studies - Oxford Bibliographies - Obo.” Oxford Bibliographies - Your Best Research Starts Here - Obo, 22 Aug. 2018, www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199791286/obo-9780199791286-0185.xml.

“Queer Culture Collection.” SiOWfa16 Science in Our World Certainty and Controversy, sites.psu.edu/245spring2015/2015/09/28/gender-roles-in-but-im-a-cheerleader/.