But I'm a Cheerleader (1999)

As we head into Pride Month we wanted to take a chance to talk about modern queer cinema!

While queer representation has been a part of film since the early days with films like Algie, The Miner (1912) and A Florida Enchantment (1914), we’ve seen a lot of strides made in recent years. You really see an uptick in queer normalization within the last thirty years with works like To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! and a lot of the films you will see this week.

While we want to capture queer cinema and pride on screen we also wanted to keep it from being just an absolutely devastating week, so no Moonlight, Philadelphia, or Brokeback Mountain this go around. We do have one heartbreaking movie for you this week but we promise it’ll be worth it!

So today we’re talking about But I'm a Cheerleader, a vastly underviewed indie comedy from the 90s starring Natasha Lyonne about a teen girl thrown into a conversion camp.

So, as we talk about this we’re going to use this opportunity to not only discuss the teen rom-com but also normalization through satire.

Part of what makes But I’m a Cheerleader a great film, and the perfect flick to start out this week, is because as the years go by it has only become more poignant in its comedy.

You see this especially around gender norms. As is evident in today’s clip, this film makes a mockery of what is “masculine” and what is “feminine”.

Jamie Babbitt and her co writer, Smallville producer Brian Peterson, understand that you can’t laugh and be afraid at the same time. As a result, the film mocks social norms and it laughs to take the power away from malicious forces.

This is especially true when discussing where the film is set. The majority of the film takes place at a conversion camp called “New Directions” and seeks to make these queer children the best upstanding straights that they can be.

We’ve seen other films try (and usually fail) to have these discussions, such as The Miseducation of Cameron Post and exhales deeply Boy Erased. These films are dark dramas that show you the emotional brutality of the situation and don’t give you a chance to care about its characters.

On the other hand, in But I’m a Cheerleader, the characters are lovable and empathetic. Even the parents who send their child to the camp still show compassion.

It understands that if we want to normalize queerness in our culture it starts by letting people be people.

Also Shout out to this film's soundtrack, perfect 1999 teen alt angst.

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