Today’s article is the final installment of the Queer Movies that Made Me Queerer series. Today, we are celebrating Pride Month on a more fun note with 1999’s But I’m a Cheerleader, directed by Jamie Babbit. I hope you’ve enjoyed my series this month. Queer liberation forever!
But I’m a Cheerleader’s premise is actually really dark. The main character (Natasha Lyonne) gets sent to a conversion therapy camp by her religious parents where she is taught the ways that she is supposed to traditionally adhere to the expectations of her gender. Featuring a cast with Melanie Lynskey, Clea DuVall, Michelle Williams, Dante Basco, and RuPaul Charles, this movie takes one of the awful injustices inflicted on our community. It turns it into a camp romp that shows just how ridiculous it is to try and force someone to not be their authentic selves. Most importantly it teaches us queers an important lesson: It is not only more freeing to be yourself, but it’s also more fun!
Conversion therapy is traumatic, ineffective, and unethical. It should, without doubt, be illegal. Queer folk are regularly subjected to these methods to try and “cure” them of their queerness. While there is, of course, nothing to cure, significantly there is no evidence it works and most so-called ex-gays have only learned how to ignore their queerness. Ultimately, many of these individuals realize later on that they are still queer and that they’re happier when they’re queer. That is one of the morals of the story in But I’m a Cheerleader: that all of these kids are so much happier when they realize that being queer is not a sin. Megan (Lyonne) and Graham (DuVall) realize their love is more important than the acceptance of their parents and purposely choose to live their lives together as part of the queer community instead of hiding who they are and their feelings for one another. Graham even gives up a privileged life in order to live authentically. That is inspiring and important. Your happiness and self-acceptance are more important than your previous life of shame, no matter how privileged your position in life is.
While there is a genuine message that is important in this film, But I’m a Cheerleader’s strength is its comedy. The entire situation is ridiculous. Each room in the house hosting True Directions, the conversion camp, is a different garish color. RuPaul (in a rare out-of-drag role) is trying to teach these gay boys how to play football and fix a car but they all spend the entire time (RuPaul included) staring at Rock (Eddie Cibrian) as he gets sweaty doing yard work. They are given electro devices to “turn off” their gay urges, but the goth girl (Katharine Towne) likes how it feels. The butchest girl (Katrina Phillips) is actually straight. The camp used in the film plays an important role, lessening the blow of the slurs and abusive program. It also just shows how ridiculous the whole idea is: that you can “graduate” your way out of queerness.
Of course, as the title implies, the plot revolves around the fact that Megan didn’t even realize that her behavior was queer. She just wanted to be a vegetarian and like Melissa Etheridge’s music! And sure she liked girls too, but… she’s a cheerleader! She would have realized eventually why she didn’t really enjoy making out with her boyfriend, come to the realization that she was a lesbian, and lived happily ever after. But it was the intervention of her friends and family that made her realize that she was expected to feel that those behaviors were “unnatural” and “shameful”. And once she was at True Directions, ironically, she was finally among a community of queer people who opened her eyes to see the beauty that was going on. Megan not only accepts herself but also realizes that through this authenticity she can let herself be happy, truly happy, for the first time in her life. And it’s not just Megan; Graham and Dolph (Basco) also come to the same conclusions.
It’s so hard to just have fun. I’ve talked a lot in this series about how there is a need to keep fighting for queer liberation, and that the world we live in makes it so hard to feel like we’re allowed to be happy. But every revolution requires rest. It requires joy. It requires not taking ourselves too seriously. But if we don’t try to find the fun in our lives, what are we fighting for? There is plenty of time to be serious and to be angry. We don’t need to be serious and angry every second of our lives. Even in the face of abuse, trauma, and evil, we are allowed to face it with humor and camp. We have to. Or we will lose ourselves. We have to laugh and joke now, so there can be a world in the future with humor, camp, and lightheartedness. But I’m a Cheerleader shows us that fun and comedy can beat anything. Sometimes that and love are all you need, if you let yourself have them. And I can’t think of much else better to fight for.
Happy Pride!
