Analysis #5

Cheerleaders Can't Be Gay

A trailer from a movie called “But I’m a Cheerleader” is about parents who send their gay children to a camp (which is referred to as “Homosexuals Anonymous”) so that they can be taught to be straight. As many theories as I’d like to apply to this trailer, I’ll mainly stick with Anzaldua’s “Borderlands/La Frontera”; specifically, “Fear of Going Home: Homophobia.” Anzaldua highlights the idea homosexuals being afraid of “coming out of the closet.” They are essentially “afraid of being abandoned by the mother, the culture, la Raza, for being unacceptable fault, damaged” (Anzaldua 1020). This trailer, in which a females parents are telling her that she is being sent to camp because she is gay, really brings forth Anzaldua’s theory that homosexuals “unconsciously believe that if [they] reveal this unacceptable aspect of self [their] mother/culture/race will totally reject [them]” (1020). This is clearly proved to be true because her parents are willing to accept her for who she is; they would rather her be sent to camp so that she can be fixed.
When the main character is told she is going to be sent to this camp to be taught how to be straight, she responds by saying, “I’m not perverted, I get good grades, I go to church, I’m a cheerleader!” Her response illuminates Anzaldua’s theory that “to avoid rejection, some of us conform to the values of the culture, push the unacceptable parts into the shadows” (1020). The main character is clearly in denial because she is afraid of being rejected by her family and society. Also, in the youtube clip, they show the kids at the camp and how they are supposed to be forced into being straight. This highlights the idea of gender roles when they show the girls being forced to wear pink and the men forced to wear blue. Immediately, there is this connotation that not only are they being taught to be straight, they are taught their roles in society as the sexuality they were born with: i.e., girls are meant to be girly (and like pink), boys are meant to be tough (and like blue).
Although this movie is clearly poking fun at society's homophobia (or fear of going home), it is to some extent the truth. A lot of people actually treat homosexuality in a similar way that the parents do in this clip. I have a friend who is a lesbian but still hides it from her parents. She has told all of her friends but refuses to tell her mother because she is afraid of the rejection. Because her mom is Catholic, she believes that her sexual preference is incorrect and could not possibly be the truth. This also ties in with Anzaldua because she is a part of the Catholic Church and they don't accept her homosexuality either. Anzaldua raises great points about being outcast for being a certain race, or gender, or having a specific sexual preferences. And the clip ties together her points showing that it's unfair to outcast someone because of their decisions.

Works Cited

Anzaldua, Gloria. "Borderlands/ La Frontera." Literary Theory: An Anthology. Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. 2nd ed. Blackwell Publishing, 2004. 1017-1030.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MihKLBP4DQ