at-thescene

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Reflection

Each of these movies gave great insight into the intersectionality of Gender, Sexuality, and Race. They showed the complexity of the characters in the movie and how nothing is as simple as it may seem. Seeing films like these has been a great form of inspiration for those it represents because representation in media truly matters. How we present the media is also important and these films starting from 1999 to 2022 have made great progress in the way that we present important topics more openly.

As they say "To be seen is to be loved" and these movies do a bit of this at least in my opinion. For me personally, watching these movies helped me better understand other people from all walks of life. But it has also been an outlet for me to understand my own queerness and its complexity. I hope it does the same for others too.

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"Everything Everywhere All at Once"

Everything Everywhere All at Once 2022

This Sci-Fi movie focuses on Evelyn, a Chinese American woman, as she goes through multiple universes to save her daughter Joy and restore balance in all. The identities of being a woman, queer, and Asian, are all crafted into the movie uniquely and give insight to the viewers.

As just mentioned, Gender, Sexuality, and Race are mentioned in this film, and the complexity of how they interact with each other shows how intricate human beings are. For Evelyn, being an Asian woman comes with its challenges, especially with her father and her culture, where bringing pride to the family is very important, "Filial piety was a central value in traditional Chinese culture. Its importance went far beyond that of the biblical commandment “honour thy mother and thy father”. Filial piety was and still is a value based on strict principles of hierarchy, obligation and obedience" (Teon 2016). This has been a burden on Evelyn in the way she lives her life doing her best to live up to her father's expectations and in turn, she is putting the same stress on Joy.

Sexuality comes into play with Joy who is gay. Joy struggles to get acknowledged by Evelyn. Evelyn doesn't acknowledge Joy's relationship with her girlfriend either which further strains her relationship with her. All that Joy really wants is to be seen and accepted by her mother but it's hard when Evelyn keeps pushing her away.

Resources:

https://china-journal.org/2016/03/14/filial-piety-in-chinese-culture/

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"Moonlight"

Moonlight 2016

Moonlight focuses on Chiron, a gay black man from childhood to adulthood. Throughout the movie, the world oppresses Chiron and he is ostracized by those around him for his "differences". Chiron is quiet, "soft", timid, and seen as a boy who can be pushed around easily so he is constantly bullied by classmates. At the same time, he is dealing with his mother's substance use and neglect which further complicates things in his life. There are other people who are on Chiron's side such as Juan, Theresa, and Kevin who each have had a significant role in his life.

Chiron struggled with his sexuality from a very young age. In the movie, you can see him questioning his relationship with Kevin who is his only friend and love interest. This isn't an easy thing to handle because it is shown constantly in the movie that a man portraying any sort of weakness such as feminity (to them), is gay and wrong. You can only imagine the turmoil Chiron feels when a part of himself is seen as wrong and should stay hidden for his own safety.

To add on, the experiences of being a Black Gay man can be complex due to the multiple identities that they carry. One being gay and being part of the LGBTQ+ community and secondly, a Black man, both marginalized groups of people. The history behind both identities is extensive and with them come different experiences and cultures.

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"All About My Mother"

In “All About My Mother” (1999), focuses on Manuela, a grieving mother who just lost her son in a fatal car crash. Manuela throughout this film goes on a journey where she faces people from her past all while making new connections with the goal of finding her son's father who she ran away from. Through the lens of gender, you can see the caregiver role that Manuela has to play such as being a mother to her son, being a mother figure to Rosa, a pregnant nun, and assistant to Huma, an actress.

Gender is also shown through the characters surrounding Manuela such as Agrado, a transgender woman, doing her best to be a woman and even has a powerful speech, "It costs a lot to be authentic. And one can't be stingy with these things because you are more authentic the more you resemble what you've dreamed of being". Beforehand, she was talking about how much it cost her to be a woman such as all the laser treatment she had to do, facial and body surgeries, and silicone in her body, all to look perfect. This can tie into how society also sees all women because they assume that everyone should fit this role as portrayed throughout media. Even women are brainwashed to see themsleves and others through this distorted view of being a woman.

Sexuality is another big part of the film as the characters are complex and so is their sexuality. You really can't at times tell what a person's sexual orientation is at times but this is also affected by cultural customs in Spain. Nonetheless, the film does great showing the complexity of being a woman, a mother, and other gender identities.

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"But I'm a Cheerleader"

In “But I’m a Cheerleader” (1999), focuses on Megan who is sent to a conversion camp to become straight and normal. Megan thinks this is a mistake because there is no way she could be a lesbian: she has a steady boyfriend, is a good Christian, and is a cheerleader so of course it’s not possible. Her parents and friends think otherwise all due to the fact that she started eating tofu, has pictures of women in her locker and room, doesn’t enjoy kissing her boyfriend, and has “sexual motifs” in her room. 

Now this brings into question, what is a Lesbian? What does a Lesbian look like? How do they act? Honestly there is no one box that fits all so it’s hard to box all lesbians as the same when it’s just not true. As for Megan, those around her went off stereotypes and assumed her sexuality, even if they were right, it doesn’t mean this will always be the same outcome for others. 

On another note, sexuality throughout the movie is done comically, but some parts are just sad to watch. For example, throughout the time at the camp, everyone who is trying to be converted is being taught what is to be attracted to the opposite sex. No one wants to do this but they have to at least fake it so that they can graduate as successful heterosexuals. They are being taught to be perfectly straight which is cruel in itself because they are being taught to be anything but their authentic selves. 

Gender was also a big role player in this movie. Along with being forced to change their sexuality, they had to relearn their genders. The women were taught to clean and be the perfect housemaker and be super feminine, while the boys were taught how to do “manly” things such as fixing cars, chopping wood, and in general, acting manly. The movie does great by showing these scenes of them acting out their roles because it gives a sense of how women and men are seen in society and what is expected of them. Unfortunately, some people still have the mentality that this is how each gender is supposed to act, especially when it is portrayed constantly in media.

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The topic that I am focusing on is representation in past films and present films that have a focal lens on gender, race, and sexuality.

This topic is important because we absorb our environment, willingly or unwillingly through things such as music, literature, movies, etc.

This means that the way we view others and ourselves can be affected by the environment around us. Meaning one can form good and bad views it just depends on a lot of factors.

Seeing someone like yourself on a screen can be life-altering and makes you feel seen, especially those in marginalized groups.

Scholars and community leaders have declared mottos like how it's "hard to be what you can’t see," asserting that people from marginalized groups do not pursue career or academic opportunities when they are not exposed to such possibilities"(Yabut Nadal).

Lack of representation is also seen in real life everywhere as stated in the earlier quote. For example, if we were to see more women in STEM in movies/shows, it might motivate more women to pursue a career in this field.

I will be analyzing 4 films to discuss this topic which include:

"But I'm a Cheerleader" (1999) (Gender & Sexuality)

"All About My Mother" (1999) (Gender & Sexuality)

"Moonlight" (2017) (Gender, Race, Sexuality)

"Everything Everywhere All at Once" (2022) (Gender, Race, Sexuality)

Resources:

Yabut Nadal, Kevin Leo. “Why Representation Matters and Why It’s Still Not Enough.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 27 Dec. 2021, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psychology-the-people/202112/why-representation-matters-and-why-it-s-still-not-enough.