I love queer films. I love watching queers folks do queer stuff and seeing my queer life reflected on screen.
It鈥檚 entertaining, reaffirming and cathartic 鈥� unless the film鈥檚 a dud and you wish you had have watched Twilight 4 instead.
So I was a little worried at the opening night of Mardi Gras Film Fest last week when festival director Lex Lindsay made a disclaimer that the film we were about to watch wasn鈥檛 very gay. The packed audience collectively choked on their rainbow popcorn.
What did he mean? Was the film only bi-curious? Did it dabble in gay? Or was it just straight-acting?
Five minutes into Dirty Girl and we knew what he was on about. The film wasn鈥檛 just about being gay, it didn鈥檛 just focus on gay people and it didn鈥檛 feature in-your-face gay sex 鈥� even though it included all of the above. It was a film about friendship, love and family.
Danielle, the 鈥榙irty girl鈥� of an Oklahoma high school, strikes up an unlikely friendship with Clarke, the unpopular gay boy, after they鈥檙e forced to work together on a school project. Both their families are messed up so they run away to find a better deal. It鈥檚 less coming out, more coming of age 鈥� and all ends happily ever after like an episode of Glee, musical theatre included.
I totally dug it. So did everyone I spoke to at the after-party. And we all sang Don鈥檛 Cry Out Loud, the film鈥檚 signature song, like a big gay chorus.
Lex鈥檚 comment reminded me of when gay folks say they don鈥檛 want to be defined by their sexuality alone 鈥� it鈥檚 just part of the package. Dirty Girl was super-camp and was directed by a gay man 鈥� but it was a universal story that anyone could relate to.
It got me wondering how queer a film has to be to be a 鈥渜ueer film鈥�. Little Miss Sunshine has a gay character, X-Men has queer themes 鈥� do they count?
And if we one day live in a 鈥榩ost-gay鈥� world where eclectic sexualities and genders are just part of the norm, what will queer mean then?
Until then, I鈥檓 just excited when shows like Home and Away feature a gay kiss. Thankfully queer film festivals are there to fill audiences in on the more intimate details.
