To What Extent is “But I’m a Cheerleader!” a Queer Film?

To What Extent is “But I’m a Cheerleader!” a Queer Film?

A queer film refers to a movie that is full of homosexual content, which includes cross- dressing, gender ambiguity, intersex and gender-corrective surgery. Consequently, it can also mean a show that does not pertain to any sexual identity or behavior which does not follow conventional heterosexual assumptions or standards. Therefore, queer theory focuses on any kind of sexual identity or activity, which falls into deviant and normative categories. “But I’m a cheerleader!” greatly qualifies to be a queer film given the amount of homosexual behavior portrayed, which includes lesbians, gays, and cross-dressing, all of which conform to queer theory.

The main character of the movie is Megan who is seventeen years. She loves cheerleading and is dating Jared who is a football player. She pictures her fellow cheerleaders while kissing Jared, which basically shows that she does not enjoy kissing him (Sandy 2). Given the facts that she is a vegetarian and she listens to Melissa Etheridge, her friends and family start to suspect her to be a lesbian. Together with Mike, who works at true directions, they confront her about this issue and eventually take her to True Directions, which is a reparative therapy camp that applies a five-step program to change its campers to heterosexuality.

At the entrance of True Directions, Mary Brown meets Megan who still does not understand why her parents are taking her to this rehab-like Centre and she is completely heterosexual, she has a boyfriend. Mary Brown is the founder of this organization and is also a very strict disciplinarian as seen in the entire movie. Apparently, Mary’s son, known as Rock, is also a homosexual, but her mother is still in denial of that fact, that’s why he makes him, Megan and another group of homosexuals to go through the program of “curing” them of homosexuality. Most of the campers have been brought to the institution by their homophobic parents or guardians. The program followed encompasses five steps, which are; the campers admitting that they are homosexuals, then they are supposed to rediscover their gender identity...

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