Shouldn't you be holding the crucifix? It is the prop for martyrs!
The 1996 film The Birdcage offered a revolutionary portrayal of gay love in a mainstream movie. Not only do we see a stable, loving, long-term relationship between Robin Williams’ Armand and Nathan Lane’s Albert, but the film is a funny and joyous celebration of being queer that doesn’t require a side of tragedy.
But as Tracie shares with us this week, not everything in this laugh-out-loud farce has aged well: Armand and Albert’s son Val is a straight-up villain (see what I did there?) who pressures his parents hide their true selves, Hank Azaria’s portrayal of Agador, the Guatemalan house boy, makes his character the butt of the joke (not to mention the fact that Azaria is a straight, white, Ashkenazi Jewish man playing a queer Latino), and the shortcuts the filmmakers use to show the hypocrisy of Gene Hackman’s Senator Keeley reify racist stereotypes.
The sisters still find a lot to love in this film that asks us to question assumptions about gender performance and family–even if they can never forgive Val.
We are family! I’ve got the Guy sisters with me. Get up everybody and listen!
CW: Discussions of homophobia and the AIDS epidemic
Mentioned in this episode:
The commentator who named Val THE villain of the 1990s:
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