The Kids Are Alright and Lesbians on the Mainstream Silver Screen
Buzz is building for The Kids Are Alright the new feature film from Lisa Cholodenko (Laurel Canyon, The L Word). The story centers on a lesbian couple, Jules (Julianne Moore) and Nic (Annette Bening), the mothers of two children conceived by artificial insemination. When the eldest child, Joni, turns eighteen, her brother Laser, asks her to contact the sperm bank in order to meet their biological father, Paul (Mark Ruffalo). Not simply content with meeting him, they bring him home and his involvement in their lives reveals cracks beneath this seemingly perfect family.
*SPOILER ALERT*
Jezebel has an interesting blog post about why lesbians might object to the movie. The trailer hints at a plot development that mirrors a much echoed frustration in the lesbian community. Jules kisses Paul. Once again, in mainstream media, the lesbian needs a man.
An interviewer with the the San Fransisco Bay Guardian puts it like this:
We don’t see a lot of queer characters on screen, and so when we do, many want them to be perfect: the queer voice, the lesbian, the gay man. And when they step outside those boundaries, suddenly it becomes an issue, politically.
Writing in Salon, Andrew O’Hehir suggests that
Cholodenko and co-writer Stuart Blumberg capitulate — in some people’s view — to a whole set of ‘Celluloid Closet’-type homophobic stereotypes, and possibly lend aid and comfort to the right-wing view of homosexuality as a ‘lifestyle choice.
On the other hand, it is a mainstream comedy-drama that portrays a lesbian couple raising kids. Hopefully it will do well at the box office and pave the way for more nuanced GLBTQ characters on the big screen! Where they don’t die at the end or simply offer fashion tips and wise-yet-cutting relationship advice! And maybe we don’t need the sexuality of our gay characters to be black and white.
What do you think?
Jezebel: Why Lesbians Might Object to the Kids Are Alright
Salon: “The Kids Are All Right”: The Gay-Marriage Movie America Needs
San Fransisco Bay Guardian: Lisa Cholodenko On The Kids Are All Right
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