In 1996, after the AIDS epidemic had cast its shadow over the gay community for a decade and a half, the breakthrough finally came: the success of antiretroviral medication turned a fatal disease into a manageable and survivable condition \u2014 and suddenly, \u201cqueer joy\u201d began to feel like a possibility again.<\/p>\n
The year 1996 also saw the release of \u201cThe Birdcage,\u201d a remake of the farcical French film comedy \u201cLa Cage aux Folles,\u201d about a gay couple who attempt to \u201cplay it straight\u201d when their son brings his fianc\u00e9e\u2019s conservative parents over for dinner, starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane \u2014 in one of his first (non-animated) film roles \u2014 as the couple. It was notable as one of the rare studio films of the era to center on gay characters, and the fact that it was a certified box office hit represented a welcome cultural shift after the years of homophobic stigma fostered by Reagan-era \u201cmoral majority\u201d conservatism.<\/p>\n
These two landmarks were coincidental, of course, and obviously the significance of the first (though it came a few months later) was, in the scheme of things, far more monumental. Nevertheless, there\u2019s something about the timing that marked a definitive moment in the ongoing struggle for queer acceptance. It was a palpable turn of the tide, a moment in time when we could collectively \u201cunclench\u201d\u00a0 \u2014 and 30 years later, in the midst of a whole new onslaught of conservative bigotry that threatens to erode the progress of the intervening years, it\u2019s a moment worth celebrating, if for no other reason than to remind ourselves of what is possible when we refuse to hide who we are.<\/p>\n
That, after all, is the central conflict in \u201cThe Birdcage,\u201d just as it was in the earlier French play (by Jean Poiret) and film that inspired it, as well as the hit Broadway musical (\u201cLa Cage aux Folles\u201d (adapted by queer writer Harvey Fierstein and queer composer Jerry Herman) that came in between. Set in the famously gay Miami neighborhood of South Beach, it centers on a popular queer nightclub owned by longtime partners Armand (Williams), who runs the business, and Albert (Lane), a flamboyant drag performer known as \u201cStarina\u201d who serves as the club\u2019s headlining act; as a result of a long-ago one-night stand, Armand is father to Val (Dan Futterman), whom the couple have raised together, and who has become engaged to Barbara (Calista Flockhart), the daughter of a prominent conservative senator (Gene Hackman). Fearing that knowledge of his parents\u2019 true relationship will prevent the senator from allowing the marriage, Val convinces Armand and Albert to temporarily \u201cstraightwash\u201d themselves for a dinner party with the would-be future in-laws. Naturally, things do not go as planned (this is a farce, after all), but by the end, the gays \u201csave the day,\u201d as they say, by helping the senator and his wife (Dianne Wiest) avoid a scandal, and the kids get to have their wedding, after all.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s true that \u201cThe Birdcage\u201d has invited criticism from within the community over the years for offering exaggerated stereotypes, especially in its depictions of \u201cfemme\u201d characters like Albert and Agador (Hank Azaria), the couple\u2019s Guatemalan housekeeper \u2014 and, in more recent times, from younger queer viewers who brand Val as \u201cthe real villain\u201d of the movie for his insistence on making his parents pretend to be straight. There\u2019s also the quibble that two of the film\u2019s leading gay characters are played by heterosexual actors (Williams and Azaria) and that neither the writer nor director of the film were queer themselves. We can\u2019t dispute the validity of such positions, but we can certainly suggest that they might be missing the point.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The director, Mike Nichols, was a man who had transitioned from being a comedian to becoming a celebrated director for both stage and screen, responsible for (among many other films) \u201cWho\u2019s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?\u201d and \u201cThe Graduate,\u201d and the script was by Elaine May, his former comedy partner, known for her witty, sophisticated, and savvy screenwriting. Both came with a pedigree that included extensive collaboration with queer performers and creators, and a track record that clearly showed their dedication for humanity and truth over the social constructs they repeatedly undermined with shrewd observational satire.<\/p>\n
Williams, known then and now for his manic, over-the-top cartoonishness, plays Armand with complete sincerity, balancing his signature lunacy (like the classic \u201cFosse, Fosse\u201d moment as he directs a new act for the club) with a deeply considered emotional solidity that never strikes a false note; and Azaria, whose performance became an instantly iconic fan favorite of outrageous femme-boy camp, is lovable precisely because his iteration of the clich\u00e9 is so completely un-self-conscious, and is still beloved arguably as much for this as for his decades of voice work on \u201cThe Simpsons\u201d \u2014 not because he is ridiculous (he is, and hilariously so) but because he is so recognizably real.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As for Lane, Albert\u2019s character is explicitly written as a \u201cdiva,\u201d the kind of gay male \u201cshow queen\u201d stereotype that never quite offends because we all know someone \u2014 or are someone \u2014 who fits that profile to a tee; underneath it all is a person determined to live life on their own terms, and it makes his emergence as an eleventh-hour hero\/heroine all the more satisfying. Let\u2019s face it, when the chips are down, none of us could ask for a better mom than he turns out to be.<\/p>\n
Of course, the participation of incomparable actors Hackman and Wiest is invaluable, allowing even their stodgy characters enough grace to keep them from coming off as complete buffoons (though Hackman\u2019s reprehensible senator, appropriately enough, comes close); for good measure, there\u2019s even the delicious Christine Baranski as Val\u2019s biological mother.<\/p>\n
All those performances \u2014 along with the fabulous explosion of Miami decor in the scenic design, the depictions of vibrant queer nightlife, and a soundtrack that includes both spicy nuggets of iconic club music and a handful of songs by the great gay genius Stephen Sondheim \u2014 are enough to make \u201cThe Birdcage\u201d a classic, but the reason it continues to resonate with queer joy emanates from the material itself.<\/p>\n
Wrapped up in all the absurdity of its humor, \u201cLa Cage aux Folles\u201d (in all its forms) proffers a simple story in which \u2014 despite misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and all the various kerfuffles which erupt throughout \u2014 everyone shows up for each other. It\u2019s a portrait of a household built on love, about a family willing to leap hurdles and place the happiness of those dear to them above their own inconveniences. In the end, the queerness is really not the point; but the fact that it\u2019s a queer family who embodies these values (and a messy one, at that) is, as the queer expression goes, everything.<\/p>\n
Thirty years ago, \u201cThe Birdcage\u201d was a fun celebration; today, in a world that once more feels weaponized against queerness, it\u2019s more than that: It\u2019s a great film that reminds us that our greatest victories arise from being ourselves, unapologetically \u2014 and that the only thing required to make a family is unconditional love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 1996, after the AIDS epidemic had cast its shadow over the gay community for a decade and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[239902,239903,321,35834,93,105168,58203,57179,61,154867,60,19477,239904,239905,239906,8993,24599],"class_list":["post-568478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-black-bear-international","tag-carlos-bardem","tag-celebrities","tag-eiza-gonzalez","tag-entertainment","tag-fisher-stevens","tag-guy-ritchie","tag-henry-cavill","tag-ie","tag-in-the-grey","tag-ireland","tag-jake-gyllenhaal","tag-lgbtq-characters","tag-lgbtq-films","tag-lgbtq-movies","tag-lionsgate","tag-rosamund-pike"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}