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My memory of The Birdcage (1996) is always that it's more dated and more difficult to watch than it actually is. You hear "drag-themed comedy from the 90s based on a musical from the 80s based on a play from the 70s" and you brace yourself just a little, right? But the film has a strong gay perspective, so the fruity fag jokes mostly come off as warmly affectionate. There is a surprising amount of poignancy in Robin Williams' portrayal of Armand, grudgingly agreeing to his beloved son's request that he go back into the closet for an evening ("do me a favor and don't talk to me for a while"). The drag club's staff attempting to redecorate the apartment with stuff straight people might like (a taxidermy moose head, an enormous crucifix, and Playboy magazine) is extremely funny. Albert's histrionics are a point of tension because he does often come off as a stereotypically pathetic/comic figure, but towards the end of the movie he makes it very clear that he's aware of how people see him, and asserts that trying to copy a stoic masculinity he doesn't possess for the sake of social approval would be more pathetic. In the 1983 musical adaptation, they give "Albert" (Albin) the only good song in the whole show, "I Am What I Am", which Gloria Gaynor covered to the delight of gays everywhere. Apparently Nathan Lane wasn't (publicly) out yet in 1996, which is amazing because it means that at one point in this movie you're watching a gay man playing a straight man playing a gay man playing a straight man, in a movie about how it's important to be yourself, an absurdity that does seem to encapsulate the state of gay America in the 90s.

silverhand

I'm seeing a couple of posts circulating about the gay 90s and this movie. The above is a very good summary, and I think it's worth adding a few other points.

This movie got made because Robin Williams said yes to it (and it's important that Gene Hackman did as well). Williams in the 90s was a mega-star of a type that's not present in the current media environment (maybe Tom Cruise, but I personally think that's echo from his salad days). Even his flops made money on the back end in the video rental market, which also doesn't exist anymore (streaming is different). Hackman was on the other side of his A-list career but still Hollywood nobility if not full royalty.

Playing gay was considered career suicide in the 90s. There had been a number of actors who put lie to that belief stretching back decades, but this was Williams and Hackman (yes, being on screen next to a gay character was enough to get you blacklisted) saying "screw that" and doing it anyway.

Being gay and out was career suicide in the 90s.

Nathan Lane had a really nice gig going for himself. The Lion King put him into the Disney rep company with people like Williams, Bette Midler, and Whoopie Goldberg (check their IMBD list from the 90s--they were making bank at Disney).

Lane didn't come out until several years later (nice summary: https://deadline.com/2024/06/nathan-lane-robin-williams-advice-coming-out-birdcage-1235975010/).

I don't want to imply that this was a Sorkinized moment where everything changed because of one thing, but this was a very important movie that caused real movement in the needle on queer acceptance.

It also proved that there was a market for films with gay characters, which had the knock-on effect of gay filmmakers being able to find distributors of their gay-themed films. Which meant that more people than ever (queer and non-queer) got to see representation on-screen.

formerlyjannafaye

posting your fic on AO3 like

minovskyy

yes this is an exploration of guilt and culpability but it could also be a sex thing if you just give me a minute

ellewantsrevenge

aadam jacobs's archive

tura23

I love it when someone shares their obsession.

polybatcest

all conversations about bruce being responsible for jason's death drive me insane not even necessarily in a like "this is a bad point" way but in a like. everything about this in a meta sense makes me crazyyyy way.

what if you lived in a universe where child sidekicks could not die because child sidekicks were intended to be a marketing ploy to attract child readers by presenting a child's power fantasy of "what if i could be the teammate to my favorite superhero (and not get grievously hurt/killed)". so you have a child sidekick because, in a meta sense, there's no actual serious risk of them dying and thus this doesn't really pose any serious ethical questions.

and then changing social norms and a changing media landscape lead to the universe you exist in getting tonally darker; your beloved ward who you've always had a great relationship with is suddenly someone you're arguing with constantly, the crimes are getting more real and less cartoony, the world is becoming scarier and more dangerous. and one day the people who control your universe decide that they want to really drive home this new tonal shift by undoing that most fundamental rule, that child sidekicks cannot die, and they kill your son.

this is not something that was supposed to happen. this was not supposed to ever be a possibility. you took on a child sidekick in a universe where child sidekicks could not die, and now you are being framed retroactively as a horrible person for doing something that is only now a questionable decision because the rules have changed. and, oh, by the way? child sidekicks are still necessary for marketing purposes. so you are fated to always continuously have a child sidekick even though you are now famous for the fact that your second child sidekick (who is also, again, your beloved son) died. and everyone blames you for this. and everyone hates you for this. and everyone in universe and out mocks you for your son's death and tells you it's your fault. because some comic writers decided to make a Dark Edgy Decision that retroactively made you culpable for child endangerment.

itsmarsiart

he’s ready to put yet another ring on that finger

valtsv

been thinking about fantasy/scifi rule systems and free will

valtsv

that-wildwolf

Shepard Island is going great

queam

Unmasked Kal’Reegar (ft my quarian fan-design)

melking

further confirmation that frank and abby's marriage was on the rocks pre-season 1 <3

merlepsblog

Someone else on here recently said "You guys don't actually want a night shift version" and I think the last couple of episodes proved them right. Not because the night shift characters are not interesting, but because the thing is: if you are going to spend more time with the night shift, by necessity they cannot only be the cool kids that roll in to make sarcastic comments about the day shift. They are going to be flawed and messy - yes, even - no, in particular - Dr. Jack Abbot. And apparently that needs to be said, because it's been quite interesting to see people grapple with seeing Abbot act like the guy he was always written to be, not as the perfect white knight/white savior figure they made up in their head. "Abbot would have punched those ICE guys" - Uhm, no. Abbot would have asked Jesse if he "punched the guy," which is exactly what we see him do. No, that doesn't mean that he loves ICE, just like many cops don't "love" ICE. He might even use his connections, the way Perlah does, if Jesse was someone he personally cared about enough. But look, are we seriously surprised that the guy who is proud of his Afghanistan service and works for the local police in his free time would start with "What did he do to deserve that?" "Abbot would never be dismissive towards his staff, especially not toward a woman" - And yet, as soon as he's officially on duty, he has no problem brusquely ordering McKay around and referring to Toomarian as "the intern," as if she isn't standing right there. We can discuss whether he is justified to ask McKay to help out (yes, he probably is!), but he certainly doesn't go out of his way to be nice about it, and maybe it's not great that he is not bothering to address a new hire he's in charge of by name (especially when, in contrast, we see Whitaker actively introducing her and Al-Hashimi warmly welcoming her). "But he's so nice to Mohan and Al-Hashimi" - Yeah because he likes them. Because he possibly wants to bang them (yes, both of them). Because he has favorites. He jokes around with Henderson, he's flirtatious with Samira, he glazes Dana, but he is curt and impersonal with McKay and Toomarian because they don't ping his radar, simple as that. "Abbot will sneak out and disassemble Robby's bike" - Yes, that was a nice thought and made for a lovely running joke, but no, he was really just talking to admin when he disappeared for an hour, not taking steps to make Robby stay. Now Dana is basically begging him on her knees to intervene and he is still reluctant to act. Dana is pushing Robby. McKay is willing to push Robby. Duke is ready to push Robby. Abbot actively needs to be pushed.

And that's to be expected, because ultimately, he and Robby are way, way more similar than a lot of people want to admit. They both play favorites. They both have "their guys." They both have a lot of unexamined bias. They both are attracted to women of color while being complicit in their structural oppression. They both have a temper when they are irritated. They are "two white old men poaching” Shen and Ellis' patient. They are both severely traumatized and cope with it in harmful ways. They are both determined to suppress their feelings until it kills them. Maybe literally.

And that's fine - that's what makes them interesting, complex characters. But at the end of the day, they are two middle-aged guys with a lot of manpain who were thought up by other middle-aged guys in a writers' room, and if you already can't handle Robby being an ass to people because he was abandoned by his mother and lost his mentor ... are you really sure you are prepared for an Abbot backstory that might tell us about how he became a doctor because he feels guilty for looking away when his Army buddies tortured a 12-year-old “terrorist”?

livelovecaliforniadreams

thequeenofmyownscreen

As an archivist, Taliesin's description of Bolaire asking his coworkers to classify objects & artifacts with 3 different systems, via handwritting ("it doesn't have to be readable"), and basically pulling a Rose Valland hiding the collections of the French museums from nazis during the Second World War, I was laughing, crying and being impressed.