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trinityysantos

MOVIES WATCHED IN 2025

#032: The Birdcage dir. Mike Nichols

cinematicmasterpiece

the birdcage (1996)

the-mechanica

my problem really deeply is how shallow a tolerance younger people have for old queer media. like yes, it's dated and some of the politics don't hold water anymore, but to ignore older media simply based on that is to loose EVERYTHING we have bc we don't have a lot. just because queer themes caught up more recently doesn't mean we should rehash everything to fit into a more "presentable" format that is only considered modern bc of the puritanical blacklash of the last several years and sanitization of queer themes.

lucylehane

(this scene is why I watch this movie on Valentine's Day every year)

The Birdcage (1996)

90s-kid-sad-adult

I made you short?

audible-smiles

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.

weaponised--soul

Nathan Lane was very nearly shoved out of the closet against his will during the press junket for the film, and was very literally saved from that by Robin Williams. He did an interview after Robin's death where he talked about how, in preparation for their joint appearance on Oprah, he had serious concerns she was going to push him out, and he confided in Robin, he wasn't ready, he didn't know what to do if she brought up the rumors that he was gay.

Robin told him he wouldn't let that happen. He would protect him.

Oprah did exactly what Nathan was afraid of, and I've watched the clip, you can see the fear in his eyes. It wasn't time yet. It wasn't safe. He wasn't ready. And Robin, that beautiful man, improvised. Oprah had made her tone faggy, for lack of a more direct term, and Robin jumped on it, imitated and exaggerated, started riffing, made her laugh, and kept the attention on him and off Nathan long enough for her to need to move to a new question. Without Nathan ever saying a word.

The man was a saint. If I could choose a father. If I could choose someone to bring back.

and to speak to the original post, yeah the queer content of the film aged gorgeously.

what's hard and dated are the hetero bits and in particular their awful demon of a son Val. I have said it a thousand times but the film should have ended with Val being crushed by that stupid crucifix and Albert and Armand officially adopting Agador and finally letting him audition for their club 😤

rylandsgrace

The Birdcage (1996) dir. Mike Nichols

sophsun1

The Birdcage (1996) dir. Mike Nichols

damejoansutherland

personally if robin williams and nathan lane were my eccentric but loving gay dads i would simply love and cherish them and not be a homophobic little bitch. rip to val from the birdcage but i'm different.