What were Queer Movies like For You Growing up?

I’m 52 and a half years old, been out as a queer person since I was 23. No matter what generation we come up through, we are all looking for popular culture to reflect our own existence. We all want to find some way to connect to the larger world to know that we are real, to have some sense that we are normal and we will be okay.

I am a Two-Spirit female bodied individual who also identifies as gay, having sexual attraction towards women. But all of that is the subject for another post.

At the time of my 20s and early 30s, the best the lesbians had was the TV show Ellen. Frankly, movies were atrocious. In my search for validity from the outside world, I can’t tell you how many movies I watched where one of the women was crazy, one of them dies, or one of the women was just sort of trying on being gay and ended up going back to their male partners, with some fond flashbacks as comfort for the other woman. Lest I forget the occasional "Psycho Killer."

I have found one funny, heartfelt, genuine and brave English creation that bucks this mold. I have seen it a handful of times, and I watched it again recently. It’s called Imagine Me and You (2005). It stars Piper Perabo as the “straight girl” Rachel, and Lena Headey as the “real lesbian” named Luce.

Speaking on matters of the "Bechdel Test," The scene that is crucial to the plot of the movie and where we are introduced to the women happens at almost the very beginning of the movie. Rachel (Piper) is walking up the aisle to be married, and makes eye contact with Luce, who is there as the florist for the ceremony and the reception. They don’t actually speak, but an awful lot happens in that few seconds.

But here’s the thing. The plot is revolutionary. I say this with tongue in cheek, but it’s kinda true. The whole movie is about them, central characters who not only are crucial to the plot, they are the plot. It’s not super dramatic, there is no blood, nothing super painful. The movie is a comedy, but it’s a real process where the two women meet, become friends, and have to sort out with their respective families and friends the fact that they are actually in love even though Rachel is happily married. Luce’s mother has the best line in the whole film, which when I heard it the first time, I actually laughed out loud at the screen. There is a wonderful cast of characters who have their own stories as well. Highly recommend.

I don’t believe that objectification occurs with these women at all in this movie. There is no shaming of either of these characters, and nothing I would consider degrading. Rachel and Luce are genuinely allowed to explore the situation as it is. No one shuns them (for long) or tries not to take them seriously.

For me, this movie is a very rare moment. It’s the closest thing I have ever seen to a “regular” movie that happens to have been made with two women as central characters. They could have been anybody. It’s delightful to see not such a big deal made about gay characters. I wouldn’t say this is a trend in movie making at all. I would love to be proven wrong about this, so if y’all have any other suggestions I’d love to know. 😊

Angela

Twentieth century fox home entertainment. (2006). Imagine me & you. Imagine Me and You. United Kingdom. Retrieved October 18, 2021.