And They Rode Into the Sunset In A Speeding Pickup.

But I’m a Cheerleader deals with homosexuality with over-the-top stereotyping and tounge-in-cheek humor. It dealt with some serious issues of accepting one’s sexuality versus acting an imposed sexuality. I think one of the interesting things that came up, as I mentioned in class, was that we don’t know what happens after Meagan and Graham run away together.
Throughout the whole movie there is the struggle between the “campers” who have been characterized as homosexual by certain actions and their director, Mary, who is the characterization of a heterosexual society. Everyone has to come up with a “root” to why they are homosexual and have this parents weekend where the parents are able to monitor the progress of their kids but there is no real indications of the children’s relationships with their parents outside of that the parents want them to be straight. As Graham’s root is that her mother got married in pants. This alludes that she may have been lesbian but it also could have been a situation where her mother was more dominant, like Meagan’s mother. We also find out that the woman with Graham’s father is not her mother, but her stepmother. Her stepmother says something to the effect of, “You’re going to risk losing your father for the same reason you lost your mother.” I think this is interesting because it raises an interesting question of Graham’s actual background and whether he mother was a lesbian as the plot alludes to.Moreover there is no reconciliation between the any of characters and their parents. At the end of the movie Meagan’s parents are at a group like “Parents of Homosexuals Anonymous” in which the father seems to be accepting but the mother is clearly embarrassed. There is no indication of whether Meagan really was left to her own devices or whether her parents actually came around.
When Meagan puts herself on the line to convince Graham to run away with her, of course Graham cannot resist personal cheerleading (I mean could you? That’s commitment) and the ride away in the back of the pickup truck with Dolph and his love interest Clayton. What happens after that though? Do they really go on to live happily ever after in a sea of self-acceptance and bliss? When Meagan retreats to Lloyd and Larry after being kicked out of True Direction, Lloyd asks her what she’s going to do now. Is she going to go to college, where she might want to live etc. Larry replies, “It’s too soon.” These are all very valid questions that are still unanswered at the end of the movie, making it more like a fairytale parody to me. There are still issues unresolved like what happens to homosexual teenagers who have struck out on their own with no real resources to support themselves and not support system. What are your thoughts? The floor is yours.