“But I’m A Cheerleader” Rewatch: Lesbian Teens Fall in Love at Conversion Therapy

🌈 Happy Pride Month! To celebrate, we’re watching the queer cult-classic: But I’m a Cheerleader 📣 This 1999 rom-com follows bubbly cheerleader Megan to True Directions, a gay conversion camp. Instead of “becoming straight,” she falls in love with a fellow camper and finds her place in the LGBTQ+ community 🏳️‍🌈💗

🎥 This movie stars Natasha Lyonne, Clea DuVall, RuPaul, Cathy Moriarty, Melanie Lynskey, Eddie Cibrian, and Michelle Williams. Directed by Jamie Babbit. 

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Transcript

NEW VERSION COMING SOON!


But I'm A Cheerleader
===

Sarah: [00:00:00] Hi, love bugs. I'm Sarah 

Hadley: and I'm Hadley

Sarah: Today, we're talking about But I'm A Cheerleader this 1999, queer cult classic stars, Natasha Leon as Megan, a popular cheerleader who gets sent to conversion therapy to learn to be straight, but instead she falls in love. Let's kick off pride month with this comedy of sexual disorientation.

Sarah: I have never seen this movie before and it's definitely in my top five romcoms. Now. I'm so obsessed with it. 

Hadley: I've never seen it before either. I liked it a lot though. 

Sarah: It's hilarious. I love campy movies. 

Hadley: Me too. 

Sarah: It's a satirical romcom directed by Jamie Babbit. Megan, a bubbly cheerleader whose family and friends suspect. She's a lesbian who sent to a [00:01:00] conversion camp called True Directions at this camp. Megan realizes and accepts her sexuality while also falling in love with one of her fellow campers. This movie came out in 1999, but was way ahead of its time. The director thinks it would be rated G if it came out today, which I'm not sure about.

Hadley: I feel like it, at least wouldn't be rated R 

Sarah: She said she made it for teenagers. And wanted it to be like clueless. Jamie Babbit described this movie as Barbie Dreamhouse meets Edward scissor hands. The sets are colorful, cheerful, artificial, suburban lifestyles. The director wanted the film to feel fake and manufactured to reflect our constructed gendered world.

Hadley: I like this movie, cause it was really funny, but it's so dark at the same time, having that artificial scenery really helped.

Sarah: It helped keep it lighthearted. I know it's a very dark subject matter. That is traumatic for a lot of people who went through it. But comedy is also a coping mechanism for some [00:02:00] people. Oh yeah. Here's our Gilmore girls' reference director. Jamie, Babbit worked on an episode of Gilmore girls. Also. She's done Russian doll. And the L word episodes. 

Hadley: Oh, that's fun that she's working on projects with the same people. So the movie opens up on the scene of all these cheerleaders in cheer practice and some very close up shots.

Sarah: Natasha Leone is Megan. The cheerleader. I know her from Orange Is The New Black and Russian Doll. Have you seen that? 

Hadley: No. And I haven't seen much of Orange Is The New Black either, so she's kind of new to me. 

Sarah: You should watch Russian Doll. It's really good. 

Hadley: That's what I've heard. I'll put it on my list. 

Sarah: I thought it was funny that the credits had RuPaul's last name. 

Hadley: I did too. I always forget that he has a last name. 

Sarah: All the significant people that have one name. They're so iconic. It's weird when you remember that they have a last name. 

Hadley: So Michelle Williams seems to be the head cheerleader. We [00:03:00] see Megan talking to her boyfriend who is kind of gross. Then they make out in their car, which is essentially looks like just him licking her face.

Sarah: She is not into his kisses at all. 

Hadley: When they bring that up later and they're like, did you like his kisses? I'm like, I mean, I'm straight and I would not have enjoyed those kisses, but I love how unenjoyable they look to highlight how uncomfortable and unenthused by the situation she is. 

Sarah: My next notes are about her at home. 

Hadley: At dinner where her family is super religious.

Sarah: Her parents are ridiculous. Oh, she wore a hair net to bed. What is that supposed to do? And does it work? 

Hadley: I think it's supposed to keep the type of curl she has in. And like, keep your hair from getting frizzy. The next day at school, we see her go up and talk to everyone. Everyone's wearing brown except for her. And then they all go home for her intervention. 

Sarah: Megan walks into the house and everyone has gathered. She says, what happened? Did somebody die? And I was like your [00:04:00] sexuality. And we meet out of drag Ru Paul playing this success story. 

Hadley: One of my favorite things that he says in this whole thing is "I myself was once a gay". 

Sarah: Wearing his straight, his great t-shirt. 

Hadley: Pulling up in his hot pink van. I thought this scene was really funny just on how ridiculous it was, like holding up the tofu as evidence that she's a lesbian and vegetarianism being part of her being a lesbian. 

Sarah: Yeah. I liked all the reasons that they listed, like being a vegetarian, all of the vaginal motifs and gay iconography, her cheerleader friend at school stole a picture out of her locker of a woman in a swimsuit and used that as evidence. 

Hadley: I thought it was very funny, also very sad. I felt so bad for her, that all of this was happening before she'd even figured out what her sexuality was. 

Sarah: It's annoying that everyone else is assuming things about her when she hasn't even felt the need to figure it out herself.

Hadley: Right. She seems to like where she's at at [00:05:00] life. Why push her into trying to change who she is before she even realizes who she is? 

Sarah: They say True Directions is like rehab or homosexuals anonymous. I actually think this house needs more pink on the exterior. I'm a little underwhelmed by the amount of pink.

Hadley: I know I was expecting something a lot more garishly pink. 

Sarah: Yeah. I keep seeing TIkToks of this like bright pink Victorian house somewhere. And I was like, you know, I think they need to give this house more of a makeover or like that house. 

Hadley: They definitely try to have a lot of blue in there too. We meet camp director, Mary played by Kathy Moriarty and her son Rock played by Eddie Cibrian.

Sarah: He's very pretty. 

Hadley: He looked really familiar. He was on some of Sabrina, the teenage witch. 

Sarah: I'm obsessed with Mary, the founder of True Directions. She is so insane. 

Hadley: She really is. 

Sarah: When Megan's parents bring her to True Directions, Mary's like, "Oh, just in time, we [00:06:00] almost lost her to college." Amazing. 

Hadley: She is. I love some of the things she does later, like watering the fake flowers.

Sarah: I also really like these title cards that they have. Step one is admitting you're a homosexual. 

Hadley: Which seems like a pretty decent first step. 

Sarah: Mary describes a woman. She sounds very gay as she's describing this woman. Uh, Mary, I think you're gay. 

Hadley: Yes. I think everyone at this house. Is absolutely gay. Hillary played by Melanie Lynskey shows Megan around.

Sarah: I completely forgot that she's a Kiwi because everything I've seen her in recently, she's played an American. My girlfriend was like, she's really good at doing that accent. I was like, I'm pretty sure that's her normal accent. 

Hadley: The first thing I'd ever seen her in was Psych and she has the New Zealand accent there, everything else I saw her in, she didn't have that and I was like, what? And then I looked her up and I realized she's from New Zealand. 

Sarah: She also just did a TV show called Yellow Jackets that I would highly recommend. It's so good. It's kind of like lost. [00:07:00] I feel like there is a trend right now of doing like lost, but a teen girl version cause there's two shows out right now that my girlfriend and I are watching. One is Yellow Jackets. And the other one is called the Wilds. Yellow Jackets is about a soccer team that gets stranded. And then the wilds is they're playing crashes and strands them on some island. The plane crash was actually planned and it's part of this bigger scheme, but both of those shows are really good. I'm super hooked on them. 

Hadley: Melanie Lynskey is also in Sweet Home, Alabama. If we ever get to that on our list. 

Sarah: Yes. On our list of 350 movies. I think the last time I checked. So at some point we will get to it. This pink bedroom is iconic. I love it so much. 

Hadley: Yeah. It's fantastic. 

Hadley: And we meet Graham smoking 

Sarah: in this pink bedroom. Who's played by Clea DuVall. [00:08:00] She wrote and directed Happiest Season, which we'll be doing around Christmas. She was also in Girl Interrupted and she was in a movie called Ten Inch Hero that I think I saw on TV one time. 

Hadley: She's also in Better Call Saul. 

Sarah: Clea and Natasha were friends before the movie. And they were riding in Clea's car together when Natasha noticed the script and asked if she could be in it. So Clea recommended both Natasha and Melanie Lynskey. Clea and Natasha played a couple in the movie, The Intervention, which I think is a romcom dram. So then they have group therapy and Megan cuts the ribbon on her chair and everyone cheers. They go around. Pretty much like AA and introduce themselves and then say they're a homosexual and we meet all the campers. We have Jan, who's a softball player. And then Sinead and Joel and Graham. Graham says "I'm Graham and I like girls a lot." And [00:09:00] then Andre and Dolph, 

Hadley: The guy who played Dolph, Dante Basco, is the voice of Zuko from Avatar The Last Airbender. When I was watching this and I heard his voice, I'm like, where do I know that voice from?

Sarah: That's so funny. I didn't recognize his voice, but I totally had a crush on him in hook. He played Rufio. He was the leader of the lost boys. And Clayton is sunshine from, remember the Titans. So then Mary is questioning Megan, telling her all these things that make her homosexual. And honestly, this was me realizing I was bisexual because someone in the group was like, well, you have thoughts about girls, but you think everyone thinks that way about girls. And Megan is like, I thought everyone had those thoughts. And then Megan is sobbing. They were right. I'm a homo. 

Hadley: I loved the scene and I liked the people at true Directions had a much better list of why she [00:10:00] might be a lesbian than the people at home. So then they have dinner and Graham has sushi, which surprised me. I was like, where did she get that? 

Sarah: Yeah. And also how gay sushi is kind of a gay trope, like being a vegetarian. The group at dinner is talking about how they can't be honest with their friends. So it's nice to be here where they can be honest with these new friends. And Graham is like, well, maybe you should have different friends. I was like, yes, Graham, you need friends. 

Hadley: You can be honest with, and that like you for who you are and won't stage an intervention being gay. Isn't a reason to intervene in someone's life. 

Sarah: Mary tells Rock to chug his fruity drink with a swirly straw, be a man. 

Hadley: As she's watering her fake flowers. The visuals in this movie are fantastic at night in the pink bedroom.

Sarah: Sinead is doing aversion therapy where she shocks herself every time she thinks of girls. And apparently she's thinking about Graham. Mary is playing guitar in bed [00:11:00] while Megan is on the phone with her parents. 

Hadley: That was so odd to me that she was sit in the background and play guitar. While someone was having a phone call in the same room.

Sarah: There's a couple deleted scenes that were cut from the theatrical version. One is the camp director gathers the campers and brings out a guitar to sing about people becoming straight. I'm wondering where the deleted scene happened in this order of things, because she's the one who played the guitar and played the song. Her dad's nickname for her is little poodle. 

Hadley: Her parents are wild. 

Sarah: They move on to step two, which is rediscovering your gender identity, which consists of teaching the women to clean and take care of babies. And the men work on cars and play football. 

Hadley: I thought this was a fantastic scene. Teaching them how to fit into gender stereotypes, especially with the wrench and tires in the background of the car scene. That's just like a giant penis. 

Sarah: All of the phallic symbols were pretty funny. This movie has been adapted into a musical that's currently [00:12:00] playing in London and I really wanna see their set designs. 

Hadley: Oh, I bet this makes an amazing musical set. I'd be very curious to see it. I wonder if it'll come to America anytime.

Sarah: There are plans to adapt the movie into a TV series. I think it would do well. It would do a lot better than when it came out in 1999, just because so many more people are now talking about gender expression and sexuality more openly than they used to. The director said she was punished in the industry for making, but I'm a cheerleader. But she didn't care. She said, I'm just going to do my own weird stuff. And hopefully the world will catch up. 

Hadley: I'm glad the world caught up to her. 

Sarah: She wanted to make a movie about a girl who really embraces her lesbianism. And in the end, she's still a cheerleader, girly girl separating the idea of gender from sexuality, which I appreciate because some days I feel like presenting more feminine and some days I feel more masculine., My gender expression is so separate from that. It seems silly that anyone would [00:13:00] think they're like related to each other, you know. 

Hadley: I feel like so many people feel the need to be able to categorize people just by looking at them. And so it's easy to throw a label on someone to make them fit your categories, but no one looks the same and everyone expresses themselves differently. But back to step two, rediscovering your gender identity. They have group therapy where they discuss their roots. What made them homosexual in the first place. One of my favorite responses was Grahams. Her mother got married in pants. 

Sarah: I don't remember which guy said this, but he said too many showers with the team.

Hadley: Yeah, I think that was Dolph cause he was the wrestler. 

Sarah: And Hillary's was boarding school. 

Hadley: And then they go back to more gender roles stuff. 

Sarah: The boys are playing football and Rock shows up with a chainsaw. And the boys are all super distracted, RuPaul scolds them, but he is also in love with Rock. So... 

Hadley: Rock is a very interesting person to have around these people.

Sarah: And then they move on to step three, which is family therapy. 

Hadley: That was so sad. 

Sarah: Graham's dad is an [00:14:00] asshole. He is so rude. 

Hadley: Both her parents are awful. 

Sarah: We find out that Graham has to pass this camp for college, a car and her trust fund. 

Hadley: There's a lot riding on this for her. 

Sarah: Megan announces that her root is her parents because they're a greeting card family. Until her dad was unemployed and mom had to support the family. So the gender roles messed her up. Mary goes on this rant about it where she's like, you have no respect for men because you have no respect for your father. 

Hadley: It's a big leap right there.

Sarah: Mary tells Megan to write a cheer. 

Hadley: It's good to tie something she loves into it. 

Sarah: Megan is writing a cheer and asking Graham for advice, her cheer is, "God is good. God is great." Megan says something about how cheering makes people happy and makes them feel good. And Graham says, orgasms, make people feel good. I'm like, yes, Graham. 

Hadley: Two very different views on life, right there. Or exposures to life. 

Sarah: Graham says you are [00:15:00] who you are. And that this whole thing is like silly and pointless, which is true. 

Hadley: I'm glad Graham knows that. I feel like she out of all of them would know that, but it's good to tell Megan that too, cause Megan seems to think she's gonna change who she is. 

Sarah: Then they're getting ready for bed. The walls of their bathroom vanity area are covered in dasies. It's so cute. I really wanna do that to the ceiling of my car. 

Hadley: That'd be really cute. 

Sarah: The only thing holding me back from doing that is that I don't really wanna give away. It's a girl's car for safety purposes. 

Hadley: That's too bad that we have to think about stuff like that.

Sarah: Yes it is. Megan is now totally into Graham. She's just staring at her in this daisy bathroom. Megan dreams about making out with Graham and then Megan goes and masturbates in the office. She finds Clayton and Dolph making out and she screams and tells on them to RuPaul. 

Hadley: I was so disappointed with her. I'm not surprised at all that she did this, but I'm also really sad that she did.

Sarah: The campers, listen outside the window. While Mary [00:16:00] scolds, the boys. 

Hadley: One of them gets sent home and one gets put in the giant doghouse outside. 

Sarah: Mary drags, Clayton out by his ear. She says Clayton, ya little pervert. He has a week of solitary in the little house in the backyard. 

Hadley: That sounds horrible. 

Sarah: Dolph got expelled. They move on to step four. Demystifying the opposite sex. Graham makes a little move on Megan. 

Hadley: I'm happy for them. Also, why are they like hanging out in lingerie half the time? It was weird because they're like high school age kids. 

Sarah: I really like all of the colorful rooms that they have, like the pink bedroom, the purple powder room, the daisy bathroom, and the teal cleaning room, and the baby pink baby room.

Hadley: I wish you could visit this house. 

Sarah: Me too. It'd be so fun if they had it up for like an Airbnb and you could stay there. 

Hadley: Yeah, that would be really cool. 

Sarah: I'm surprised they haven't done that. Now. I see a montage of Graham and Megan blatantly flirting during class in front of Mary, but she's [00:17:00] oblivious. 

Hadley: Yeah. Mary has no idea what's happening. 

Sarah: We find out Graham doesn't have any friends. 

Hadley: That's really sad, but it makes sense with their earlier conversation where they talk about their friends, not accepting them. And then Graham saying, and get better friends. So maybe she just doesn't wanna be friends with people that don't accept who she is, but it's really sad still. I felt like True Directions supposed to be kind of a type of conversion therapy. But it also feels like sleepaway camp to make friends with people who see the world similarly to you. 

Sarah: Yeah. I like that. Although they all came together for poor reasoning. They are getting queer friends out of this situation.

Hadley: They all sound like they come from communities where straight is the assumed norm and people don't talk about and even shun people who aren't straight so that they get to make friends like them, that they can relate to and find a community with is really heartwarming. 

Sarah: Yeah, it's nice that their parents plans backfired cause their parents sent them there to convert them to being straight but instead they're coming out of it with this whole queer community and [00:18:00] they're actually deeper into their queerness I feel like than when they started, especially Megan. If they hadn't said anything to her, she probably would've just kept thinking she was straight. 

Hadley: Oh, absolutely. And that she just like, didn't like when men kissed her, hopefully she would've broken up with that boyfriend, but who knows? They think it really helped her develop and grow as a person. So backfired on the parents, but good for her to get this environment that she can discover who she is. 

Sarah: Megan catches everyone sneaking out and Graham convinces her to come too. They meet the Morgan Gordons. 

Hadley: The ex-ex-gays. 

Sarah: The underground homo railroad.

Hadley: The man who plays Lloyd is Wesley Mann, and he's been in a lot of stuff. 

Sarah: I couldn't even tell you what I know him from because he's been in so many things. When they get to the gay bar called Cocksucker, I love Andre's boa and sparkly shirt that he wears to this club. 

Hadley: Me too. His dance number is one of my favorite things in this movie.

Sarah: Megan is shocked because she didn't know they were [00:19:00] going to a gay bar and she starts saying her interventions to herself. 

Hadley: She's so sheltered and naive. I'm really glad that she grows out of that. 

Sarah: Yeah, me too. She's so willing to believe what these trusted adults tell her, but they're steering her in the wrong direction.

Hadley: And when you have your parents and all your friends telling you that you're wrong, it's probably really easy to think, oh, maybe something is wrong with me. 

Sarah: I'm glad she's getting these outside influences that are telling her she's not actually wrong. And there's nothing wrong with her. 

Hadley: Her life has just flipped upside down.

Sarah: Julie Delpy from the Before Sunrise trilogy asks Megan to dance and Graham goes to dance with Sinead who grabs Graham's butt and Megan storms out. 

Hadley: She's a little jealous and a little hurt that the person flirting with her would be cool with that happening. 

Sarah: Graham kisses, Megan, outside the club, which Sinead sees and is not happy about. 

Hadley: Not at all. I wrote, oh, she's gonna be a problem. I feel like Graham kissing Megan at first makes Megan so much more [00:20:00] confused. And then she's like, no, okay, I'm on board. I like this. This is what I want. 

Sarah: You can tell that she's more into this kiss than the kisses with her boyfriend. 

Hadley: Oh, absolutely. Especially since with the boyfriend, her mouth is just like open with her tongue sticking out and with Graham 

Sarah: she's a participant.

Hadley: Yeah. She's not there for someone to lick the inside of her mouth. 

Sarah: They sneak back into True Directions and Graham kisses, Megan, goodnight. 

Hadley: I thought it was so cute that Graham got up to kiss. Megan, goodnight. They both seem so excited about each other, which is really fun to see. 

Sarah: They have another group therapy session and Jan says she's a heterosexual and she's never been gay. Everyone just assumed she was because she likes baggy pants and plays softball. 

Hadley: Poor Jan. 

Sarah: In everyone else's defense though, most of my softball team from high school has come out since we graduated. So. It is definitely a stereotype for softball players to be gay. So I could see why everyone would assume that about her. And it sucks. We shouldn't do that. I'm glad that she says [00:21:00] something about it and then quits True Directions because she doesn't belong there. 

Hadley: Her parents will probably just think it worked. 

Sarah: She could be the poster child for True Directions. 

Hadley: She really could. 

Sarah: Be like, look, it works. She's straight. 

Hadley: I feel like they would use her.

Sarah: Mary finds a matchbox for the club under Graham's bed and confronts the group. 

Hadley: Graham pretends to like Joel to throw Mary off the path. 

Sarah: Yes. Graham denies sneaking out. and distracts Mary by admitting she has a crush on Joel and proves the treatment is working and her plan works and Mary totally forgets about the sneaking out. When Mary is confronting the group, she's talking about the two ex-ex gays, and she calls them smut pedaling recruiters. I like that title. I think they should like make that an official title for themselves. 

Hadley: I think so too. 

Sarah: Put that on their flyers. So then they have a meeting with Megan's parents. 

Hadley: This was so sad that her parents say she can't come home if she's gay.

Sarah: Yeah. It's really [00:22:00] sad that her parents say that. And I know they come around in the end, so thank goodness for that. But I'm glad that Megan does have somewhere to go. When her parents say that she does end up going to be with the Smut Pedalers. So she does have options when her parents kick her out. But a lot of queer kids don't have that option, which is why a big part of the homeless community who's like kids and teens are people that were kicked out of their homes for being gay. 

Hadley: That makes me so sad. Why can't you just love your kid for who they are? 

Sarah: Seriously. Don't have kids if you're not gonna love them, no matter what. 

Hadley: Support your child create a safe environment for your child. 

Sarah: I can understand why people who don't have as much exposure to those communities when they grow up would be closed off to it at first, or like hesitant. You're expecting people to be accepting of something that they have never really like considered before. If that makes sense, you know? 

Hadley: Right. [00:23:00] That's a good point. Like in this, the dad doesn't understand and he's not accepting, but then he turns around and joins the group, friends and family of lesbians and gays, even if you're not exposed to it, if your kid tells you I'm gay, figure out how to accept it, casue that's your child. 

Sarah: Exactly. 

Hadley: And you shouldn't feel differently about them now than you did, like 30 seconds ago. Your kid is still your kid. No matter who they love. If my kid came home and they were like, I'm gay or trans, I'd be like, okay, let me check the laws we're gonna see if we're gonna stay in this state. If we ever moved to Texas and we have a kid who is trans we're moving instantly. 

Sarah: I don't think I would have kids in the us. If I ever decided that, like, I need to have a kid, I would do it elsewhere. There's a lot of European countries that have a lot more support for mothers and children than the us does. Same with Canada. 

Hadley: Yeah. 

Sarah: Mary makes a phone call on her bed sitting next to a protest sign. And the whole camp goes to protest at the gay men's house. [00:24:00] And they chant "it's Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve." 

Hadley: These poor men, Lloyd and Larry are probably. So used to Mary coming over and doing this, it's probably just a nuisance at this point.

Sarah: It's probably part of the camp. So every time she has a new set of campers, she takes 'em over there to picket. 

Hadley: They're probably just like, oh, new class. They go back to True Directions and they all pretend to be straight. 

Sarah: Megan is pretending to be into Rock while Graham pretends to be into 

Hadley: Joel. And Joel is like, oh, I guess a straight man would get his girlfriend cake.

Sarah: And then we see the title card that says the final test. 

Hadley: They have to do their gender role activities like chopping wood, which Andre has a little bit of a problem with. His ax breaks in the middle of it. 

Sarah: They chop wood. They do the car mechanic stuff, football, the women have to clean and they wear green dresses. I didn't know what that was for. 

Hadley: Oh, I don't know either. They have to write a essay about what their root is and how they overcame it. 

Sarah: There are a lot of [00:25:00] montages in this movie. It's a very useful like film technique, cause you can put a lot of story into like a very small amount of time and you don't really have to write dialogue for it. It's just background info. 

Hadley: This was a really fun montage. 

Sarah: Everyone ends up passing the test except Andre. I felt 

Hadley: bad for Andre, but only cuz he has to go back to the people that sent him there. But he seems very confident like I'm gay. I like who I am. 

Sarah: He's like congratulations, liars. 

Hadley: I hope he goes on to lead a wonderful life.

Sarah: Yeah, same. Maybe he'll get Rock's attention. Although how old is Rock? Maybe that's inappropriate. 

Hadley: Well, RuPaul and Rock seem to be making eyes at each other too. So Andre might have some competition. 

Sarah: Megan and Graham make eyes across the pink room and go somewhere to have sex, but Sinead notices them leave and turns them in.

Hadley: Yeah.

Sarah: Also during the sex scene, what bed are they in? Where is this bedroom that they just [00:26:00] happened upon? 

Hadley: I have no idea in my head. They took a blanket with them and went somewhere, but a bed makes more sense. 

Sarah: They had to cut any mention of a woman going down on another woman to avoid an NC 17 rating. And they also had to edit a shot of Megan masturbating. 

Hadley: Oh yeah. That probably would put it into NC 17 categories, but only cause it's a woman and everyone's sexist. 

Sarah: There's no nudity, little swearing. The movie was given an explicit rating and the director Jamie Babbit called to ask why. They said the love scene was very dark and there could be terrible things happening in the dark.

Hadley: Oh my gosh. Their hands and their face are in the light. There's nothing we can't see happening here. 

Sarah: I think at most this movie should have gotten like a PG 13. Come on. 

Hadley: Yeah. I still think with that scene, it should be at least PG 13 or it still would nowadays. 

Sarah: Between that one and the like simulated sex later.

Hadley: Oh my God. Yeah. And [00:27:00] maybe the masturbation a little bit too. 

Sarah: We see men masturbating all the time on TV. I feel it's only inappropriate when we see a woman masturbate and I mean inappropriate with like finger quotes, casue it's obviously not inappropriate. 

Hadley: It's a very mild sex scene. 

Sarah: Then they have pillow talk. Megan compares having an orgasm to cheerleading and says that they both make her feel happy and exhilarated. Graham says I would love to see you cheer. That is so cute. 

Hadley: That really is getting to see the person you care about. Do something that makes them happy is just so wonderful. 

Sarah: Even though Graham, like clearly doesn't care about cheerleading. It's very sweet that she's taking an interest in her love interest's interest. She also says she's jealous that Megan loves something and that was sad. 

Hadley: I hope Graham finds her spot. 

Sarah: Me too. Megan's in for a rude awakening when she wakes up, everyone is in her face. 

Hadley: It's a great shot though. 

Sarah: She gets removed from the [00:28:00] program unless she pairs with Rock for the simulation, but she says she doesn't think that would work. And we see Rock outside.

Hadley: Very actively dancing in his tiny jean cutoff shorts. 

Sarah: With his rake. Is that what it was some kind of pole? 

Hadley: I think so and he's got his little Walkman on. 

Sarah: Rock should be in Chippendale's. He'd be perfect.

Hadley: He and RuPaul can go on to perform. 

Sarah: Oh my God. Yes. Then Graham has a meeting with Mary. Mary says the line, you can run off with Megan and turn into a raging bull dyke, which is apparently funny because Mary was in a movie called Raging Bull. Graham agrees to do the simulation with Rock. And so she's able to stay in the program.

Hadley: Also at this point, I was like, what is this? Simulation, this sounds so weird and disturbing, and it is. 

Sarah: Megan gets kicked out and goes to Larry and Lloyd's house and they take her in. 

Hadley: Yes. And Dolph is there. 

Sarah: They apparently take all the rejects. She asks them to teach her how to be a lesbian, what they wear, where they [00:29:00] live. And their response is that there's not just one way to be a lesbian. You just have to continue to be who you are, which I thought was very sweet. 

Hadley: I did too. I'm glad that she knows about that place. I wonder where Andre went. I wonder if he went home or went to them and then moved on really quickly. 

Sarah: When they had family therapy, it seemed like his parents were pretty supportive of him.

Hadley: Oh, yeah, isn't he, the one that said that he had to change around other people in swimsuits when he was younger and Mary was like, that's normal that that's not your root. 

Sarah: And his parents were like really cuddly and reassuring during family therapy. So I feel like maybe he had a safe home to go to.

Hadley: I hope so. We also find out that Graham was supposed to leave with Megan, which is even more heartbreaking. 

Sarah: Although Megan doesn't really understand in this moment, she does come to understand, like what kind of pressure Graham is getting from her family. And I think Megan. Is generally pretty understanding towards Graham for not coming with her.

Hadley: Yeah, I do too. I think she's [00:30:00] hurt, but not angry about it. 

Sarah: Then we move on to step five simulated sexual lifestyle. 

Hadley: This is so weird. They're all dressed in nude body suits with leaves over their genitals. And Mary is directing them on how to do certain things. Which one, their teenagers also Rock is her son. Like this whole thing is really disturbing. Also pretty funny. 

Sarah: Yes. It's hilarious. So inappropriate, but absolutely hilarious. 

Hadley: If we're choosing to ignore how wrong this is. 

Sarah: Yes, we should just have like a clip of that, but it is funny when Rock is trying to simulate sex and he is just doing pushups and wiggling on top of Graham 

Hadley: And Mary's instructions on what to do are just like hmm, I don't think you've ever had a good experience sexually either. 

Sarah: Rock asks about foreplay and Mary's like, foreplay is for sissies, real men go in unload and pull out. There's a TikTok sound that's like [00:31:00] "Crazy. Ya crazy girl." And that was what I thought of when she was saying that. 

Hadley: We see that Lloyd and Larry are trying to help Megan like, do you wanna go look at schools? What's the next step. They're like the little stepping stone for these kids between True Directions and the rest of their life, which is amazing. 

Sarah: And we see a little tiff between Larry and Lloyd and they have clearly been to couple's therapy. 

Hadley: They make up very well. 

Sarah: Back at the club, Megan talks to Dolph about missing Graham and Dolph has some really good advice. He says, "she's scared and may be making the wrong choice, but it's her wrong choice to make you have to be willing to walk away." I thought that was very insightful from a teenager because I, as an adult, have a hard time with that 

Hadley: Same.

Sarah: And then we have the title card that says graduation 

Hadley: And Megan and Dolph are pulling a heist. 

Sarah: The girls are in the daisy bathroom prepping for graduation. I am really into these pink plastic dresses that they're wearing. 

Hadley: Yeah. They're wild. 

Sarah: The production [00:32:00] design becomes more and more artificial looking until even their clothes are made of plastic at the graduation ceremony.

Hadley: I like that. 

Sarah: I didn't notice it necessarily as I was watching, but when I read this afterwards, I was like, oh yeah. Okay. I can see that. There's a lot of phallic and homoerotic symbolism in the film set and prop design, which alludes to the idea that your sexuality cannot be changed or corrected and repressing your identity will lead it to come out. In other ways, I like all the symbolism stuff that I read about this movie 

Hadley: I do too. That sounds fascinating. 

Sarah: I actually really like that. All the parents and staff are wearing cream/white clothes. It kind of feels almost like a baptism or something. 

Hadley: That's kind of what I was thinking. It had a very religious vibe to it, or like ascending to another level. 

Sarah: Megan and Dolph show up in gray camo and run across the graduation field. Not discreetly at all. 

Hadley: Yeah, not at all, but [00:33:00] no one notices them. 

Sarah: Mary starts the ceremony and presents our happy heterosexuals. They start the procession as each of the campers walk in and Megan yanks Graham down to say, she's here to save her, but Graham says she can't leave and continues the ceremony.

Hadley: That was sad, but Dolph got his man and they're making out in a tree. I'm really glad that Megan didn't give up 

Sarah: Me too. 

Hadley: She doesn't take no for an answer here and then comes back in her cheerleader uniform, which thank goodness she packed. 

Sarah: These hetero awards though are so funny. They're not even cute. Like if you're gonna give me an award for something, I want it to be cute. 

Hadley: Yeah. You think with how much they've done to the location that their awards would be a lot cuter. 

Sarah: Yeah. And just like how colorful and fun the whole camp has been. These clear glass trophies are boring. 

Hadley: Oh, maybe they're saying that like this straight lifestyle is really boring, like with the brown and then the and then the gay [00:34:00] lifestyle is bright and colorful and fun. So maybe they're like, don't give up your fun life for this boring, drab alternative that you don't wanna be a part of. If you're seeing it through the eyes of someone who isn't straight and doesn't wanna conform to things that they're not, it looks really horrible.

Sarah: Yeah. I like what you said. I think the message we could take from that is that you'll be happier being yourself. So like whichever lifestyle is for you will be brightly colored, you know. 

Hadley: Exactly. 

Sarah: Megan tries again and walks up in her cheer uniform to interrupt the ceremony in cheers. 1, 2, 3, 4. I won't take no anymore. 5, 6, 7, 8. I want you to be my mate. 1, 2, 3, 4. You're the one that I adore 5, 6, 7, 8. Don't run for me, cause this is fate. This is so cute. 

Hadley: It is. 

Sarah: This is like the gay version of say anything where he shows up with the boombox. 

Hadley: That's so cute though. 

Sarah: Megan runs away and Graham runs [00:35:00] after her. They drive away in a truck bed with a red cloud scene on the back window. I was wondering if there was any significance to that. The only thing I could come up with was that they were doing the colors of the lesbian flag because like red on the cloud background, orange in Megan's uniform, pink in Graham's outfit. Then we see the scene after the credits where it's, Megan's parents at this family and friends of lesbians and gays meeting at school. 

Hadley: Her dad looks so much happier now.

Sarah: And I like that her mom, even though her mom is trying to be incognito or whatever, she's still there. 

Hadley: She is. I'm very proud of them for taking that step. 

Sarah: Me too. I know that you should be accepting of all people and that's great and idealistic, but that's just not how it works sometimes. Like some people have a harder time accepting things that they've never been exposed to before. And I think that her parents are a good example of that, because even though they've never really been [00:36:00] exposed to these things before they are trying to work on how they think about it. 

Hadley: They are. And I think the point of showing that they're very religious at the beginning too, there are a lot of external factors in people's lives that tell them certain things are right and wrong. And when someone you love presents something that you've always been told is wrong, it is probably hard to grapple with, but doing what they're doing and getting a support group and accepting their kid is the way to go.

Sarah: I think when you grow up and if every influence that you have is telling you something is wrong, it's really hard to think for yourself and decide that. They're actually all wrong. I think it's very brave. First of all, for anyone to realize that what they've been taught is wrong and make that decision for themselves, that they're gonna accept that. So I'm proud of Megan's parents. I think it's just very hard for some people to accept. And I know that that's like frowned upon, but I think we should have a little more understanding [00:37:00] if people are actually trying, you know? 

Hadley: Yeah. The trying's the important part. 

Sarah: Yeah. Not, everyone's gonna be able to like fully accept it right away. But as long as they're trying to understand and putting in an effort, I think that's important. 

Hadley: I do too, because everyone processes things differently and it's good to make that effort, especially if you love and care about the person.

Sarah: Do you have any overall thoughts? 

Hadley: My main overall thoughts were about how it's like a super cute, fun campy movie with very dark undertones. But I really liked it. I'm a big fan of this movie. I'm really disappointed. I didn't know about it until now. 

Sarah: Same. I feel like I have not done my queer homework, I guess, as I was looking up all these gay romcoms to do for Pride, I was like, wow, I was unaware of all of these movies. And I've got a lot of movies to watch now. 

Hadley: Yeah. I think they just don't get advertised and pushed as much as heterosexual ones [00:38:00] do, which is disappointing. 

Sarah: Or if they do have a queer romcom, it's usually a coming out story, which is just so like, played out. And boring. Let's get over that. Let's move on. 

Hadley: Let's see what happens after I'd be down for a sequel of whatever happened to Andre. 

Sarah: Oh my God. Yes, they should do a spinoff or a TV show. Like you said, they were thinking about doing, but just of Andre and his life. When the original film was released and reviewed by critics, older gay men took issue with its depictions of gay male characters because they felt it was making fun of a serious topic because the AIDS crisis was still very pervasive.

Hadley: Oh, I hadn't even thought about that. 

Sarah: A lot of the stuff that I read about the movie said that when it came out the. Older gay generations thought it was too lighthearted because they're making light of a very serious situation. But all of the younger generations really liked it. And it was more popular with the younger generations when it came out.

Hadley: I could see why younger [00:39:00] generations liked it more. 

Sarah: So this is definitely now in my top five. And I think that we should, whenever this show ends for us, we should do our top five romcoms again at the end of it, because I wanna see how much they change.

Hadley: That's it for, But I'm A Cheerleader continue celebrating pride month with us next time as we watch love. See you soon, lovebugs. 

Sarah: Our song pairing for this movie is girls like girls by Hailey Kyoko. The chorus is girls like girls like boys do nothing. New Hailey recently revealed her four year relationship with Bachelor alum, Becca Tilley, and the relationship video that Becca posted on Instagram was so freaking sweet. They're adorable.