But I'm a Cheerleader is a 1999 American satirical romantic comedy film directed by Jamie Babbit and written by Brian Wayne Peterson. Natasha Lyonne stars as Megan Bloomfield, a high school cheerleader whose parents send her to a residential inpatient conversion therapy camp to cure her lesbianism. There, Megan soon comes to embrace her sexual orientation, despite the therapy, and falls in love. The supporting cast includes Joel Michaely, Melanie Lynskey, Dante Basco, Eddie Cibrian, Clea DuVall, Cathy Moriarty, Katrina Phillips, RuPaul, Richard Moll, Mink Stole, Kip Pardue, Michelle Williams, and Bud Cort.
But I'm a Cheerleader was Babbit's first feature film. It was inspired by an article about conversion therapy and her childhood familiarity with rehabilitation programs. She used the story of a young woman finding her sexual identity to explore the social construction of gender roles and heteronormativity. The costume and set design of the film highlighted these themes using artificial textures in intense blues and pinks.
When it was initially rated as NC-17 by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), Babbit made cuts to allow it to be re-rated as R. When interviewed in the documentary film This Film Is Not Yet Rated Babbit criticized the MPAA for discriminating against films with gay content.
Many critics did not like the film, comparing it unfavorably with the films of John Waters and criticizing the colorful production design. Although the lead actors were praised for their performances, some of the characters were described as stereotypical. The film has since garnered a cult following.
Seventeen-year-old Megan Bloomfield is a sunny high school senior who loves cheerleading and is dating a football player, Jared. She does not enjoy kissing Jared, however, and prefers looking at her fellow cheerleaders. Combined with Megan's interest in vegetarianism and Melissa Etheridge, her family and friends suspect that she is in fact a lesbian. With the help of ex-gay Mike, they surprise her with an intervention. Following this confrontation, Megan is sent to True Directions, a reparative therapy camp which uses a five-step program (similar to Alcoholics Anonymous' twelve-step program) to convert its campers to heterosexuality.
At True Directions, Megan meets the founder, strict disciplinarian Mary Brown, Mary's supposedly heterosexual son Rock,[nb 1] and a group of young people trying to "cure" themselves of their homosexuality. With the prompting of Mary and the other campers, Megan reluctantly agrees that she is a lesbian (step 1 of the five-step program). This fact, at odds with her traditional, religious upbringing, distresses her and she puts every effort into becoming heterosexual. Early on in her stay at True Directions, Megan discovers two of the boys, Dolph and Clayton, making out. She panics and screams, leading to their discovery by Mike. Dolph is made to leave and Clayton is punished by being forced into isolation.
The True Directions program involves the campers admitting their homosexuality (step 1), rediscovering their gender identity by performing stereotypically gender-associated tasks (step 2), finding the root of their homosexuality through family therapy (step 3), demystifying the other sex (step 4), and simulating heterosexual intercourse (step 5). Over the course of the program, Megan becomes friends with another girl at the camp, Graham, who, though more comfortable being gay than Megan, was forced to the camp at the risk of otherwise being disowned by her family.
The True Directions kids are encouraged to rebel against Mary by two of her former students, ex-ex-gays Larry and Lloyd, who take the campers to a local gay bar where Graham and Megan's relationship develops into a romance.
Babbit wanted the film to represent the lesbian experience from the femme perspective to contrast with several films of the time that represented the butch perspective (for example, Go Fish and The Watermelon Woman). She also wanted to satirize both the religious right and the gay community.
But I'm a Cheerleader is not only about sexuality, but also gender and the social construction of gender roles. One of the ways in which Babbit highlighted what she called the artificiality of gender construction was by using intense blues and pinks in her production and costume design. Chris Holmlund in Contemporary American Independent Film notes this feature of the film and calls the costumes "gender-tuned.
Directed by Jamie Babbit
Screenplay by Brian Wayne Peterson
Story by Jamie Babbit
Produced by Leanna Creel, Andrea Sperling
Starring Natasha Lyonne, Clea DuVall, Melanie Lynskey, RuPaul, Eddie Cibrian