But I’m A Cheerleader Color Analysis Essay Example

The mid-90s saw a rise of LGBTQ+ stories in mainstream media. From Brokeback Mountain to Paris is Burning, authentic queer stories challenged heteronormativity and the gender binary. In a country still rife with homophobia, these films broke barriers in light of the rebuttal. In 1999, Jamie Babbit released But I'm a Cheerleader, centered around Megan as she comes to terms with her sexuality. After her parents send her away to True Directions conversion camp, Megan realizes she is at a crossroads. Megan must decide whether she will accept herself or if she wants the world to accept her. Babbit uses color schemes in her fantastical set and costume design to portray Megan's discovery of her sexual orientation and gender identity. BIAC’s whimsical color palette, consisting of pink, orange/brown, and green, is a visual symbolization of the conflicts in Megan's satirical coming-out story.

As seen throughout the movie, Babbit uses the color green to illustrate Megan's discomfort. Megan is made uneasy in a program where she has to discover her sexuality and subsequently suppress it. Mary, the founder of True Directions, is Megan’s source of unease. Mary formally introduces Megan to the program's Five-Step Method to Heterosexuality in her office. Surrounded by green and Mary's overbearing aura of authority, Megan's uneasiness is apparent as she realizes her identity is no longer her decision. Babbit also purposefully chooses high-angle shots of Megan, highlighting the smallness of her presence and control of the situation. Green is quickly associated with control and anxiety. Ultimately, Megan's wariness of Mary's control and the color green represents the wariness that queer people experience within a compulsory heterosexual society. 

In contrast, Megan's desires are represented with the color brown. Before embarking on her quest for heterosexuality, Megan's color palette is overwhelmingly brown and orange. From her family and friends' wardrobe and cheerleader uniform, the people and things that comfort Megan are all in very muted tones of orange. Shots with family and friends use low angles to emphasize the influence they have in Megan's life and in her decisions. Evidently,Megan places a lot of importance on family, despite their misguided intervention. After she is kicked out of True Directions when she refuses to reject her sexuality, she is back in her orange clothes and framed in a low-angle shot. While this may be mistaken for character regression, Babbit illustrates this self-acceptance as she finds a new family, filled with color. This new color palette is now filled with many colors and tones, expressing the diversity of the queer community. Instead of seeking acceptance from a monochrome society that rejects her, she embraces a new family that supports her wholly. 

Somewhere in between her fears and her comfort lie the ultra-feminine version of herself that Megan aims to be. As she struggles with her sexuality, True Directions teaches her that she will only be respected as a woman if she embraces her true feminine direction. Womanhood is seen as a gift, rewarded only after rejecting her sexuality and conforming to 1950s gender expectations. Dressed completely in all-pink attire, this Megan is a performance of femininity. While at True Directions, Megan actively participates in the activities and truly struggles to find the root of her homosexuality. She truly hopes that her effort will finally lead to being an "ex-gay". Even when the group sneaks out to a gay club, she is still dressed in pink reciting chants renouncing homosexuality and temptations.  Pink symbolizes femininity which is required for her final goal - social acceptance. Babbit challenges the gender binary and limitations of gender identity. Megan's family believes she is a homosexual because she is vegetarian, is disinterested in her boyfriend, and only has pictures of girls in her locker. The self-proclaimed root of her sexuality was experiencing gender roles being swapped when her mother became the breadwinner after her father was fired. Even the title questions how a cheerleader, the personification of femineity, could be a lesbian. Babbit parodies the heteronormativity gender norms upheld by society. Pink symbolizes the performance of femininity and heteronormativity for general acceptance. Yet, the word performance acknowledges that it is still a facade.   

On nearly the opposite sides of the color wheel, the warm orange tones contrast with the cool green, replicating the conflict of her fear and her comforts. Megan knows that her craving for the warmth of orange cannot be satiated without losing her identity. Inspired by the message of New Queer Cinema, Babbit portrays the common ultimatum queer people face; self-acceptance or forced assimilation. They often have to perform as straight and/or cis-gender, strictly conforming to being pink or blue. Either way, queer people still face consequences for being who they are. Babbit articulates how sadly coming out is more about the reaction of the receptive audience than about self-acceptance.  It also comments on the binding strictures of masculinity and femininity. Essentially, Babbit's satirical and melodramatic perspective emphasizes the strides queer people must go through to appease heterosexual society. 

References

But I'm A Cheerleader Analysis. 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9hJ4jsc5cw. Accessed 11 Apr 2021.

Homenuk, Travis. "But I’M A Cheerleader". Genderandsexualityinsocialstudies, 2014, https://genderandsexualityinsocialstudies.wordpress.com/film-reviews/but-im-a-cheerleader/#:~:text=The%20film%20is%20a%20satirical,friends%20regarding%20her%20sexual%20orientation. Accessed 11 Apr 2021.

McGowan, Alexandra. But I'm A Cheerleader Film Analysis. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2e2ls1w3ok. Accessed 11 Apr 2021.