PINK AND PLASTIC
The colour pink and the aesthetic of shiny plastic are two of the main ingredients in Jamie Babbit’s cult lesbian classic, But I’m a Cheerleader, from 1999. It stars Natasha Lyonne as the blonde and bubbly Megan who is sent away to gay rehab at True Directions because her parents and friends suspect she might not be the conservative, white-bread conformist they want her to be. Initially unsure of her sexuality, Megan meets another camper, Clea DuVall’s Graham, and the pair gradually fall in love. Inspired by Barbie, John Waters and Edward Scissorhands, this campy and carnal vision of queer love has an awesome satiric kick which still resonates today.
Babbit: For any filmmaker, your first film means a lot. I struggled for a long time making short films to find financing for a feature. I that had Clea DuVall in it. It was kind of a fairy tale retelling of unrequited lesbian love. It went to Sundance and I knew that I had a very short window to raise the money for . I not only had to finish my short, but I also had to get the screenplay in order so that I could try to hustle funds for the feature. I ended up convincing a financier at Sundance to give me the money, just because he liked the short. I said, ‘You want to get into the film business, at Sundance next year we can have a movie.’
