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MERMAIDS - Queer Film Theory 101
Bildungsroman! Excuse me. I didn’t mean to shout – that’s just how that word comes flying out of me. We know the classic coming-of-age narrative well. It’s a staple of film and literature. GREAT EXPECTATIONS. STAND BY ME. ALMOST FAMOUS. We get it. In Richard Benjamin and June Roberts’ adaptation of Patty Dann’s novel Mermaids, Winona Ryder comes of age for the...I don’t know, fourth or fifth time? Ryder stayed coming-of-age in her early career! Picture it: 1963. Sicily. Massachusetts. Neurotic and chaotically uptight teenager Charlotte Flax (Ryder) has just moved to Eastport with her quirky, water-fixated sister Kate (Christina Ricci) and her brassy mother, Rachel (IT'S CHER!). Charlotte rejects her mother’s freewheeling and sexually audacious lifestyle, preferring to pursue a chaste path of piety. But our desires and fixations often get the better of us and can lead to anxiety and self-doubt, especially when we have the sneaking suspicion that we may, in fact, be other. What we want can run counter to what we want to want, if that makes any sense. Charlotte’s pray-the-lust-away antics and Cher’s dragged up styling provide MERMAIDS with plenty of queer-coded gems for the mining. Add Bob Hoskins serving his patented brand of daddy to the mix and a poppin' soundtrack of early '60s bops and we’ve got a truly classic film ready for the Queer Film Theory 101 treatment. Sing it, Cher! Does he love me? I wanna know. How can I tell if he loves me so?
Event Links
Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/3032376-0
