In the twelvemonth 1996. Mike Nichols decided to bring forth and direct the movie version of the extremely successful 1978 phase drama La Cage Aux Follies. Geared towards the western gustatory sensations of the American audience. he called the film The Bird Cage and presented the populace with a screaming yet enlightening film about a cheery adult male who fathers a boy after an matter with a adult female. The movie showcases the superb endowment of Robin Williams as Armand Goldman. male parent to Val Goldman as portrayed by Dan Futterman. Nathan Lane cleanly essays the function of Albert Goldman. the “wife” involved in the homosexual relationship with Armand. Christine Baranski plays Katherine Archer. the biological female parent of Val who had a one dark base with the openly cheery Armand.
The film gives us a glance into the world that gay bashing and fright of homophiles is truly an baseless fright that society insists on propagating instead than understanding that merely because a individual is homosexual. it does non intend he stops being a existent unrecorded individual. Any homophobic individual who views the film must make so while doing the attempt to maintain an unfastened head about the subject. The world is that there is nil to fear from these people. They. merely like any normal individual continuously struggles for credence and they are normal working human existences.
They are non an unwellness. nor a expletive from God. Since Val was raised in a homosexual family. he is rather comfy with his male parent and “stepmother” because they function as a household unit. Proving hence that the kineticss of a household exists irrespective of whether the kid is raised in a same sex or normal twosome family. To Val. there is nil unusual about his household and he is extremely confident of his gender.
His beliefs about how normal his family is acquire shaken the twenty-four hours he gets engaged to Barbara Keeley ( Calista Flockhart ) . the girl of Senator Kevin Keeley. laminitis of the Coalition for Moral Order. as the name of the organisation implies. the good senator would ne’er O.K. of his girl get marrieding a adult male raised in a homosexual family. In an attempt to derive the blessing of the senator for their battle. Val must convert Armand to feign to be a consecutive straight person for merely one dark and feign to be a adult male with Katherine at his side.
As the dark progresses and the best set programs of Val begin to unknot and his secret threatens to go open with the reaching of his “grandmother” . who is truly Albert Goldman in retarding force. Val realizes how alone his confounding household truly is and that it does non count if he was raised by 2 homophiles. He finally comes clean and everything plants out in the terminal.
The Bird Cage is a film that carries with it a really serious message sing homophobia and the society that at the clip could still be considered intolerant of cheery partnerships. Indeed a batch has changed in the past 11 old ages since this film was created. At the clip the film was filmed. Director Nichols was puting out to inform the sing public about the misconceptions and myths about homosexualism by promoting the homophobic spectator to go more tolerant of the alternate sex while understanding that they excessively have a topographic point and convey a balance to the universe we live in.
In an in independent reappraisal by James Berardinelli back in 1996. he praised the movie for its creativeness and wit in covering with such a delicate subject as a kid raised in a same sex household. Something which at the clip was merely whispered about. Mr. Berardinelli commented that “The Birdcage rivals A Midwinter’s Tale for the funniest film released therefore far in 1996. In fact. the movie is so rollickingly entertaining that it’s easy for the unsuspicious spectator non to recognize that there’s a message here.
The construction ofThe Birdcageis designed to demo us that there isn’t much difference between conservativists and progressives or heterosexual and cheery people. Nichols’ image preaches tolerance and apprehension. but neatly disguises such subjects beneath brassy sets. colourful costumes. and unrestrained wit. The book has a few letups. and there are times when it doesn’t do a batch of sense. but there are few better ways to pass a chilly winter eventide than peering through the bars of The Birdcage. ”
These yearss. homosexual relationships have begun to have a certain sum of tolerance and credence by society. Although. society still frowns upon leting a homosexual or. for that affair. sapphic twosome to raise a kid in a same sex family fearing that such a set up would confound the kid and promote the kid to follow the life style he was immersed in all his life doing the kid to go a homosexual. sapphic. or have a certain type of sexual abnormalcy about the kid.
In a normal household. a female parent or male parent is identified by his gender. Therefore there is no manner to state who is which in a homosexual household right? Wrong. When you ask a cheery twosome who is the female parent or male parent in the state of affairs. they will ever hold a ready reply. This is because one of them seems to be born with the motherly inherent aptitude activated. Although it is believed that a kid raised in a homosexual family will ne’er see the mother/father. husband/wife. mother/father relationships. he will nevertheless hold exposure to the same through relations in the household who belong to the standard definition of a household.
In the film. Val realizes towards the terminal that he has 2 female parents who love him really much. One who gave him life. and the other. a adult male who. merely like his female parent has merely his best involvement at bosom. Both individuals merely desiring to see him happy throughout his life. There is no existent gender perceptual experience in footings of who is the female parent or male parent function because the dynamic that describes either parent is the same. a individual who loves and attentions for the kid and merely wants the best for him or her. Why does that sort of relationship work? Parenthood requires one to be altruistic and put the involvement of the kid in front of your ain. It does non count if the kid comes from a normal parent. one parent. or homosexual parent household. the steering aim of parenting remains the same.
As evidenced by this film and existent existent life homosexual households. merely because one is raised in a homosexual family does non do that individual homosexual. Harmonizing to the United Families International. there is no truth to the homosexual cistron and therefore it can non be considered familial. The organisations account goes on to state that “ Homosexuality is non a genetically encoded status. Contrary to media ballyhoo. there is no conclusive or compelling empirical grounds demoing any absolute biological. familial. or hormonal causing for homosexualism. Homosexual militant and molecular life scientist Dean Hamer’s survey claiming the being of a homosexual cistron has been scientifically discredited.
Surveies that claim to turn out homosexualism is familial have been purposefully designed from a homosexual protagonism position and seek to convert society that homosexualism is unconditioned. psychologically normal. and therefore socially desirable. “ As for the possibility of a familial temperament towards homosexualism the organisation claims that ; “ There may be a possibility of the being of a familial sensitivity toward homosexualism. which is far different from causing. But even this possibility is far from scientifically proven. Predisposition toward something does non intend that it is inevitable. or that such a sensitivity can non or should non be resisted and overcome. ”
Comparing the sensitivity to homosexualism to alcohol addiction. it is further stated that “ Some people may hold a sensitivity to alcohol addiction. yet we do non confirm their temperament. but instead handle their status and assist them alter. Current grounds suggests that environmental. familial. and personal influences contribute significantly to the development of homosexual inclinations. Seventy old ages of curative guidance and instance surveies show a singular consistence refering the beginnings of the homosexual urge as an incomplete gender individuality seeking after its ain sex to replace what was non to the full developed in childhood”
As for the societal issues a kid raised in a homosexual family faces. I will hold with those who say that they face a rougher clip in the existent universe than the kids from regular parent families. This is chiefly because kids are by nature mean and love to badger each other without recognizing how it emotionally affects their fellow kid.
This nevertheless should merely function to assist beef up the child’s personality every bit good as aid him to further understand how different his or her ain household is from everyone else. But. that does non do him any less of a human being nor should it forestall him or her from basking childhood. Val was practically raised in a same sex family and he grew up to go a responsible. lovingness. and understanding person. Something that can non frequently be said even for kids raised in normal parent families.
A kid comes to this universe as a clean slate. It is the parents of the kid who write on that slate and find what a child’s value system will be based upon. A kid learns his values in life by the illustration and support of his parents. It is up to the parent to learn their kid the value of tolerance and credence of something that is deemed different in our society such as homosexualism and the fact there will be a few childs here and at that place whom he or she may mix with who comes from such an upbringing. Therefore. how comfy and confident a kid will be about his sexual orientation. every bit good as how he accepts those of a extremely different gender than his or hers entirely depends upon how the parents explain the moral value of handling each sex reasonably while foregrounding the demand for tolerance and apprehension of such people.
To exemplify the point about the value system of a kid. one merely has to see how good adjusted Val was brought up by both his heterosexual female parent. homosexual male parent and his spouse to see that any value system an grownup has in topographic point was developed during his childhood. He was taught the value of tolerance and apprehension from the minute he could walk and it made a immense difference in respects to how he accepted people in his life when he became an grownup. Harmonizing to Lois Clark. who compiled the Ohio State University Fact Sheet. pass oning with kids can assist develop their sense of values.
Simply put. Ms. Clark indicates that “When speaking to kids. it is of import to state them what acceptable behaviour is and why it is acceptable. Simply stating a kid non to make something does non learn the kid anything except he should non make that peculiar thing. By explicating the logical thinking behind the petition. the kid can larn. ” This method of kid raising. wherein the parent will hold the chance to explicate about sexual differences to the kid can turn out to be a valuable portion of a child’s value system in today’s twenty-four hours and age where homosexualism and sapphism are easy going an recognized portion of society.
Work Cited
Berardinelli. James. ( 1996 ) . The Bird Cage: A Film Review. Retrieved July 25. 2007 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. reelviews. net/movies/b/birdcage. hypertext markup language
Clark. Lois. Topic for Teen Parents. Retrieved July 28. 2007 from hypertext transfer protocol: //ohioline. osu. edu/hyg-Fact/5000/5233. hypertext markup language
Dannon Marcello. Imperato Michele. Machlis. Niel. Mike Nichols. Mike Nichols. ( 1996 ) The Bird Cage. USA: United Artists.
United Families International. ( 2003 ) . Myth and Reality about Homosexuality–Sexual Orientation Section. Guide to Family Issues. Retrieved July 26. 2007 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. freerepublic. com/focus/f-news/1034938/posts
