At the Reel out queer film and video festival I saw the independent film Girltrash: All Night Long directed by Alexandra Kondracke. The film is about the discovery of sexuality. The movie takes place in California and opens with Daisy (Lisa Rieffel) and her best friend getting an invitation to play at a local band competition. Shortly after you meet Colby (Gabrielle Christian) the main character a college graduate who wants her sister to take her to a gay bar in exchange for driving her around, so she can finally meet and hook up with her fantasy girl. They end up going on a wild adventurous night, which takes lots of dramatic turns, and allows Colby to have the relationship she always dreamed of. Colby goes through an adventure of self-growth as she finally accepts her sexuality, and can embrace and except her true identity. This film provides a unique portrayal of strong, independent lesbian women. It provides to be a great film for gay or straight youth to see the portrayal of a love story involving two women. This movie takes a positive aspect on being gay as the majority of its characters all openly accept homosexuality, no matter what their sexuality is. An important portrayal in the film is Colby’s sorority sisters, as they openly accept their friend with no backlash, and even end up helping her get the girl in the end of the film.
One key scene in the film that stood out was Colby coming out for the first time to her sister Daisy. Daisy who is also a lesbian did not want to accept the fact that her sister was gay and instead convinces herself that she is just bi-curious. This scene stands out as it deals with issues surrounding sexual orientation and gender queer. Colby is a gender queer, as she does not fit the gender binary that says a cysgender; is a straight male or female who are confident as a straight man or woman. Misty represents society in this situation, which is important to acknowledge because even though being gay has become more accepted in society, people still have a hard time accepting. This scene represents the fact that homophobia can be present in multiple variations, such as Daisy not accepting the fact that her sister is gay as well. Homophobia can be seen from gay bashing, to the fear of homosexuals, to the non-acceptance of someone’s sexuality.
The cult of the virgin and emphasized feminities can also be prevalent terms seen in this film. The cult of the virgin and Colby’s virginity go one in one as; American culture is so obsessed with the virginity of young women. Colby’s goal is to lose her virginity by the end of the film, and this can show how virginity has such a strong hold over her. The 5 lead characters can be shown to have strong emphasized feminities, as they are show as strong female lead characters, apart from men.
The Reelout queer film and video festival is a great resource to Kingston. It provides a great way for Kingston youth and adults to be more educated on the LGBTQ community, as well as allowing for more opportunities for the LGBTQ community to be heard. I think attending the festival was a great idea to help educate us more on these issues that are going on in our own community, and it allows a great way to become more informed about the LGBTQ community. I think this is also a great festival to help show off the talents of these independent films, as they can inspire and encourage youth and young adults. The organization could also add things to help improve their awareness as well by having influential videos of youth’s experience before the main film rather then the short films they were playing. The short films that were being played before the movies tended to lack importance and relevancy to the festival itself. I thought the music for example in the film I watched hindered the importance of the true message and meaning behind the movie I saw. In this aspect the festival could work on playing films that have a strong overarching message that will help inspire and educate people.
Gender Funsies 
Good review! I like your choice of the scene, but I wonder why Daisy was so upset that Colby is a lesbian. I thought it was ironic and that maybe her anger was actually directed towards herself and the fact that she hasn’t fully accepted herself either. What kind of other issues do you think there are within the LGBTQ community? I also thought that your comment about how homophobia can be present in multiple variation was interesting. What are some examples in the film as well as in real life?
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I liked your review as well! What I found the most interesting is the fact that her sister was unable to accept her homosexuality even though she was also a lesbian. It’s a very different point of view then what we are used to seeing in queer films usually. Also very interesting that sorority seems to be more accepting than her own sister. I also find it interesting that you brought up the use of music in the film. We usually don’t notice how it affect the narrative, but it really has a great impact on the overall film. I agree with you complete on your sentiments on the Film festival, I thought some of the films could have been a bit more hard-hitting. The festival is catering to university student and adults, I think there are films out there that have more substance and better messages then some of the films that were shown at Reelout.
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I enjoyed your review of Girltrash: All Night Long. Thinking back to the “Charmed Circle” theory discussed in tutorial, it seems to me that the filmmakers truly wanted to create a film that would discredit many of the taboos society has wrongfully come to associate with sex such as lesbian, unmarried, possibly promiscuous sex. I found it strange and almost hypocritical that Daisy did not take Colby coming out to her seriously. Do you maybe think that would have been damaging to Colby’s confidence in her decision to come out? On a last note, I truly liked your idea of replacing the shorts featured in the film festival with videos of different youths’ experiences. I too feel like this would be more hard-hitting in the festival.
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I liked your review and you mention of the Cult of the virgin and how virginity and the pressure to keep it or to lose it. I see a parallel in The way he Looks as Leo hadn’t kissed a girl and that fact was brought up several times in the film. As I’ve mentioned in another comment I wish you had more of a personal review on your film. I’d like to know what your expectations before and your observations on the film afterward (though that might just be me personally I feel it’ll add personality to your review.) I’d like to know If you thought this was an accurate depiction of queer people in America? Have you considered the difference between tolerance and acceptance? Do you feel North America tolerates or accepts? I also like your suggestion for what to show in place of the short artistic films as the abstract films’ message were lost upon me.
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Thanks guys :), and yeah just answering some of your questions I feel like the movie definitely did not cover some of the struggles people in the LGBTQ community suffer from. I felt like they, threw in Daisy’s concern over Colby’s sexuality because Daisy wants Colby to have an easier life then what she had, and even though the film didn’t exactly touch on it I believe Daisy had a hard time coming out and having people accept her for being a lesbian and maybe that’s why she was so unaccepting of Colby at first. Based on other forms of homophobia like how the movie kind of covered it isn’t always in the form of verbal and physical abuse, but it can be seen through ignorance as well, i.e through stereotypes, and how gay and lesbian people are portrayed on television and in media. I wouldn’t necessarily say that this was an accurate portrayal of queer people in America, because i feel like the way they portrayed a majority of the characters were through stereotypes that the media gives to us. On your question about tolerance and acceptance, yeah I do think there is a difference, form personal experiences and experiences I’ve seen other people go through I feel like the majority of people in North America tolerate homosexuality but they don’t all accept it. I have seen many people who say they are open and accepting to people no matter what their sexuality is, but then the second someone comes out they get weirded out, awkward, or simply don’t believe them.
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