Social Cages

Starting with the g-stringed bodies of South Beach Florida, keeping hidden that which is out in the open is a a recurring theme in The Birdcage. Cultural conservatives have invented their own idea of what it means to be gay or straight and placed the gay vision in a cage, locked away from the rest of society. The figurative cage the film and nightclub are named after are mirrored in the home of the Senator, held hostage by not only the press, but his own idealism that blinded him to the true nature of his Coalition for Moral Order co-founder found dead with an african-american prostitute.

The portable cage of the car, driven all the way from Ohio to South Beach, is not only an attempt to keep the press from being able to follow the senator, it also keeps the world outside locked away from the senator's family.

His daughter is also locked away in a dowdy dress, the plainest attire of all the characters, but for the golden horse brooch, exposing her free spirited nature.

By the end of the film, the senator and family take on the clothes of the drag queens and other people who are attending the The Birdcage night club. Drawing full circle that it isn't the drag queens and audience who are caged, but the cultural conservatives themselves.

The senator's obsession with sweets seems like a statement about what he and his wife actually want out of life, that so much color and creativity has been drained from their lives that they turn to exotic candies to sublimate their desires that are not approved of by their social peers.

I thought this was one of the funniest of all the movies we've seen this semester with great performances and great deliveries of intelligent lines.

But underling the humor, was great wisdom about the nature of being human, one example being when Val is speaking to his father and the subject of being open about the nature of his parents came up as Armand says, "You were a baby and Ms. Donovan was a small minded idiot, I didn't want you to get hurt. It's different now, you're a man." Val replies, "I can still get hurt." This speaks volumes about the nature of what society expects out of being male or female and how we should not ignore them.

I enjoyed aspects that involved being counter to stereotypes about gays such as Agadore's cooking fiasco. The interplay of masculinity mixed with the nurturing impulses of all the people surrounding Val  is a nice way to show the humanity of the characters being a more healthy take on existence than the narrow socio-cultural conservative views. It's also some what depressing that our society is still legally dealing with the concept of gay marriage, 17 years after this film was released.

The summation of the film, as both families work their way through the crowd, one side all dressed as men, the other, all thought to be men dressed as women, and singing we are family re-inforces the message that all of the characters are part of a larger society and worthy of seeking out their own happiness and that the greater society can be an extended family.