Movie_Review

Movie Analysis of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert Feminism refers to struggles aimed at defending equal economic, political, and social rights, as well as promoting equal opportunities for women. Feminism has been a controversial issue as it aims at challenging patriarch traditions (Chatterjee, 2005). Many feminists argue that men are the ones that benefit from the unequal society and to reverse this, women should be given equal rights. Many movies about women struggle and equality have been produced in the past and they are mostly aimed at showing the suffering women undergo through in patriarch societies (Chatterjee, 2005). Moreover, the movie The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert has examined how it advances the theme of feminism. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is a comedy that features three drag queens and one of them being a transsexual woman. They travel across Sydney to another city named Pricilla by them. The move came out in late 1994 and it was very popular especially in the United States because of its education values in regards to the gay community and the three drag queens. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was an average budget movie and it was directed by Stephan Elliot. Anthony "Tick" Belrose, who uses the drag an alias of Mitzi Del Bra, is a drag queen who accepts the suggestion to perform his drag act at a hotel. He successfully convinces his fellow performers, Adam Whitely and Bernadette Basinger to join him in the performance. They embark on a long journey and while on it, they meet many people. They once met a group friendly Aborigines whom they entertain with their stunning performance. However, the rural public gives them less accepting attitudes. They are subjected to degrading homophobic chants and abuse. They are even threatened and attacked physically and their tour bus is vandalized with humiliating writings. One such writings said "AIDS fuckers go home." They meet Bob, a middleclass mechanic when their tour bus breaks down. Bus joins them in the tour. Just before they arrive at the hotel where they were to perform, Alice Springs lets them know that the hotel is run by his wife and their performance would be just a favor to the woman. The two are in for a big shock as when they arrive at the hotel; they realize that Tick and the woman have son aged 8 and whose name is called Mark aged 8. After there four week performance, Adam and Tick start their journey back to Sydney. Tick takes his son back so that he can get a chance to know him better. On the other hand, Bernadette chooses to stay back for some time with so that he can spend more time with Bob the mechanic. It is important to note that, Bob and Benjamin have fallen in love and they are ready to stay with each other. The audience of the film responds differently to the film. The more liberal audiences enjoyed the movie while the most conservative did not like it. Just like the native aborigines in Australia, they did not want anything to do with homosexuals. The director’s intended audience is the people who discriminate against the gay community. He intends to let them know that they gay are just normal people who should never be looked down upon due to their sexual orientation. The historical context of the film is very conservative. Back then, homosexuality was deemed as an evil that should never been allowed in the society. Many countries around the world had banned homosexuality and in countries in Africa and Asia, many were being killed. Ones an employer realized their employee was homosexual; they would fire them as it was deemed they would bring shame to the organization. Viewing from a feminist angle of the movie, a lot of time has been spent on gender issues. As the drag queens perform women roles they pass out the massage of what women undergo through in the community. The exaggerated performance of the drag queens brings into account issues of sexuality in the society. By choosing to come out clean on their sexual orientations, the three drag queens showed great courage. This bravely would help other gay people to come out and stop living in hiding. When gay people live in fear they surfer both mentally and physiologically (Kobayahi, 2004). To avoid this, they should come out and tell their sexual orientation. At first people may reject them but in the end they would be accepted back in the community. This can be seen in the movie where Tick was accepted by his son who he had not seen in a long time. The gender interaction in the movie can be described as strained. Men tend to treat women with contempt and disrespect. The manner in which the three drag queens were being treated wherever they went proves this point. There is a point where they were even physically abused by the people. References Blumenfeld. (2002). Homophobia: How We All Pay The Price. Chicago: MIT Press. Cecco, J. (2004). Homophobia: an overview. New York: Rutledge. Chatterjee, M. (2005). Feminism and Gender Equality. London. Cambridge University press. Chapman, J. (1992). Politics, feminism and the reformation of gender. Chicago: MIT Press. Kobayahi, Y. (2004). A Path toward Gender Equality: State Feminism In Japan. New York: Routledge.