This film (as far as i'm concerned) has a strong lesbian subtext. any thoughts on this?
click the link below for a brief photo essay related to this subject
http://illbuythatforadollar.blogspot.com/2007/11/gold-diggers-secret-of-bear-mountain.html
This was one of my favorite movies as a child. I recently watched it again on TV and saw it in a very different light. Although as a child I had a bit of a crush on Jody (I'm a straight woman), when I watched it as an adult I can definitely see a lot of lesbian subtext. There are plenty of other films about close female friends (Now and Then was another favorite of mine), but this movie definitely hinted at more than friendship, even if it was just a crush between 2 young girls.
shareMy opinion is that it is hinted at as a possibility, but we are not meant to infer that it is definitely there or focus on romantic attraction as the main point of the film.
In addition to the other moments in the film that people have picked out as tell-tale signs, one key one seems to have been missed: the armpit shaving conversation about ten minutes in. Granted it was not Beth or Jody who said "I'm not shaving my armpits - boys don't so why should we?" but this scene brings up issues of attracting vs. not attracting boys. One girl is clearly interested in the issue of going out with boys, but Beth shows no interest.
They weren't lesbians! Just best friends!!
shareMy thoughts are that any time there is a movie about 2 girls or women who are best friends, or if someone is a tomboy, there's always someone who posts about lesbians. And even if they are, who cares. It's the 21st century.
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Love means never having to say you're ugly. - The Abominable Dr. Phibes
It's amazing seeing so many "since when can two girls..." comments and so much hidden-in-plain-sight homophobia in comments spanning 2009 to present. Yes, girls can just be friends. Yes, it's an American made-for-Tv family movie from the 90s - and therein lies the SUBTEXT. You couldn't put that kind of thing up and in front in a family film back then. Sadly, the closest thing that kids - gay, straight, bi, trans, whatever (I feel they should all be made familiar and comfortable with all sexualities, without being exposed to sex itself until after puberty) - could garner in terms of understanding varying forms of early sexual/gender identity before the mid-2000s/2010s was in subtext, which isn't something kids are good at grasping or even identifying. Hence you see posters who picked up on the subtext (and their own early sexual feelings) later in life.
So no, I don't think every movie about girls hanging out is hiding homosexuality in subtext. But THIS film does give off a lot of gay vibes to me. It's just things in the WAY they talk to each other, the WAY they look at each other, these ... long "moments" they have together. Even the fact of one girl being a tomboy and the other being more of a "traditional" girl plays well into the old (highly relevant in '96) stereotype straight folks believed in that in a gay relationship there still has to be a "man" and a "woman".
If you just see it as a cute family adventure about the value of friendship and not judging books by covers, cool. But if others (and there seem to many that echo my sentiment - I dunno, maybe you have to be queer to pick up on it?) see a cute family adventure about the value of friendship, not judging a book by its cover AND early romantic/sexual feelings and flirtation between two young girls... what's that to you? Chill.
If you have lesbian tendencies of course that's how you are going to see it. Not once did they kiss, rub, or scissor.
shareTwo people don't have to kiss in order for others to see they're into each other. Nor rub.
I certainly hope scissoring is off the table altogether, regardless, being as that's not a thing real lesbians do.