#the Birdcage

[audible-smiles]

My memory of The Birdcage (1996) is always that it's more dated and more difficult to watch than it actually is. You hear "drag-themed comedy from the 90s based on a musical from the 80s based on a play from the 70s" and you brace yourself just a little, right? But the film has a strong gay perspective, so the fruity fag jokes mostly come off as warmly affectionate. There is a surprising amount of poignancy in Robin Williams' portrayal of Armand, grudgingly agreeing to his beloved son's request that he go back into the closet for an evening ("do me a favor and don't talk to me for a while"). The drag club's staff attempting to redecorate the apartment with stuff straight people might like (a taxidermy moose head, an enormous crucifix, and Playboy magazine) is extremely funny. Albert's histrionics are a point of tension because he does often come off as a stereotypically pathetic/comic figure, but towards the end of the movie he makes it very clear that he's aware of how people see him, and asserts that trying to copy a stoic masculinity he doesn't possess for the sake of social approval would be more pathetic. In the 1983 musical adaptation, they give "Albert" (Albin) the only good song in the whole show, "I Am What I Am", which Gloria Gaynor covered to the delight of gays everywhere. Apparently Nathan Lane wasn't (publicly) out yet in 1996, which is amazing because it means that at one point in this movie you're watching a gay man playing a straight man playing a gay man playing a straight man, in a movie about how it's important to be yourself, an absurdity that does seem to encapsulate the state of gay America in the 90s.

[kindsoulbuddy]

I love finding out new things about Saint Robin Williams

[rileykeouhg]

THE BIRDCAGE (1996) dir. Mike Nichols

[notallsandmen]

The only acceptable casting for a remake of “The Birdcage”

[hellboys]

ROBIN WILLIAMS in The Birdcage (1996)

[movie-gifs]

THE BIRDCAGE — 1996, dir. Mike Nichols

[green-ajah]

The Birdcage (1996)

[queer-media-tourney]

[valarinde]

THE BIRDCAGE (1996)

[nicholasbritel]

My cemetery's in Key Biscayne. It's one of the prettiest in the world. The sky is blue, palm trees, rolling hills. The one is Los Copa's really sh*t. [sigh] What a pain in the ass you are. And it's true: you're not young, you're not new, and you do make people laugh. And me? I'm still with you because you make me laugh. So you know what I got to do? I got to sell my plot in Key Biscayne so I can get one next to you in that shithole Los Copa, so I never miss a laugh. Robin Williams and Nathan Lane as Armand and Albert in The Birdcage (1996) dir. Mike Nichols

[technojizz]

THE BIRDCAGE (1996)

dir. Mike Nichols

[the-mechanica]

my problem really deeply is how shallow a tolerance younger people have for old queer media. like yes, it's dated and some of the politics don't hold water anymore, but to ignore older media simply based on that is to loose EVERYTHING we have bc we don't have a lot. just because queer themes caught up more recently doesn't mean we should rehash everything to fit into a more "presentable" format that is only considered modern bc of the puritanical blacklash of the last several years and sanitization of queer themes.

[rileykeouhg]

THE BIRDCAGE (1996) dir. Mike Nichols

[dorian-they-ao3]

THE BIRDCAGE (1996) • starring ROBIN WILLIAMS and NATHAN LANE

[hellboys]

THE BIRDCAGE (1996) dir. mike nichols

[tylerdraws]

Whenever things get really bad I watch The Birdcage.