As one of my favorite movies, I'm going to have a hard time ripping this one apart. Yes, I will admit that Armand and Albert's relationship play into the homonormative idea of gender roles within a relationship. Armand is the butch, and Albert, shamelessly the femme. And I will admit that it gives credence to the annoying, age-old question of "So, which one of you is the (girl/guy)?" But I feel like the representations of Armand and Albert are (somewhat) legitimate of gay males in the queer community, out of the context of the relationship, although Albert's flamboyancy is grossly dramatized for comic relief. There are masculine gay men, and there are feminine gay men. Those two just happen to have been paired in a relationship.
I also think that one has to keep in mind the diversity of queer relationships. Sometimes, there is a pairing of two femme queers, two butch queers, or one of each. But in Hollywood especially, it's hard to come by the femme-butch relationship. Modern day representations of queer relationships that I've witnessed, have almost exclusively been between either two hot, femme women or two hot, femme men. I'm not quite sure what the rationale behind that would be (maybe so that the relationships are less threatening, in a sense, or maybe a legitimate stab at breaking down homonormativity?), but the relationship between Armand and Albert reflect both the masculine and femme ends of the queer spectrum. There isn't a need for gender roles in a relationship, but that doesn't mean that they're non-existant, in either the queer or straight community.
The Birdcage
No TrackBacks
TrackBack URL: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/178119
I'm on board with your comment. I believe there is a degree to which Albert and Armand's relationship mimics heteronormative representations of "traditional" gender roles. On the same token, I believe that these gender roles are played to the point of excess which marks them as unstable performances that are laughable and, while not entirely forced, are not fully "natural". It speaks, in ways, about how the embodiment and performance of gender can shift based on social contexts.
Another point that I believe Albert and Armand partially dismantle normative and "traditional" gender roles is in how Armand, staged as the butch in the relationship, ultimately fails at a proper embodiment of heteromasculinity. It isn't simply Albert who needs to conform to heteronormative understandings of gender as Armand needs to remove most of the decor within their condo/apt? and also change his style of dress in order to effectively play the role of a heterosexual male, who while artistic and cosmopolitan, is still undeniably "masculine" in the eyes of the Keeleys.
I agree that there isn't a need for gender roles, but they exist. I think gender roles do however make things clearer and more focused in a relationship. When you have to femmes, from talking to friends, usually there is more chaos because it is hard to find common ground. But when there is a clear role, the 2 think differently and is ok with having their opponent have the final word or decision. Always the fewer in charge, the better.
I think the way we have defined these "roles" could possibly be challenged. Growing up in a single mother house meant that i was only really exposed to these binary role relationships. To define Armand and Albert as a good fit because they perform different roles i think is a stretch. Its not so much that the roles are dichotomized and assigned to either person, its that the roles are split equally and fairly. The stability comes from the fulfillment of the roles, not really by who performs them.