Full Circle - Bold Female Relationships to Normal Family
Bold female friendships challenge society’s existing family structure in Boys on the Side. In this film Jane and Robin’s friendship is so bold that it actually borders on a gay-relationship. These two women appear as part of a couple when Jane is in the hospital and lifts and repositions Robin, or when Robin started to sing at a party but was not strong enough to finish so Jane joined her. Jane and Robin loved and respected one another and a part of me had hoped that they would end up together, romantically.
In order to reground this film in the existing social structure a new family system evolves at the end. Holly, who has almost been like a child to Jane and Robin, is pregnant but manages to meet and fall in love with Abe, a local police officer. In this relationship we watch as Holly takes on a submissive woman role that is demonstrated after her trial when she is given two options for her sentence and says that she will do what Abe wants. In the final scenes of the film Abe, Holly and the baby show up to visit Jane and Robin. This family system seems to demonstrate what “normal� is and I found that it gave me hope (which when further considered makes me kind of sick).