Mark sold this to me as A Lesbian Movie! Which I suppose is technically correct according to the Bechdel/Wallace test,* because right at the end a woman asks a thirteen year old girl what grade she’s in. But ultimately it’s about the spiritual and emotional sterility and soullessness of non-reproductive sex and the potential redemption to be achieved through reproductive sex. 

Not very lesbian at all. 

Any better suggestions? In 1985, Bechdel/Wallace identified Alien as a prototypical lesbian movie because the two women in it get to talk to eachother about the monster. Has there been anything since then? 

*The Bechdel test [from Wikipedia]

The [Dykes to Watch Out For] strip popularized what is now known as the Bechdel test, also known as the Bechdel/Wallace test, the Bechdel rule, or Bechdel’s law. [Alison] Bechdel credits her friend Liz Wallace for the test, which appears in a 1985 strip entitled “The Rule”, in which a character says that she only watches a movie if it satisfies the following requirements:

1. It has to have at least two women in it,
2. Who talk to each other,
3. About something besides a man.

Tonight M. and I went to visit Anne and Claire for pizza and a video.

The pizza was exactly what I expected of pizza and I was pleased.

The movie (”Sugar Sweet”) was exactly what I would have expected of an out lesbian’s first feature commissioned for $40k by a straight Japanese porn channel, and I was pleased. It was funny; featured smart and attractive characters that resembled people I know; presented a utopia of lesbian community in Japan that the director explicitly stated does *not* exist; was intercut with hot sex scenes whether or not they bore any relation to plot; the screen was entirely devoted to asians, most of whom were lesbians; and was followed by the filmmakers interviewing each other. I was pleased.

What’s not to like about pizza and cheese?

M. didn’t like it; he thought it was like a student film. Whatever: I don’t see any relationship between the two observations. Besides, in my experience student films are much shorter. In the interview the filmmakers had been quite straightforward that straight men watching their movie appeared to be less than enthusiastic; they thought this was funny but not unexpected. M. fit right in with the crowd in this respect. He’s certainly entitled: I fit right in with the crowd myself often enough. (Note that the possession of a penis is not the only impediment to the enjoyment of Sugar Sweet. Anne and Claire didn’t like it either. I was entirely alone in my delight tonight.)

M. went on to inform me that I only liked it because I thought it was ideologically correct. Which comment I was so furious at him for that he isn’t coming home tonight. I don’t know what he plans to do instead and I don’t care. (Anne and Claire refrained from telling me what I thought. Anne often tells me what she thinks, and I listen, but she has never told me what I think. Claire is more discreet, preferring to listen and learn. We parted with kisses and hugs and promises of more movies.)

***

SUGAR SWEET
http://www.seattlequeerfilm.com/02/films/sugar.html

Desiree Lim, the first out queer filmmaker in Japan to direct a lesbian feature, turns in a delightfully sassy, saucy and sexy feature debut. Naomi is an aspiring TV director who pays the bills by directing lesbian porn. Her callous male bosses deride her work for its unsuitability for male viewers, and her lesbian friends see her as a sellout. Her only confidante is “Sugar,” a secret chat-room friend on the Internet. When Naomi gets a chance to direct an episode of a popular “matchmaking” TV show, she casts her friend Azusa, who’s experiencing lesbian bed death with her long-term girlfriend and looking to spice up her life. Romantic sparks fly on the set – scorching even Naomi! Can she keep her job, her dreams and Sugar – especially Sugar – online? Delightful and whimsical, SUGAR SWEET creates a fascinating, fun girl world of sex toys, gossip and romance.

***

Oh, and yesterday M. was really angry with me for finding the link below distasteful (”It’s culture”; culture is immutable, constant, unchanging; because culture is entirely resistant to thought in general and Dutch culture is resistant to my thought in particular, I am wrong to find buffoons in blackface distasteful; by persisting in my wrongness when instructed to immediately desist, I am demonstrating a profound lack of education and intellectual depth and honesty). And no, I didn’t say “This is gross” or “Dutch people suck” or “Holland is a racist country.” I said “I find this distasteful.”

http://portal.omroep.nl/sinterklaas2003?0FlashV=6

I need help.

[originally transmitted by e-mail November 30, 2003]