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| Scene from The Miseducation of Cameron Post |
There are two things that misunderstood in the text of director Desiree Akhavan's gay conversion therapy drama The Miseducation of Cameron Post. The first is a bit obvious: the queer teenagers who are being forced to try and believe a faithful Christian doctrine of heterosexuality. The feeling of being wrong about your own feelings is a tough thing to grapple with, and the film depicts it with such an honest that it becomes heartbreaking on a subliminal level. However, there's something else that's misunderstood in the film and it's something less apparent upon first glance: religion itself. With exception to what becomes referred to as emotional abuse, nobody in the film is inherently evil, just wishing to be seen in a good light by their family and friends. Yet it can only be achieved by sacrificing identity. With her sophomore film, Akhavan manages to get deeper into the psychological state of her characters and creates one of the most engrossing films about faith's relation to sexuality. There's no clear villain in the film, just a sense of misunderstanding each other.
The plot is kicked into gear by protagonist Cameron Post (Chloe Moretz), who is discovered in the backseat of a car at prom making out with a woman. It's a moment that would be embarrassing enough in a heterosexual context, but this throws her shame into a deeper confusion, as she's forced into a gay conversion therapy that sees her being taught to think of the world differently. In this world, nobody is gay. Some are just misdirected into not understanding how to process deeply confusing emotions. Considering how teenage bodies change, that's an understatement. There's already an insecurity and hostility towards the world, and Cameron merely wishes to escape the traps placed before her with the help of her friends, who also don't buy into the therapy for a moment. The head counselor, himself a convert, is probably still gay anyways, so why fight it?
What is smart about the film is that it never relies on the simple crutch of "faith is bad." In fact, there's little about religion interfering with sexuality throughout the entire film. It's merely a collective by which everyone gathers. There's a deeper sense that this is about being loved and understood for being yourself. It's the quest to find a way to be conventional and be open about a life that you could be proud of. Cameron doesn't find it in the camp, instead finding the chastised culture to be boring and restrictive, even cutting her from being able to play tapes by The Breeders, since they aren't singing to the lord. It's all a quest to get along with each other for the same reasons, but the issue is that nobody wants to do it that way.
What's powerful about Moretz's performance is that it's one of her most mature works to date, capturing the frustration of a teen who doesn't get the world around her. She stares into the confusing mess while dreaming of a normal life where she gets to be reckless and sing on top of tables. Instead, she's repressed even on a joy level that makes all of her emotions flutter inside, only coming out when it's night and the lights are out. Her dreams are full of those lesbian fantasies, her desires crop up inside and she just wants to express the without judgment. At points, Akhavan even depicts them in a sexual manner, albeit with a PG-13 visual approach. It's some of the film's most cathartic scenes because, for the first time, they're happy.
It's established earl on that Akhavan believes that gay conversion therapy doesn't work, which creates an even more interesting dynamic with the head counselor. If he's a convert and he's teaching others to repress their feelings, then what does that say about him? He is not a villain, nor does he get depicted in a way that suggests an evil. He's more seen as conflicted, scared to not be approved by the community that hired him. He finds solace in the "understanding" that he has, which is largely to talk with students in ways that are meant to be helpful, but are deeply insulting. Repress the thoughts, and things will get better. It's the way to go. However, it doesn't make anyone happier.
What makes this an interesting LGBT coming of age story is not only that it shows the inefficiency of gay conversion therapy, but at the hopelessness of fighting those urges. Throughout the entire film, nobody is inherently seen as evil besides for this reason. There's no sentimental sheen, and instead is depicted through an effective use of editing that shows the subconscious of the characters trying to fight the urges while eventually giving into them. The film's thesis is more about a society that wants order, but doesn't understand that part of it is to love each other for who they are. Again, Akhavan doesn't depict religion as evil but more something that overlooks the basic concerns of those it tends to help. It's innocent mistakes that keep the characters from bonding in meaningful ways. Nobody understands, and the issue is that nobody knows how to without hurting someone else.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a great indie drama that played at Sundance and is nuanced in its opinion. Where it could've just been a film that painted religion as evil, it is more obsessed with trying to understand emotional abuse as a more secular concept. Nobody is guilty, just misguided at times. Akhavan continues to be one of the most compelling voices in modern cinema, and one can hope that she continues to make provocative cinema exploring contemporary LGBT issues that matter in ways that are honest and intimate. With this film, she improves her craft in every meaningful way from editing to storytelling. She has created a world that is more familiar than the soapbox-pushing sentimentality that could come from stories like these. It does depict things honestly, and that alone is a triumph. It's a vital film about why it's important to listen instead of preach to people, regardless of what they do and do not like.
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