The LGBT Center will host a screening and discussion of Sordid Lives on Friday.
In the film Sordid Lives, a dysfunctional family is the brute of comedic entertainment and proves that some families function best with chaos.
The LGBT Center will host the next installment of the film through its Queer Hollywood series and discussion Friday at 4 p.m. in the center.
Sordid Lives is a dark comedy about a Texan family coming together after the unexpected loss of the matriarch of the family.
“It shows what it means to come out in the south in a family that upholds heterosexuality but has it’s own issues with sexuality that they’re dealing with,” delfin bautista, the director of the LGBT Center, said.
The film stars Olivia Newton-John, known for her role in Grease, and Beau Bridges from the 1970s hit The Landlord.
Daulton Lochran, a freshman studying meteorology, said many southern families are just as dysfunctional as the one shown in the film.
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="170272a4-fc28-11e5-9bf8-6f7ce346eb1d"}}
The sexual orientation of characters in the film is not the central focus, but instead just a part of the family dynamic, bautista said. Many people wrestle with what to do when home is not a welcoming or safe place. bautista added that the character in the film who is gay struggles with the idea of home, and what it means for him as he returns to his home there from the big city for the funeral.
“A lot of the characters in the film are characters in our own families,” bautista, who uses they/them pronouns and the lowercase spelling of their name, said.
Reagan Main, a freshman studying English and creative writing, said she hopes the film has a good representation of the queer community but is concerned because there have been problems with portrayal in the past.
“(The trailer) seems a bit cheesy,” Main said.
The film is different from the documentaries and dramas that have been previously shown through the Queer Hollywood series this semester. bautista said intersectional conversations have formed from this series and generated powerful awareness among those who have seen it.
bautista said Sordid Lives will bring laughter to the center with tricky, dark humor.
“We need opportunities to also laugh and be silly,” they said. “Yes there are important issues that we need to talk about, but there is also the importance of laughter and conversations.”
@lynanneclaire
lv586814@ohio.edu
