Sexuality in Chasing Amy
"I feel justified Lying in your arms, because I got here on my own
terms and I have no question that there was someplace I didn’t
look. For me, that makes all the difference."
Directed by Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats), Chasing Amy is
the final installment in the "New Jersey" Trilogy. Smith has
followed the outstanding success of his previous two movies with a
film that is a blend of both; a cross between the slapstick humour of
Mallrats and the ‘parodic realism’ of Clerks. Chasing Amy works
on many levels, from juvenile humour to sub cultural microcosms
to questions of sexuality.
The film follows Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck), who falls in
love with a lesbian, Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams). Set in the
comic book culture of New York, all the major characters are comic
artists. Holden McNeil is portrayed as a conservative twenty-
something who is bound by rigid ideas of what is ‘standard’; he is
governed by his stereotypes.
Alyssa Jones is the most contentious character in the film,
and focus of this essay. She writes a comic, "Idiosyncratic
Routine". She has experienced all there is to experience in her
search for her sexuality and is portrayed as a "non-agenda, male
friendly lesbian", by Holden’s friend Banky (Jason Lee).
Various critics have either praised or loathed this film, seen
by some to be about empowerment and the transcendence of love
over gender. Others see the film as misogynist, representing
Smith’s basic hatred of women. Devin O’Leary criticizes "that
Alyssa's sexuality is something to be considered, worried about and
judged--it's the subject of a whole movie" while Holden's simply
is. " Alyssa’s sexuality is seen as a "cute little obstacle" to their
love, which eventually prevails.
Smith’s basic premise is that love is metaphysical between
two people, that it should be the person or personality that we fall
in love with, regardless of the body that houses it. He talks of
Alyssa’s experimentation, that she was not ‘given a map at birth’,
so she tried everything, and settled for lesbianism.
This is the first of the two issues in the film I will deal with.
Alyssa made the choice to be a lesbian. She went on a conscious
search for her sexuality, found what she felt most comfortable with
and chose to be a lesbian.
Holden: Because girls feel right.
Alyssa: Well that’s the way I feel.
The issue of choice that is raised in the film is interesting, as
it suggests that for Alyssa, lesbianism was not a given, it was a
social rather than biological/genetic construction. Claudia Card
(1992), provides insight into the ‘choice’ of lesbianism. She defines
the term "lesbians" (the adjective as it applies to women, desires,
fantasies, relationships) as defined to a great extent by interaction
between individuals and institutions’ . But she does not ‘hold
lesbians (referent of the noun "lesbian") to be entirely constructed
by social interaction. The concept of oppression seems to ...
presuppose beings who are not totally constructed by the
institutions that nurture or oppress them.’
Card’s article is expressively about the choice of lesbianism
as a lifestyle. Card positions the term ‘choice’ to mean ‘option’ and
the ‘(intentional) act of choosing. She politicizes the choosing of
lesbianism as it frees woman from potential masochism that is
involved in heterosexual bonding. Card maintains that having
lesbian options is important to women as ‘they promise a certain
integrity of emotional response with political belief and thus
facilitate political comment.’ She rationalizes that the integrity
involved depends on a feeling of liberation in making the choice.
She maintains that although the choice of lesbianism can free
women from domination, in order to feel liberated they must
develop potentialities that enable positive possible choices that
extend the range of freedom and compensating privileges.
Applying this idea to the film, Alyssa had experienced all
the choices available to her (or at least all the choices that she was
aware of). She experienced all she could in order to explore
possibilities and discover new choices. She eventually found what
is described in the film as lesbianism. It felt right, she made a moral
and political (as all our actions have political repercussions) choice
to inhabit that option, however according to Card it eliminated
other options. Once the choice was made, Card maintains that it is
morally and politically difficult to return to heterosexuality due to
the costs involved, such as estrangement.
In the film however, Alyssa does seem to return to
heterosexuality. Granted, it is with difficulty and soul searching.
The relationship with Holden does not work however, as he can
not reconcile her past with his experience. Holden says that he
wants them to be something they can’t be, a normal couple. In his
opinion, his relationship is not ideal, he is after his conception of
normality. Alyssa returns to a female partner.
Card points out that choices made are often negatively
defined, what a person doesn’t do. Alyssa as a lesbian doesn’t sleep
with men. Alyssa as a lesbian doesn’t sleep with men. The power of
the availability of choice resides in their potential positive meanings,
which are realizable through innovative social practice in a
community with others.
Card cites a case study of a woman called Renee . In many
ways she is identical to Alyssa. Like Alyssa she had slept and
experimented with both male and female partners before deciding
on women. Card raises the point that some would label Renee as
bisexual. Alyssa identifies as lesbian, yet has slept with men in the
past, her identity would seem to be secure, until she starts to see
Holden. This would seem to denote bisexuality.
Card does her utmost to provide us with a narrative
describing why the choice of lesbianism is so empowering; the costs
and rewards Alyssa receives, having made the choice, and the
moral and political creation and destruction of further choices in
life.
While this analysis does shed some light into the complexity
of politics of lesbianism, it does not get us very far in
understanding Alyssa. If the choice is so important, why did she
renounce it for Holden? Didn’t she close that option when she
chose to be, or realized that she was, a lesbian? If Alyssa was
written as an authentic lesbian character, she would not be sexually
attracted to Holden. In an attempt to try and understand Alyssa’s
ambiguity, we will use Amber Ault’s (1996) paper looking at
ambiguous identity in an unambiguous sex/gender structure.
Lesbian friend 1: Doesn’t this true but wonderful have a name?
Alyssa: Holden.
*shock & silence*
Lesbian friend 2: Well ... here’s to the both of you ... another on
bites the dust.
Looking at Alyssa as a woman who has made a choice to become a
lesbian does not help us reconcile her conflicting choice in the film.
What then, if she is not truly a lesbian? It could be that she is in fact
bisexual, and identifies as lesbian for social acceptance.
Bisexuality challenges the binary nature of Western ideals of
sex/gender/sexuality; of either/or paradigms. Straight or gay, gay
or lesbian, male or woman. It constitutes a social category that
depends upon the contestation between the dominant and
marginalized for its own existence, while it is populated by social
actors who eschew the binary systems of categorization. The
category of bisexuality exists outside the limiting confines of the
structures of sexuality we are familiar with. Does it then subvert or
transcend these structures?
Bisexual women are stigmatized by heterosexual society and
the feminist lesbian community. They are seen to be lesbians who
are unaware of their lesbian identities (Card would maintain that
they are unaware of the choice that is available, hence rendering it
a ‘dead’ option), or women on a "bi now, pay later scheme" . They
are thought to be unauthentic in their sexuality, that someone
cannot feel like sleeping with men for one half of the week, and
women the other half. Arguments such as this are obviously naïve
and intolerant.
As a response, many bisexual women use assimilation to
reduce social difference between homosexual and bisexual
sexuality positions. Many bisexual women use labels that position
their sexuality into an ambiguous position, such as ‘dyke’ or
‘queer’, allowing them to move in lesbian and gay circles without
being stigmatized or being seen to promote a ‘bi agenda’. This
suppression of features of bisexual identity reinforce the visibility
and viability of the heterosexual/homosexual binary.
This may provide us with a reason as to why Alyssa
identifies as lesbian and gay in the film, but is sufficiently attracted
to Holden to risk ostracization from her friends and the lesbian
community. It seems more likely that Alyssa is in fact bisexual and
identifies as lesbian is order for her to participate in the lesbian
community. Stigmatized by both the straight and homosexual
community, she faces the choice of repositioning herself so that she
may gain acceptance in one or the other, or proclaiming her
bisexuality with pride and closing the door on many future
‘choices’. In fact, her explanation for her love of Holden, and the
methods she used in order to reach the understanding of this
explanation suggest that she is indeed positioned as other in
relation to the gay/straight binary. The initial quote in this essay
suggests that Alyssa was not contented to be constricted by
Western binaries in the search for love, that for her these binaries
were not applicable.
Ault talks about the positioning of bisexual women as ‘other’
by both lesbians and heterosexuals. Since 1990, however, a term
that has gained in popularity, ‘queer’, is increasingly being used to
describe all those who are not heterosexual. This construct enables
all ‘not-heterosexuals’ to band together as a group, without
identities such as bisexuality and transgendered being
marginalized and become invisible, lending credence to the
hetero/homo divide. Bisexual visibility as a group that is not just
‘other’, and is rather a group that cannot be adequately positioned
on traditional structures, promotes a new dualism of queer/non-
queer. While we have been having trouble understanding Alyssa’s
sexuality using traditional frameworks, we have no such trouble
here. She is clearly positioned as queer in this new binary.
Bisexual discourse has attempted reverse categorization of
bisexuals and transforms both groups guilty of stigmatization into
positions of other. To this end, another new binary,
monosexual/bisexual exists. Bisexuals are those who do not limit
themselves to one sex or gender and one only, they are open to all
possibilities offered. Monosexuals are seen as those who make a
conscious choice to limit themselves to the prospect of fulfillment
with only one gender. This binary also allows Alyssa to be
accounted for. She is clearly bisexual in relation to Holden, who is
monosexual.
I have tried to explore in this essay, what I feel is a problem
with the film, Chasing Amy. The pivotal moment, when Alyssa
runs through the rain, back to Holden after he has chosen to ignore
the label that she had given herself, seems to me to be unauthentic.
Smith’s rationalization is that love should be metaphysical and
transcend the boundaries of body.
Analysis via Card’s paper reads this moment as improbable.
That Alyssa has invested too much, has gone too far and is too
comfortable to go back on her moral and political choice; to
disavow all that she had stood for. Did Alyssa position herself as
lesbian for social reasons, to gain acceptance and enter a
community, or did she position herself as lesbian because she
wasn’t aware of the option of bisexuality, or was not prepared to
change her perceived options.
I think that the difficulty in answering these questions lies in
the methodology and structures we use to analyze them.. the
heterosexual/homosexual divide, with bisexuality hovering
somewhere in between. As soon as we analyze the film through
either of Ault’s monosexual/bisexual or queer/non-queer
frameworks, Alyssa makes complete sense. I think that is a major
issue that can be read from the film, to introduce theses new
paradigms. That the problem audiences and critics have with
Alyssa’s actions point out the inadequacies of the techniques we
use to identify sexuality.
I believe that a thorough reading of the film with these new
paradigms absolves the problem I initially had with Alyssa’s
character. How do these new paradigms relate to ‘real life’
however? Film is a representation of ideas and values held by a
society or a portion of society. Even at an implicit level, this film
makes some impact onto the way people think about gender and
sexuality. As gender and sexuality begin to shift away from
traditional roles, doesn’t it also make sense that our descriptions
and conceptions of sex and gender should similarly evolve?
Bibliography
Primary References
Smith, K (director). (1997). Chasing Amy. View Askew Films.
Card , C, PhD. (1992). Lesbianism and Choice. Journal of
Homosexuality, 23(3), 39-49
Ault, A. (1996). Ambiguous Identity in an Unambiguous
Sex/Gender Structure: The Case of Bisexual Women. Sociological
Quarterly 37 (3), 449 - 463.
O’Leary, D.D. (1997). Chasing Amy. Weekly Wire’s Film Vault,
http://www.desert.net/filmvault/alibi/c/ChasingAmy_f.html.
Secondary References
Kurdek, L.A. (1995). Assessing multiple determinants of
relationship commitment in cohabiting gay, cohabiting lesbian, dating
heterosexual, and unmarried couples. Family, Relations, 44, 261-266.
Maccoby, E.E. (1990). Gender and Relationships. American
Psychologist, 45, 538-539.
Eidelson, R. J. (1981). Affiliative rewards and restrictive costs in
developing relationships. British Journal of Social Psychology, 20 (3),
197-204.