The Miseducation of Cameron Post
Directed by Desiree Akhavan
Starring Chloë Grace Moretz, Sasha Lane, John Gallagher, Jr., Jennifer Ehle
Running time: 1 hour 31 minutes
Not rated
by Jaime Davis, The Fixer
"The world may think I'm foolish
they can't see you like I can
Oh
but anyone
who knows what love is
will understand." - Irma Thomas
The heartbreaking lyrics of Irma Thomas' 1964 ballad, Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Would Understand), greet us as we meet Cameron Post for the first time, a relatively normal 11th grader from a normal religious family going through her normal everyday life. She does all the regular teen stuff teens might do: attends bible study, hangs with her friends, watches movies, listens to music, and makes out with her best friend, a girl, named Coley. And maybe in 2018, this doesn't seem very shocking - oooh a girl making out with another girl! But in The Miseducation of Cameron Post, we're watching things unfold in 1993 time. I think for some, the 1990's seemed like a very carefree period, but let's take a beat - the 90's were not as friendly to LGBT folks as we may like to remember.
And the world Cameron Post inhabits does not take kindly to her inclinations. She attends prom with her boyfriend, and at the end of the night Coley and Cameron sneak off, only to be caught in a very compromising position by her bf. For many, this wouldn't be quite the damaging scenario, but for Cameron, she's immediately shipped off to God's Promise by her guardian (her parents both having died some years prior), a boarding school featuring conversion therapies for young adults who suffer from "same-sex attraction" or what some of the students call SSA. God's Promise is run with a velvet fist by Reverend Rick, who also struggled with SSA, and his cold sister Dr. Lydia Marsh, who apparently cured Rick of his affliction. Dr. Lydia's therapy is based around the idea that there is no such thing as homosexuality - SSA is just a symptom of a much larger problem. To get to the heart of the matter they start by examining what they call "the iceberg" - the series of issues dealt with since adolescence that could be linked to their SSA. Dr. Lydia's thesis sounds an awful lot like Scientology to me. In L. Ron's world, there's no such thing as a need for psychiatry or psychiatric labels. The bulk of one's mental problems are actually spiritual in nature and can be cured through - you guessed it - examining the series of issues dealt with since adolescence that could be linked to whatever a person's particular problems are. Well isn't that special (said in Dana Carvey SNL Church Lady voice - there's a 90's reference for ya!).
In 1993, I started the process of becoming confirmed in the Catholic church. Confirmation, in basics, just means that you're transitioning from a Catholic child to a full-fledged Catholic adult in the church's eyes, and should, therefore, come correct. So as part of the confirmation process, you attend weekly classes and go on hokey retreats where yes, someone busts out a guitar at some point ("Kids love acoustic guitars!" said every Catholic priest in the 90's, everywhere). And then there's like a ceremony where you dress up and stuff (I wore a very unfortunate jumpsuit in a beige linen that to this day, reminds me of a burlap sack - whatttt was I thinking) and pick a saint to embody. I picked Saint Helena, who I didn't know was an actual saint or not, I just liked the name and knew it was an island. You have to also talk about WHY you picked that saint and I honestly couldn't tell you what I made up (omg am I going to hell for this? I'm going to hell for this.) {Editor's note: excuse her, that's just the residual Catholic guilt talking}. In the mid 90's, there was no such thing as Google to confirm or deny the existence of a Saint Helena so I kept my fingers crossed and miraculously, that shit was approved. (Ok, phew, I just did a search and THERE is indeed a real Saint Helena. Maybe I'll just get sent to the Inbetween?)
Anyway.
What I learned from my confirmation classes is this: in many cases, not all, religious organizers will tell you whatever they want to get you to conform to their wishes. To live the doctrine as they see fit. In my particular case, my breaking point with the Catholic church came in two swift kicks to the stomach around the same time: my birth mother, who married my father in the Catholic church and is veryyyy Catholic (like, goes-to-church-multiple-days-a-week Catholic) decided later in life, after remarrying and having three more children, that she wanted to get her first marriage to my dad officially annulled by the church (even though they were legally divorced, obvi). Now I don't remember whyyyy she wanted to do this but it was important to her because it was fulfilling the church's wishes in some way. Fine. But what I distinctly remember is that she told me that when you annul a marriage it also basically discredits any children who came from that marriage. So...cool? Like, does that mean I'm not really valid? May I be excused? Maybe I'm exempt from the whole heaven/hell thing after all? The second breaking point came when my confirmation priest, bent on promoting teen abstinence at any cost, told our class that it was ok to masturbate because Jesus did. I'm sorry sir, do you have the receipts on that? Because...umm, well never mind. I don't want any concrete proof that he did. And I bet you there ain't none. My confirmation priest is also not even a priest anymore; I hear he's living with his boyfriend/husband/partner in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, so I'm glad he's living his best life now.
Luckily for me, leaving the Catholic church wasn't a big deal in my immediate family. I finished getting confirmed because I knew it was important to my grandma, but after that, I was out. I didn't stand with their views on birth control or abstinence or homosexuality or divorce or children of divorce. My Catholicism didn't define me so it was an easy decision to excommunicate myself. And since coming out it's become even more clear that it was the right decision for me; I've been to church a few times but leave every time with the same feeling of just...no. It just feels wrong to me. I have a couple aunts who are very closely affiliated to their Christian faith, have refused to accept that I'm gay. They say I'm just "confused" - and not to me, thank the lort, they've only said this to my mother. But you can bet your sweet blessed butt that I won't be talking to them anytime soon about it. I guess I'm just "confused" about whether or not I need to explain myself to them. Oh wait, I'm not. I don't have to do shit.
But what about people who identify as LGBT but who are also highly connected to their faith? How can we be spiritual or religious but also very fucking gay, or a little gay, or wherever you fall on the spectrum? How do we rectify what we've been taught by families, or friends, or close communities within a church or parish or temple or synagogue or mosque with who we are inside? I realize not every organized religion is anti-gay but we're still fighting the good fight for the most part. How do religious folks in faith-based orgs that aren't accepting process the information they're given about homosexuality?
For Cameron Post, her option is to resist quietly. At God's Promise, she chooses to keep her head down and do what she can to survive the joint. Oh yeah, there's an adjustment period at first while she comes to terms with the isolation, the abandonment of it all. She manages to make friends with two of the more outcast-y folks at the school, and it's a relief when there isn't any overt romance in the story between Cameron and any other characters. Not that I think a romance would be a bad thing...for some reason the quiet tone of the film matches Cameron's general exterior - gray, subdued. I think a romantic subplot would have taken away from it in some way. It's hopeful to see Cameron just make friends with people who understand her. Simply. Purely. No questions asked. I want to see Cameron get to the other side intact, not fractured with her homosexual side cut up to pieces.
And I guess I have all of these hopes for Cameron because yes, I just feel for the way the character is written, but a lot of this is also because Chloë Grace Moretz is fantastic in this. She's gotten a lot of respect and adoration during her career thus far, but for me, she always seems to play characters very similarly - snarky with a side of badass. Now I haven't seen her entire filmography so I realize I'm operating on like, half the information needed to make any kind of real evaluation of her acting style. But I will say this - you love Cameron Post because Chloë quietly and heartbreakingly makes you. Jennifer Ehle is also great (is she ever not, though?) and you will no doubt love/hate her as Dr. Lydia as much as I did. Sasha Lane and Forrest Goodluck, as Cameron's new GP friends, are radiant talents with previous buzzy debuts (Lane in American Honey, Goodluck in The Revenant) and they round out the cast so nicely. And speaking of buzzy, director Desiree Akhavan's debut feature, Appropriate Behavior, deals with a similar theme of acceptance of self when battling acceptance within a particular community. I'm so excited to see more from her in the future.
There are some small, funny 90's references that might garner a chuckle or two (Columbia House! The Breeders! That awful 4 Non Blondes song I hate!) and a tiny bit of fun made at the expense of organized religion (wait for the Blessercize! part. It's fun times), but for the most part the film is hushed and reverent - respectful of Cameron, her friends, and their true identities. If I could talk to Cameron's family, or if I felt the need to talk to some of mine, I think I would just play them the Irma Thomas song. Because the world may think we're foolish, they can't see some like we can, oh, but anyone, like you, if you know what love is, you'll understand.