Go Fish Film Analysis

1593 Words7 Pages
Before the 1994 film Go Fish, lesbian films traditionally were tragic. An accident would befall the lesbian, killing her, in films like The Fox (1967) and The Children’s Hour (1961), or she would reject lesbianism and turn toward men (Personal Best, 1982). The films punished lesbians for their sexuality and illegitimatized their identity by presenting it as a phase. Go Fish shatters that mold by presenting a relatively drama-free film about the everyday lives of lesbians and the lesbian community. In the first scene of Go Fish, a women studies’ professor, Kia, leads her class in speculating which historical figures, celebrities, and fictional characters are lesbians. One of the students inquires to the purpose of the exercise. Kia explains Throughout lesbian history, there has been a serious lack of evidence that’ll tell us what these women’s lives are truly about. Lesbian lives and lesbian relationships, they barely exist on paper. And it is with that in mind and understanding the meaning and power of history that we begin to want to change history. This opening statement drives one of the major themes of the film. Lesbian cinema’s goal should be the documentation of lesbian issues and feelings at that period, a snapshot of the time in order for further generations to use it as an impetus for change. The director of Go Fish, Rose Troche, positions her film as a historical account and stylistically presents her film as a documentary to accurately reflect what she sees as the authentic lesbian identity. The film has a documentary-like atmosphere. Troche shot the film in black and white. The audio is not always synchronized with the video, and one character acknowledges the camera by directly winking at it. After the film opens with Kia’s class discussing the importance of lesbian documentation, the camera follows Max walking in her apartment, sitting on her
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