I Can’t Think Straight is a film by Shamim Sarif that attempts to deal with culture, religion, and sexuality within the period of an hour and fifteen minutes. The story tells the tale of Leyla, an Indian Muslim, who falls in love with Tala, a Jordanian Christian. Heavy on Orientalist porn and thin on a plot, the film was a major disappointment. Instead of actually providing a critical look into how being a lesbian would be impacted by culture or religion, it followed the formula for a romantic comedy with an “ethnic” twist.
Within the first 27 seconds of the movie, I was confronted with haunting tribal music, the image of a mosque, and the silhouette of a woman. This set the tone for one of the things that irritated me the most. The film made mention of political and religious sound bytes even within the beginning of the film. I hoped that these would only be light-hearted starting points for a strong conversation. Unfortunately, this did not really move in a progressive direction. Most of the characters in the film served as a cultural minstrel show, to provide a constant reminder of the “oppression” that both of these women were surrounded by.
The connection between Leyla and Tala seemed to be based upon a mutual existence as anomalies within a repressive culture. The conversations leading up to their relationship primarily revolved around representing them as outliers. Both Leyla and Tala were subjected to the eyes of demanding cultures and nagging mothers. This especially bothered me when the two women discuss men, generalizing the men from their respective cultures and giving the impression that Leyal and Tala were lesbians only because they rejected men. Other than these limited conversations, their courtship is limited to sound bytes that sound like dialogue from a pornographic film. I spent a great deal of time wondering when the lights would dim and the seductive music would begin.
The roles that the women played were also problematic. While they eventually interchanged, initially Tala was introduced in the way that Matthew McConaughey is usually introduced: someone who could not be tied down, on a fourth engagement, wildly independent, and the subject of many hushed whispers. Leyla, on the other hand, was very much like the prototype for the heroine of a romantic comedy: clumsy, strong-willed but unsure, with a hidden passion. Instead of creating an original story, the leads of a typical romantic comedy were switched with lesbians. This makes the assumption that traditional gender roles apply to any relationship, despite the nature of it.
The men in the film were also a source of problems for me, especially within the unraveling of the sexualities of these women. In general, the men in the film were either the source of sound bytes about Israel, suicide bombing, or forms of social propriety. This reinforced this idea that these women are lesbians because of the men around them, rather than depicting their sexuality as an innate quality.
Interestingly, the fathers of both women are the ones that are accepting of their sexualities in the end. While I thought this was a refreshing interpretation of men in predominately Muslim worlds, it was troubling on another level. In general, both fathers had more interaction with the western world, while the women were enveloped more in the traditional (and thus “backward”) world. Thus, I wondered if they were more progressive because they were more “westernized”. I felt this way about other male characters, including Sammy, who lives in New York, and Leyla’s boyfriend, Ali, raised in the United Kingdom.
The theme of East vs. West was always in the background, but never properly developed. I thought it was interesting that there were similar dynamics in the families of the two women. While I thought that this was a great representation of the diversity of struggles, it merely seemed to reduce “Eastern” cultures to monolithic and oppressive forces.
The film was light on actually discussing cultural conflicts, and this was very apparent in the scene that Leyla came out to her parents. Instead of a difficult moment that might show the actual hardships that would be faced by a lesbian Indian Muslim, we only hear Leyla’s mother screaming about hell, shame, and corruption. Cultural and religious issues were swept under the rug, only to be dealt with to keep our heroines apart long enough to realize their need to be together. It felt like there was a need to clumsily “solve” the cultural issues, so that we could return to the formula of how they would end up together again. Furthermore, the way in which they were settled were not only unrealistic, but unsatisfying and hardly any insight into the types of struggles that lesbians within that actual situation would experience.
Instead of a film that could have really analyzed an intersection between culture, religion, and sexuality, it felt lazy and reliant on the fact that the movie would be controversial no matter what. With a lack of character development, social context, or exploration of sincerely difficult issues, this movie ultimately left me disappointed. In the time spent with generic banter, cheesy montages, and recycled characters, this movie could have been the starting point for some profound conversations.
Tweet
These movies generally are poor on meaningful plots beyond the typical abstract concepts.
Thanks for the review, which is probably far better than the film could ever be.
“The theme of East vs. West was always in the background”
It seems – at least, in the trailer – that there is nothing about “East” in this film but only Western fantasies about what East might be.
I think there are some lesbians that actually practice Islam, some of them might not live in huge bourgeois flats, some of them might not be thin…
Those lesbians actually look like straight people and those Muslims actually look like non-Muslims.
So there’s nothing under the sun: it’s just one more stupid and very conventional romantic comedy, I guess, despite the eye-catching mix: lesbian+muslim women.
And by the way, “eye-catchy” for whom? Probably straight white males!
Interesting review. I have not watched the movie, but watched The World Unseen. Something that annoyed me about that was the way that apart from their names, their Muslim and Indian background was ignored or misrepresented. This included clothing and accents that was completely wrong for women who had according to the movie moved across from India seven years before, as well as a totally unrealistic depiction of a funeral which in no way resembled Muslim funeral in South Africa. So it is interesting that the oriental cultural imagery was so strong in this movie. I can only imagine that it was in part due to the oppressive apartheid theme in The World Unseen dominating- but was sad for me as South African Muslim Indian women are rarely depicted in film or television.
With the World Unseen too I felt that it could have been much more, but fell a little short.
@princesse de Clèves, islamogauchiste
“Those lesbians actually look like straight people and those Muslims actually look like non-Muslims.”
Whoa. I have to take major offense at that. As if there’s one way for Muslims or gay women to look.
It’s true that both of the actresses (Lisa Ray, Sheetal Sheth) are of Indian descent (problematic because the film casts Ray as Arab), and neither is Muslim, but religion and sexual orientation are not ethnically determined (religion can be; sexual orientation is never). It’s actually kind of cool that the Arab character is Christian, while the Indian character is Muslim, since it challenges the American assumption that all Arabs are Muslim and all Indians are Hindu (or not Muslim). There is absolutely no way to determine or deny someone’s religious or sexual identity by judging their physical appearance (“look like”), and to suggest that there is is only recognize as members of these groups those who fulfill some stereotypical image of what “Muslim” or “lesbian” “looks like.”
@ Melinda,
I was offended too when I read the “Those lesbians actually look like straight people and those Muslims actually look like non-Muslims.”
@ princesse de Clèves, islamogauchiste
How are Muslims and Lesbians “actually” suppose to look like? Or even, how do non-Muslims look? Perhaps you should clarify what you meant because that comment comes across as ignorant.
@ Melinda and Laila :
It was a deliberately provocative sentence.
I wanted to point out that there was no space in this film for those who look different from the dominant model of “femininity”.
A lesbian should not be different in her look from a straight woman to be fully accepted in a predominantly straight society.
And a Muslim woman should not be different in her look from a non-Muslim woman to be fully accepted in a predominantly non-Muslim society.
Both lesbians and Muslim women – as minorities – should coincide with the dominant model of “what-a-woman-should-be”.
This model exists – whether you like it or not, whether you realize it or not – and it does alienate and we do have to deconstruct it. Not even talking about women who are at the same time both Muslims and lesbians.
I actually don’t have a clue – and I don’t give a care of – how Muslims and lesbians should look like. I don’t want anybody to decide about how I should look like, so I would not decide for anybody neither.
I simply pointed out how this precise film wanted Muslim women and lesbians to look like : as smooth as the photoshop-ed pictures in straight women’s Western magazines.
I’m sorry that you’ve been offended but I’m very very glad you reacted.
Thanks for reading and for sharing your thoughts ; )
I have to disagree with the statement that this film “attempts to deal with culture, religion, and sexuality” (in any amount of time). I don’t think it makes any such attempts. Its goal is always to deliver the standard romantic comedy formula, for and about lesbians of color.
Now, it’s not a great film, by any stretch of the imagination, and it’s very valuable to talk about how a popular entertainment like this reinforces stereotypes and other negative messages. (I think there’s a lot to be said about the casting of Lisa Ray as an Arab character, for instance, as part of a larger trend that collapses Arab and South Asian cultures.)
But for me, to decry a cheesy popcorn flick like this for not being a serious exploration of those themes misses some larger context. Which is that there’s a serious lack of light-hearted entertainments about lesbians, especially lesbians of color, and as result there’s a deep-seated hunger for cheesy rom-coms like this that don’t make too much of the “big issues.”
Movies that do can easily fall into the trap of long-standing film traditions of showing both women of color and lesbians only as people who suffer, and suffer, and suffer some more. I think this film is heavy-handily trying to avoid that. (The writing doesn’t help.) If it has a thesis, it’s something like, “people like us exist and deserve romantic fluffy romantic comedies with people like ourselves as the leads.” (Um, except if you’re Arab.)
I do think a better-written film could have explored these topics in a more realistic way and still met its rom-com goals, but I think there’s some context for why the director only chose option 2. I’d be interested to know if the novel of the same name, which the director wrote, tackles the issues with any more depth.
That director, Shamim Sharif, has made herself something of a cottage industry telling similar stories in both novel and film form. I would argue (contrary to the comment above) that her target audience is pretty clearly other lesbians of color, and there she seems to have struck a nerve and met considerable success. (There are dozens of fanvids about Tala and Leila on YouTube.)
There probably is something to be said about who gets to speak–generationally–for communities, what it means to have a British woman of Indian descent telling stories set in the milieu of her family’s previous generations in South Africa, etc., especially in regards to some very good points this article raises some interesting points about Orientalism in the film, and the general theme of East v. West.
Re the treatment of men in this film, the idea that these women are lesbians because men in their respective cultures are awful never occurred to me; I thought both Ali and Hani, the hypothetic male romantic alternatives, were sympathetic if peripheral characters (much more so than usual in lesbian romantic comedies), the fathers were warmly portrayed, and the fact that Leila maintains a friendship with Ali after she comes out notable. I didn’t find those characters more “Westernized” than Leila or her sister; this piece almost makes me want to rewatch it and see if I change my mind. (Almost.)
@ Melinda and Laila–
Thank you.
So disappointed that this film didn’t turn out so well at it was loosely based on the director’s life… Is it wrong to have assumed that she would able to reflect the different facets more accurately as it was her life..??
@ Zahra (with a Z)
“Its goal is always to deliver the standard romantic comedy formula, for and about lesbians of color. [...] [The larger context] is that there’s a serious lack of light-hearted entertainments about lesbians, especially lesbians of color, and as result there’s a deep-seated hunger for cheesy rom-coms like this that don’t make too much of the ‘big issues.’ Movies that do can easily fall into the trap of long-standing film traditions of showing both women of color and lesbians only as people who suffer, and suffer, and suffer some more. If it has a thesis, it’s something like, ‘people like us exist and deserve romantic fluffy romantic comedies with people like ourselves as the leads.’”
Great point and well said. Thanks for bringing this up.
I am really really bad at responding to things on here! So you will have to excuse my procrastination.
Anyways, thanks for all of the comments.
@Zahra
Your post was incredibly insightful, and I definitely did not think about a lot of the things you spoke about. I think that I was definitely biased by my loathing of romantic comedies when I wrote this article.
In regards to the male characters, my point was that they were more “westernized” than their wives, not Leila and Tala.
@Arwa
A friend pointed out to me that the director’s cut has a more personal look at the situation.
@ Melinda
Thanks.
Zahra (with a Z):
I understand your point but slightly disagree. I think there have been several light-hearted rom-coms about lesbians of color but not a lot of serious films that go into complexities. “Nina’s Heavenly Delights”, “Chutney Popcorn” and “Saving Face” all have light-hearted endings where everything gets nicely wrapped up by the ending ( “Saving Face” being the best of the bunch I believe”). At the same time the other movies tend to focus only on white lesbians or the suffering element with bittersweet at best endings or tragedies at the end (Fire). The first three movies came across as way to cheesy and lacked depth for the most part, however they may have done much better with better budgets and writing. I guess my problem is the lack of balance, almost everything seems to be cotton candy or depressingly bitter.
@ Person
Thanks for continuing the conversation. I think we disagree on a couple of counts.
One, most films that feature lesbians or bisexual women of color, like “Nina’s Heavenly Delights” and “Chutney Popcorn” and many, many others, center on an interracial couple in which one woman is white. There are lots of reasons for this, and those films still do sometimes choose a woman of color as their protagonist, but I do think films in which both romantic leads are of color–like this one or Saving Face–fulfill a different need. I think that’s part of the gap Shamim Sharif and her partner, Hanan Kattan, who produces her films, are trying to fill.
Two: To me, three light-hearted (or four if you count this one) rom-coms really isn’t that much to choose from. You may disagree. But I think it’s dwarfed by the much wider choices available for people who are white and straight (or even, say, Batman fans), and that the reality is these films are often only available at film festivals, unlike “mainstream” rom-coms.
I definitely agree with you that there’s a need for films that don’t fall on the extremes of the “cotton candy” to “she commits suicide at the end” axis. (I suspect Shamim Sharif was aiming for that middle spectrum with The World Unseen.) For me, personally, Saving Face did this very well within the rom-com format; I didn’t feel like it skimped on the hard parts of the story, and the happy ending felt earned. I just think there’s context for why new filmmakers serving a deeply underserved population might aim for the shallow end first.
Many of these filmmakers–including Nisha Ganatra, who made Chutney Popcorn, are on record asserting that they deliberately chose to make a feel-good film out what could have been a much more serious subject. In think part of that is an interest in fulfilling a communal desire for escapism, which has always been one of the functions of film, but which LGBT people sometimes feel more sharply, simply because outside rom-coms like these it’s often difficult to be a lesbian or bisexual woman.
Anecdotally, I can’t tell you how many times I have walked out of one of those films and heard someone say “It’s so nice to see a film in which nothing bad happens,” which I think speaks to the expectations of the audience. These fluff films might be becoming more common, but many viewers are still expecting something like the Malayalam-language film Sancharram (aka The Journey), which (while quite lovely) is much more on the serious/unhappy side of the continuum.
I also think some filmmakers of color are deliberately fighting “x people are so much more homophobic than white people” stereotypes, and happy endings help do that.
@ Sara
I’m so glad you found my post insightful. And I’m sorry you had to suffer through this film if you don’t like romantic comedies! It would be like making someone who doesn’t like horror or action movies sit through some terrible sequel in the genre.