The Bird Cage, Starring Nathan Lane and Robbin Williams is a film that explores societies views of homosexuals through the medium of humor. By creating outrageously stereotyped homosexual men, the director, Mike Nichols creates an awareness in his viewers of the biases and stereotypes that they hold . The two gay male leads, Albert and Armand are owners of a nightclub in South Beach Florida. Armand (played by Robin Williams) is in a long-term relationship with Albert (played by Nathan Lane). Armand has a grown son, Val, from a previous marriage. Trouble starts when Val announces his engagement to a girl named Barbara that he met at school. It turns out that Barbara's father is an ultraconservative United States Senator. He wants to meet his future son-in-law along with his family. After much debate it is decided that both Armand and Albert will be included in the meeting of the bride's parents. To avoid makinga bad immpression Val's biological mother is invited to pretend that she is still happily married to Armand. This offends Albert, who decides to dress as a woman to play the part of Val's mother. In the end all is discovered and the conservative couple are forced to accept that their daughter will be marrying into an "alternative" family.
Every sexual orientation and lifestyle is explored in this film, through each individual character. Albert plays the emotional, insecure, flighty homosexual male. Armand plays the part of a more reserved, logical, manly homosexual. The Senator is a conservative, political white man who claims to be interested in family values and morality. Both he and his wife are upper class snobs, who do not want to associate with "commoners." Armands first wife plays the part of a desperately horny, divorced woman. Val and Barbara are the only couple that would be deemed "normal" by society. The two show no outlandishc or unusual characteristicsl.
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