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Review: The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018)
I quite enjoyed this movie. It covered a heavy topic, but the movie didn't feel so heavy that it was hard to watch. I really felt like I was experiencing things alongside our teenage protagonist Cameron Post.
Spoilers.
Story
The movie is about Cameron Post being sent to a Christian conversion therapy center. There, she struggles between subscribing to the principles set out by the instructors at the center, and retaining her sense of self.
Things change when one of the boys there self-mutilates and nearly died. That put the center under scrutiny. At the end, Cameron Post and her friends Jane and Adam ran away from the center.
The story was rather tight. Technically we just followed Cameron in her daily life at God's Promise, but all of those small things contributed to how she felt about the place. I'll talk about this later, but I also liked how Cameron was written. I was expecting Cameron to be extremely combative and confrontational, but I liked how the story showed that Cameron did try to follow the instructions at the center, to see if maybe it was better for her. She even made friends among the hardcore Christians. She still opted not to subscribe to the beliefs of God's Promise, but I don't think that meant that she hated everything about it. Before Cameron, Jane, and Adam left, it really seemed to me that Cameron liked Rick as a person.
I'm definitely not trying to say that gay conversion therapy centers are good. I'm trying to say that sometimes people can find community in unlikely situations, but even then, sometimes leaving is healthier for them.
Production
The movie was pretty short, and I liked how it was focused and not drawn out. We had flashbacks, but in general, I felt like I was experiencing things real time with Cam. So I really sympathized with her. She was technically kind of a spectator, as she wasn't super involved in the activities at the center, but she did go through her own journey.
I was questioning whether the sexual content in the movie was something I was comfortable with. There was a scene in which Cam and her roommate Erin had sex in the dark. I understand the point of the scene. I'm not against that sort of content when it makes sense in the context in the story.
There was also that dream that Cam had about havign sex with Coley. In that scene, we actually got some nudity from Coley, which I was a tad weirded out by, because Coley is supposed to be a teenager (even if the actress is an adult). I guess it's just that in light of a recent underage sex scandal, I am sensitive to how underage sexual content is handled.
Characters
Cameron Post
Cameron was our main character but she seemed to prefer going by Cam, so I guess I should start calling her Cam more. Cam was sent to the gay conversion therapy center by her Aunt Ruth who was a devout Christian.
She wasn't a particularly strong-willed girl. I was expecting her to be very combative against Rick and Lydia, but it tends to be those who get won over by proselytizers. Cam just tried to make it through life day by day, and tried to stay off the radar of the authorities.
At times, Jane and Adam even felt that she was fitting into the system. That wasn't necessarily true. It's just while the ideologies of the gay conversion therapy center were bad, at the very least, Cam made friends in her new life.
At the same time, Cam never let go of herself. She retained her regular hobbies liek running, and joined Jane and Adam to grow and smoke weed lol.
She did let go of Coley, but that was after she found out that it was Coley that turned her in. We don't know how Coley would've gone from loving Cam to saying such terrible things to her. Maybe Coley was pressured to distance herself from Cam. In any case, Coley wasn't there for Cam when Cam needed it.
I'll talk about this below in the themes section, but Cam didn't seem super sexually active. She had shown attraction to one (1) girl that she really liked and that landed her in this center. Following Cam in her daily life made me think about how sexuality doesn't make up a person. Sexuality is part of a person, but Cam was far more than just someone who was attracted to girls.
Cam's parents both died, and she was being taken care of by her aunt, who had sent her to the converstion therapy center. When Cam was feeling very stressed, she called her Aunt to ask if she could take her home, but Ruth said Cam needed to get better. Up to that point, I think that Ruth was the person that Cam trusted the most, but she now knew that Ruth was not going to help her with this. She was now on her own, and that hurt.
I generally just liked how level headed Can was. She came to her own conclusions about things instead of just following others blindly. And those came out at the end when she had the one-on-one session with Rick, and when she was questioned by the investigator. Superficially, she felt safe at the center in terms of physical safety, but what Lydia and Rick were teaching at the center made no sense and was dangerous.
I think Cam felt fine leaving the center because there was nothing in her old life for her anymore. Her Aunt Ruth had wanted the conversion therapy center for her, and Coley had turned her back on her. But she had two trustworthy friends in Jane and Adam. No matter what happens, they will figure it out with each other's support.
Aunt Ruth
Aunt Ruth was taking care of Cam. She was the one who sent Cam to the conversion therapy center. The thing about Ruth was that she seemed very nice and kind, but she fundamentally felt that Cam's homosexuality was wrong, and that hurt Cam.
It hurt Cam because she knew that Ruth wasn't a bad person. She was kind. But this one value of Ruth's that she wouldn't budge on hurt Cam.
Reverend Rick
Rick was one of the leaders at the gay conversion therapy center. He was "the fun one," compared to his sister Lydia. Rick was supposedly and ex-gay himself and had been "converted" by his sister.
Because Rick was the fun one, Cam felt more at ease speaking with him. They played table tennis together, and at the end of the movie, we see that they even shared movie recommendations with each other.
And because Rick was the fun one, it was easier to get him to open up during that one-to-one session after Mark's attempted suicide. When Cam challenged Rick on how the center was run, Rick admitted that he did not know what he was doing, and he had his own breakdown.
I think that showed to Cam that conversion therapy does not in fact work. Rick was so adamant that he had gotten over his homosexuality that he'd become an instructor himself. Whether or not he'd really gotten over it, him crying in front of Cam showed that he wasn't proud of what he was doing at the center. Maybe conversion therapy was successful, but was it worth the pain? Of course, the more logical conclusion would be that conversion therapy does not work, and that it only suppresses a sense of self and encourages self hatred.
It seemed that Cam didn't think too poorly of Rick though. Their last conversation went amicably. I think to Cam, she knew that Rick was going through some things, but those were his problems to deal with.
Dr. Lydia Marsh
Lydia was the leader of the conversion therapy center. She was very stern, and frankly there wasn't that much to her. She represented all of what the gay conversion therapy center was based on.
Lydia confidently provided answers for the questions that teenagers had about their supposed sins, but it was clear that it wasn't perfect. When Cam first met Lydia, there was already a bit of tension, when Lydia refused to call her Cam because it was too masculine of a nickname for an already unisex name. There were just a lot of little things that Lydia would say here and there to try to rein in the kids.
But the first time we saw her really lose control was when Mark recited parts of the Bible that defended his own perceived weakness and sin. Lydia could not subdue him except physically, but she was definitely panicking.
The last we saw of Lydia was after Cam was interviewed by the investigator. She was sitting on the porch and Cam passed by her without acknowledgment. Now that Lydia was being challenged by an outside authority, she lost much of her credibility, and I think that's why Cam felt comfortable not acknowledging her.
Jane Fonda
Jane was one of the girls at the gay conversion therapy center. She'd grown up in a hippie commune, and had been turned in by her mom's new husband who was evangelical.
Jane had been at the center longer, and at times her thoughts were more confident and developed. She was very confident about the kind of person she was, and she never gave in to the teachings at the center. She wasn't outwardly rebellious though. She would make up some BS to pacify the authorities about her "getting better."
When Cam got the letter from Coley, she was obviously upset that Coley thought she was disgusting, and that made Cam want to get better so that she was good enough for someone like Coley. But Jane tried to help her by focusing on the fact that Coley was a rat and wasn't a loyal friend.
I half expected Cam and Jane to have a romantic relationship but I'm glad that they didn't. I think it would've cheapened the themes of sexuality that were explored in the movie. Just because they were both girls didn't mean that they were automatically attracted to each other. Cam and Jane were people first and lesbians second, and they saw each other as friends far more than objects of sexual desire.
Jane joined Cam and Adam when they fled the gay conversion therapy center.
Adam Red Eagle
Adam was one of the boys at the gay conversion therapy center. In his Native American culture, he was considered "winkte," or "two spirited," which was a third gender identity that was acknowledged by the culture. But Adam's father was trying to get into politics, and had converted to Christianity, and subsequently he sent Adam to the conversion therapy center to help his image.
Like Jane, Adam had a good sense of self, and he knew he wasn't going to give it up for whatever Rick and Lydia were telling him.
It was kind of messed that Adam's dad turned his back on the culture that he and his son had grown up with. And forced his son to convert to a new set of morals against his will, with a poor excuse for transitioning.
Adam was the one who discovered Mark cutting himself. We didn't see him in the aftermath, but I could have guessed that he was likely rather shaken.
At the end of the movie, Adam was told by Rick that he was already going to have a new roommate, to which Adam replied positively, knowing that he wasn't going to be there anyway.
Erin
Erin was Cam's roommate. She was a huge fan of the Vikings (the American football team), and she was rather enthusiastic about following Rick and Lydia's beliefs.
One night, Erin had heard Cam moaning in her sleep and woken her up, only to kiss her and then have sex with her. Afterwards, Erin wouldn't even let Cam kiss her, and had insisted it was all a mistake, that Cam should never encourage her homosexual tendencies.
Erin had an unhealthy view of sex and sexuality. After their sexual encounter, I felt that Erin had used Cam, not at all considering Cam's feelings. I think it was because conversion therapy focuses so much on the sexual acts that it becomes detached from the emotional aspect of forming relationships with others.
I think that if Erin had continued at the center, she would've become someone like Rick. Erin was always so positive but that was because she was suppressing the part of herself that liked girls, instead of understanding it.
Helen
Helen was another girl at the gay conversion therapy center. She was outed by her church choir because she'd presumably shown behaviour that showed that she liked another girl.
We didn't see her as much as we saw Erin. But it felt like she was getting better because her sexuality wasn't even that big of a thing in her life. I felt like Helen was cared the most about singing, and that her sexuality was just something getting in the way of her returning to choir.
I mean, I still think she's going to be a bit repressed, but I think that it wouldn't show as deeply as Erin's repression would, because Helen just seemed more occupied with singing.
Mark
Mark was one of the boys at the gay conversion therapy center. He was really struggling with his sexuality, because no matter how hard he tried, he seemed to never be good enough for his father.
He was really trying to make progress, following all of the rules at the center. At the same time, he felt that people should be allowed leeway to be imperfect. When he saw Cam stealing a tape, he convinced Erin to not rat her out and that it was just a split second decision. Mark asked Cam whether she believed in God, and she couldn't say that she did. Mark sympathized, and he basically said that what's more important was that they were just becoming better versions of themselves day by day.
Mark was hit really hard when he thought that he was well enough to return home, but his father had denied his request, maintaining that he was too effeminate. In their discussion session, Mark recited a passage in the Bible, ending with repeating the phrase "when I am weak, I am strong."
To me, that phrase meant that those who are weak learn to become strong because they are weak. To Mark, he found solace that just because he was weak didn't mean he wasn't worthy. Even if he was supposedly weak, he had a right to live and be his weak self on this planet.
Adam found Mark in the washroom trying to cut his penis off with Adam's razor, and was sent to the hospital. In the one-on-one session with Cam, she questioned Rick why the instructors weren't watching him if they thought that something bad was going to happen to them. As caretakers, they should've seen that Mark was unstable (after his outburst during the discussion). If they had realized that something was going to happen and did nothing, that also showed that they were inappropriate caretakers.
Mark was presumably with his family and would never return to the conversion therapy center, but at what cost? It's unlikely that his father would still accept him and instead, Mark would be living with a family that hated him. There is no good ending for him.
Coley
Coley was the girl that Cam liked. I'm not sure how many sexual encounters they had, as one that had happened in the movie had actually been a dream. It might've just been that one time in the car.
Cam had called Cam once while at the center but the call was cut short. Later, in Coley's letter, Coley said that she had told on Cam, and that she felt that Cam had taken advantage of their friendship and infected her. All of those were very hurtful words.
I was wondering how much of that was Coley's own thoughts, and how much of that was dictated to her by someone else (like a family member or other mentor figure).
Cam tried to believe that Coley just wanted her to get better, and maybe that was true. But the help that Cam was supposedly getting was hurting her, and so Cam had to let go of Coley, even as friends, if this was what Coley thought was good for her.
Themes
Sexuality
This was the biggest theme of the movie, and maybe the only theme. After all, this movie was quite short and so it was rather focused.
As I mentioned, the one thing that struck me the most was how little Cam thought of her sexuality on a day-to-day basis. Sure, she had a girl she liked, and the conversion therapy center was probably actively keeping her from trying to think of sex with girls, but even then, Cam just went about her day studying and running and hanging out. Sexuality did not define Cam. Assuming Cam did hurt Coley by making advances on her, it definitely wasn't on purpose. We could see that Cam was a considerate person, and I was confident that she would never hurt somebody purposefully.
Lydia denied that homosexuality existed, that it was just a symptom of sin. It was kind of vague, so I didn't totally understand her reasoning, but either way, I don't think it would've made sense anyway. So Lydia's approach to handling homosexuality was to denied that it existed, which invalidated kids. She explained that attraction was just a sign of admiration getting confused, which might be true, but like, Lydia definitely didn't do enough research to back that up.
For people like Erin, they probably felt like they were healed, but pushing the homosexual urges into the backs of their minds. They treated it like it was a symptom of a sin, and when they felt like they were closer to God, they pretended that the urges didn't exist anymore, even though they did. And the only way for them to rid them of that sin was to act on it (i.e. Erin having sex with Cam), and then feeling so disgusted with themselves because of their religious thoughts that they would not do it again for a long time. It's a very unhealthy way to live, and also proves that this gay conversion therapy did not work.
Overall
My write up is kind of messy today and I don't feel I did the movie justice, but I really did enjoy it. I liked how subtle its messaging was, thanks in large part to the subtlety of the character Cameron Post. Cam was a very good pov character who gave us a teenage perspective of these hurtful gay conversion therapy centers.
I really did like this film and I'd definitely recommend it as a coming of age story.
Spoilers.
Story
The movie is about Cameron Post being sent to a Christian conversion therapy center. There, she struggles between subscribing to the principles set out by the instructors at the center, and retaining her sense of self.
Things change when one of the boys there self-mutilates and nearly died. That put the center under scrutiny. At the end, Cameron Post and her friends Jane and Adam ran away from the center.
The story was rather tight. Technically we just followed Cameron in her daily life at God's Promise, but all of those small things contributed to how she felt about the place. I'll talk about this later, but I also liked how Cameron was written. I was expecting Cameron to be extremely combative and confrontational, but I liked how the story showed that Cameron did try to follow the instructions at the center, to see if maybe it was better for her. She even made friends among the hardcore Christians. She still opted not to subscribe to the beliefs of God's Promise, but I don't think that meant that she hated everything about it. Before Cameron, Jane, and Adam left, it really seemed to me that Cameron liked Rick as a person.
I'm definitely not trying to say that gay conversion therapy centers are good. I'm trying to say that sometimes people can find community in unlikely situations, but even then, sometimes leaving is healthier for them.
Production
The movie was pretty short, and I liked how it was focused and not drawn out. We had flashbacks, but in general, I felt like I was experiencing things real time with Cam. So I really sympathized with her. She was technically kind of a spectator, as she wasn't super involved in the activities at the center, but she did go through her own journey.
I was questioning whether the sexual content in the movie was something I was comfortable with. There was a scene in which Cam and her roommate Erin had sex in the dark. I understand the point of the scene. I'm not against that sort of content when it makes sense in the context in the story.
There was also that dream that Cam had about havign sex with Coley. In that scene, we actually got some nudity from Coley, which I was a tad weirded out by, because Coley is supposed to be a teenager (even if the actress is an adult). I guess it's just that in light of a recent underage sex scandal, I am sensitive to how underage sexual content is handled.
Characters
Cameron Post
Cameron was our main character but she seemed to prefer going by Cam, so I guess I should start calling her Cam more. Cam was sent to the gay conversion therapy center by her Aunt Ruth who was a devout Christian.
She wasn't a particularly strong-willed girl. I was expecting her to be very combative against Rick and Lydia, but it tends to be those who get won over by proselytizers. Cam just tried to make it through life day by day, and tried to stay off the radar of the authorities.
At times, Jane and Adam even felt that she was fitting into the system. That wasn't necessarily true. It's just while the ideologies of the gay conversion therapy center were bad, at the very least, Cam made friends in her new life.
At the same time, Cam never let go of herself. She retained her regular hobbies liek running, and joined Jane and Adam to grow and smoke weed lol.
She did let go of Coley, but that was after she found out that it was Coley that turned her in. We don't know how Coley would've gone from loving Cam to saying such terrible things to her. Maybe Coley was pressured to distance herself from Cam. In any case, Coley wasn't there for Cam when Cam needed it.
I'll talk about this below in the themes section, but Cam didn't seem super sexually active. She had shown attraction to one (1) girl that she really liked and that landed her in this center. Following Cam in her daily life made me think about how sexuality doesn't make up a person. Sexuality is part of a person, but Cam was far more than just someone who was attracted to girls.
Cam's parents both died, and she was being taken care of by her aunt, who had sent her to the converstion therapy center. When Cam was feeling very stressed, she called her Aunt to ask if she could take her home, but Ruth said Cam needed to get better. Up to that point, I think that Ruth was the person that Cam trusted the most, but she now knew that Ruth was not going to help her with this. She was now on her own, and that hurt.
I generally just liked how level headed Can was. She came to her own conclusions about things instead of just following others blindly. And those came out at the end when she had the one-on-one session with Rick, and when she was questioned by the investigator. Superficially, she felt safe at the center in terms of physical safety, but what Lydia and Rick were teaching at the center made no sense and was dangerous.
I think Cam felt fine leaving the center because there was nothing in her old life for her anymore. Her Aunt Ruth had wanted the conversion therapy center for her, and Coley had turned her back on her. But she had two trustworthy friends in Jane and Adam. No matter what happens, they will figure it out with each other's support.
Aunt Ruth
Aunt Ruth was taking care of Cam. She was the one who sent Cam to the conversion therapy center. The thing about Ruth was that she seemed very nice and kind, but she fundamentally felt that Cam's homosexuality was wrong, and that hurt Cam.
It hurt Cam because she knew that Ruth wasn't a bad person. She was kind. But this one value of Ruth's that she wouldn't budge on hurt Cam.
Reverend Rick
Rick was one of the leaders at the gay conversion therapy center. He was "the fun one," compared to his sister Lydia. Rick was supposedly and ex-gay himself and had been "converted" by his sister.
Because Rick was the fun one, Cam felt more at ease speaking with him. They played table tennis together, and at the end of the movie, we see that they even shared movie recommendations with each other.
And because Rick was the fun one, it was easier to get him to open up during that one-to-one session after Mark's attempted suicide. When Cam challenged Rick on how the center was run, Rick admitted that he did not know what he was doing, and he had his own breakdown.
I think that showed to Cam that conversion therapy does not in fact work. Rick was so adamant that he had gotten over his homosexuality that he'd become an instructor himself. Whether or not he'd really gotten over it, him crying in front of Cam showed that he wasn't proud of what he was doing at the center. Maybe conversion therapy was successful, but was it worth the pain? Of course, the more logical conclusion would be that conversion therapy does not work, and that it only suppresses a sense of self and encourages self hatred.
It seemed that Cam didn't think too poorly of Rick though. Their last conversation went amicably. I think to Cam, she knew that Rick was going through some things, but those were his problems to deal with.
Dr. Lydia Marsh
Lydia was the leader of the conversion therapy center. She was very stern, and frankly there wasn't that much to her. She represented all of what the gay conversion therapy center was based on.
Lydia confidently provided answers for the questions that teenagers had about their supposed sins, but it was clear that it wasn't perfect. When Cam first met Lydia, there was already a bit of tension, when Lydia refused to call her Cam because it was too masculine of a nickname for an already unisex name. There were just a lot of little things that Lydia would say here and there to try to rein in the kids.
But the first time we saw her really lose control was when Mark recited parts of the Bible that defended his own perceived weakness and sin. Lydia could not subdue him except physically, but she was definitely panicking.
The last we saw of Lydia was after Cam was interviewed by the investigator. She was sitting on the porch and Cam passed by her without acknowledgment. Now that Lydia was being challenged by an outside authority, she lost much of her credibility, and I think that's why Cam felt comfortable not acknowledging her.
Jane Fonda
Jane was one of the girls at the gay conversion therapy center. She'd grown up in a hippie commune, and had been turned in by her mom's new husband who was evangelical.
Jane had been at the center longer, and at times her thoughts were more confident and developed. She was very confident about the kind of person she was, and she never gave in to the teachings at the center. She wasn't outwardly rebellious though. She would make up some BS to pacify the authorities about her "getting better."
When Cam got the letter from Coley, she was obviously upset that Coley thought she was disgusting, and that made Cam want to get better so that she was good enough for someone like Coley. But Jane tried to help her by focusing on the fact that Coley was a rat and wasn't a loyal friend.
I half expected Cam and Jane to have a romantic relationship but I'm glad that they didn't. I think it would've cheapened the themes of sexuality that were explored in the movie. Just because they were both girls didn't mean that they were automatically attracted to each other. Cam and Jane were people first and lesbians second, and they saw each other as friends far more than objects of sexual desire.
Jane joined Cam and Adam when they fled the gay conversion therapy center.
Adam Red Eagle
Adam was one of the boys at the gay conversion therapy center. In his Native American culture, he was considered "winkte," or "two spirited," which was a third gender identity that was acknowledged by the culture. But Adam's father was trying to get into politics, and had converted to Christianity, and subsequently he sent Adam to the conversion therapy center to help his image.
Like Jane, Adam had a good sense of self, and he knew he wasn't going to give it up for whatever Rick and Lydia were telling him.
It was kind of messed that Adam's dad turned his back on the culture that he and his son had grown up with. And forced his son to convert to a new set of morals against his will, with a poor excuse for transitioning.
Adam was the one who discovered Mark cutting himself. We didn't see him in the aftermath, but I could have guessed that he was likely rather shaken.
At the end of the movie, Adam was told by Rick that he was already going to have a new roommate, to which Adam replied positively, knowing that he wasn't going to be there anyway.
Erin
Erin was Cam's roommate. She was a huge fan of the Vikings (the American football team), and she was rather enthusiastic about following Rick and Lydia's beliefs.
One night, Erin had heard Cam moaning in her sleep and woken her up, only to kiss her and then have sex with her. Afterwards, Erin wouldn't even let Cam kiss her, and had insisted it was all a mistake, that Cam should never encourage her homosexual tendencies.
Erin had an unhealthy view of sex and sexuality. After their sexual encounter, I felt that Erin had used Cam, not at all considering Cam's feelings. I think it was because conversion therapy focuses so much on the sexual acts that it becomes detached from the emotional aspect of forming relationships with others.
I think that if Erin had continued at the center, she would've become someone like Rick. Erin was always so positive but that was because she was suppressing the part of herself that liked girls, instead of understanding it.
Helen
Helen was another girl at the gay conversion therapy center. She was outed by her church choir because she'd presumably shown behaviour that showed that she liked another girl.
We didn't see her as much as we saw Erin. But it felt like she was getting better because her sexuality wasn't even that big of a thing in her life. I felt like Helen was cared the most about singing, and that her sexuality was just something getting in the way of her returning to choir.
I mean, I still think she's going to be a bit repressed, but I think that it wouldn't show as deeply as Erin's repression would, because Helen just seemed more occupied with singing.
Mark
Mark was one of the boys at the gay conversion therapy center. He was really struggling with his sexuality, because no matter how hard he tried, he seemed to never be good enough for his father.
He was really trying to make progress, following all of the rules at the center. At the same time, he felt that people should be allowed leeway to be imperfect. When he saw Cam stealing a tape, he convinced Erin to not rat her out and that it was just a split second decision. Mark asked Cam whether she believed in God, and she couldn't say that she did. Mark sympathized, and he basically said that what's more important was that they were just becoming better versions of themselves day by day.
Mark was hit really hard when he thought that he was well enough to return home, but his father had denied his request, maintaining that he was too effeminate. In their discussion session, Mark recited a passage in the Bible, ending with repeating the phrase "when I am weak, I am strong."
To me, that phrase meant that those who are weak learn to become strong because they are weak. To Mark, he found solace that just because he was weak didn't mean he wasn't worthy. Even if he was supposedly weak, he had a right to live and be his weak self on this planet.
Adam found Mark in the washroom trying to cut his penis off with Adam's razor, and was sent to the hospital. In the one-on-one session with Cam, she questioned Rick why the instructors weren't watching him if they thought that something bad was going to happen to them. As caretakers, they should've seen that Mark was unstable (after his outburst during the discussion). If they had realized that something was going to happen and did nothing, that also showed that they were inappropriate caretakers.
Mark was presumably with his family and would never return to the conversion therapy center, but at what cost? It's unlikely that his father would still accept him and instead, Mark would be living with a family that hated him. There is no good ending for him.
Coley
Coley was the girl that Cam liked. I'm not sure how many sexual encounters they had, as one that had happened in the movie had actually been a dream. It might've just been that one time in the car.
Cam had called Cam once while at the center but the call was cut short. Later, in Coley's letter, Coley said that she had told on Cam, and that she felt that Cam had taken advantage of their friendship and infected her. All of those were very hurtful words.
I was wondering how much of that was Coley's own thoughts, and how much of that was dictated to her by someone else (like a family member or other mentor figure).
Cam tried to believe that Coley just wanted her to get better, and maybe that was true. But the help that Cam was supposedly getting was hurting her, and so Cam had to let go of Coley, even as friends, if this was what Coley thought was good for her.
Themes
Sexuality
This was the biggest theme of the movie, and maybe the only theme. After all, this movie was quite short and so it was rather focused.
As I mentioned, the one thing that struck me the most was how little Cam thought of her sexuality on a day-to-day basis. Sure, she had a girl she liked, and the conversion therapy center was probably actively keeping her from trying to think of sex with girls, but even then, Cam just went about her day studying and running and hanging out. Sexuality did not define Cam. Assuming Cam did hurt Coley by making advances on her, it definitely wasn't on purpose. We could see that Cam was a considerate person, and I was confident that she would never hurt somebody purposefully.
Lydia denied that homosexuality existed, that it was just a symptom of sin. It was kind of vague, so I didn't totally understand her reasoning, but either way, I don't think it would've made sense anyway. So Lydia's approach to handling homosexuality was to denied that it existed, which invalidated kids. She explained that attraction was just a sign of admiration getting confused, which might be true, but like, Lydia definitely didn't do enough research to back that up.
For people like Erin, they probably felt like they were healed, but pushing the homosexual urges into the backs of their minds. They treated it like it was a symptom of a sin, and when they felt like they were closer to God, they pretended that the urges didn't exist anymore, even though they did. And the only way for them to rid them of that sin was to act on it (i.e. Erin having sex with Cam), and then feeling so disgusted with themselves because of their religious thoughts that they would not do it again for a long time. It's a very unhealthy way to live, and also proves that this gay conversion therapy did not work.
Overall
My write up is kind of messy today and I don't feel I did the movie justice, but I really did enjoy it. I liked how subtle its messaging was, thanks in large part to the subtlety of the character Cameron Post. Cam was a very good pov character who gave us a teenage perspective of these hurtful gay conversion therapy centers.
I really did like this film and I'd definitely recommend it as a coming of age story.