History Film / ButImACheerleader

The film has since been [[Theatre/ButImACheerleader adapted into a musical]], which has so far been staged on the festival circuit in New York and London, and off-West End at the Turbine Theatre in March 2022.

* SchoolgirlLesbians: Well, summer camp lesbians. All of the girls at True Directions qualify. [[spoiler:Except Jan, who's actually straight.]]

* TransparentCloset: Megan is the most prominent. Notably, ''every'' character at the camp [[spoiler:except for Jan]] is written to be in one [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped to leave no doubt that the camp is not working]]. Including ex-gay counsellor Mike and Mary's son, Rock.

* NoBisexuals: Several of the characters are gays and lesbians sent to a camp by their disapproving parents to be "cured". During one of the trials, a gay boy is forced to undergo forced kissing with Graham while a a woman tries to gaslight them with heterosexual thoughts and attraction towards each other. Graham is repulsed but the gay boy really seems into the kiss. Interestingly, it's only gay boys and lesbian girls being cured while there is no bisexuals in site.

* ThePollyanna: Megan.
* PreppyName: Graham.

* NoBisexuals: Several of the characters are gays and lesbians sent to a camp by their disapproving parents to be "cured". During one of the trials, a gay boy is forced to undergoe forced kissing with Graham while a a woman tries to gaslight them with heterosexual thoughts and attraction towards each other. Graham is repulsed but the gay boy really seems into the kiss. Interestingly, it's only gay boys and lesbian girls being cured while there is no bisexuals in site.

* CluelessAesop: While the film obviously had good intentions, critics from both LGBT and mainstream media have noted that it was too stereotypical. The boys running in particular is ridiculous; no-one runs like that, especially not if they’re running for their lives to avoid a ''hatchet'' falling on them.

-->'''Megan:''' Oh my god... they were right! I’m a homo!

* NoBisexuals: Several of the characters are gays and lesbians sent to a camp by their disapproving parents to be "cured". During one of the trials, a gay boy is forced to undergoe forced kissing with Graham while a a woman tries to gaslight them with heterosexual thoughts and attraction towards each other. Graham is repulsed but the day boy really seems into the kiss. Interestingly, it's only gay boys and lesbian girls being cured while there is no bisexuals in site.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: A strong theme throughout the film. Aside form the PinkGirlBlueBoy enforced at the camp, everyone at Megan's school dressed in dark browns (including her parents) except for her, who stood out in pale yellow, showing right from the start how much she stood out.

''But I'm a Cheerleader'' is a 1999 comedy (although it wasn't theatrically released until 2000) lampooning the idea of [[CureYourGays homosexual reform camps]] with the story of Megan, a God-fearing cheerleader who has never paid her homosexual tendencies any thought until being sent to the True Directions camp. While there, she admits the homosexuality that [[TransparentCloset everyone but her had apparently seen]], and falls in love with another of the True Directions members, Graham. The film stars Creator/MinkStole and Creator/RuPaul (in a non-drag role).

''But I'm a Cheerleader'' is a 1999 comedy (although it wasn't theatrically released until 2000) lampooning the idea of [[CureYourGays homosexual reform camps]] with the story of Megan, a God-fearing cheerleader who has never paid her homosexual tendencies any thought until being sent to the True Directions camp. While there, she admits the homosexuality that [[TransparentCloset everyone but her had apparently seen]], and falls in love with another of the True Directions members, Graham.

* TheCheerleader: Megan is a refreshingly inverted take on this trope. She's one of the nicest members at True Directions, and any ditziness can be chalked up to a repressed Christian upbringing. She also takes cheerleading very seriously, [[spoiler: and her cheering is what persuades Graham to leave Ture Directions with her at the end of the film.]]

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Megan didn't break up with her boyfriend either before the camp, nor meanwhile through phone or a message. She even mentioned having said boyfriend during their group therapy. Was he waiting for her during the camp? Was she practically cheating on him with Graham?

* ButchLesbian: [[spoiler:{{Subverted|Trope}} quite brilliantly with Jan.]] Graham however is a [[PlayedStraight straight]] [[JustForPun example]], though a soft butch.

* AnachronismStew: No mention of a time period is ever given, but much of the decoration of Megan's home and the True Directions camp--not to mention the opening titles' font--are rooted in TheSeventies. However Megan has a Melissa Ethridge poster on her wall and Sinead has a [[{{Goth}} style]] that would be very uncommon for that period. Megan's parents drive an old-school station wagon, while the crashing of the graduation in the finale involves a more-modern Ford truck.

%%* NoBisexuals

* ShutUpKiss: Megan and Graham's first kiss.

* FemaleGaze: The opening sequence, and then the shots interspersed in the scene of Megan kissing her boyfriend, are basically one long series of this from her perspective. Of course, since the female in question is a lesbian, the shots are of scantily-clad cheerleaders with [[{{Gainaxing}} bouncing breasts]] and copious {{Panty Shot}}s.

* LesbianJock: Jan plays softball. [[spoiler:Though in a subversion, she's actually straight.]]

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Megan didn't break up with her boyfriend neither before the camp, nor meanwhile through phone or a message. She even mentioned having said boyfriend during their group therapy. Was he waiting for her during the camp? Was she practically cheating on him with Graham?

** Rock also wears cut-offs, and Andre wears short shorts at the Cocksucker.

* TooKinkyToTorture: The girls are given tasers that give small electric shocks, and are supposed to use to zap themselves whenever they have "impure" thoughts. But as Sinead likes pain, so she uses it for [[ADateWithRosiePalms something else]].

* HenpeckedHusband: Megan's dad used to be unemployed for a time and his wife supported the family them. Mary is quick to jump at this example of 'abnormality' and elaborate it into an absurd story of 'dad losing his masculinity and Megan developing contempt for him and emulating The Mom Acting Like The Dad'. But it's subtly hinted this trope is in play nonetheless: Megan's mother is the leading force in the parent's front of expressing homophobia and threatening their daughter and in the last scene is the dad who is shown to be more open to accept Megan's homosexuality.

* InnocentInnuendo / DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: While teaching the girls how to clean, Mary guides Jan in thrusting a vacuum cleaner forwards and backwards while repeating 'in and out and in and out'. She doesn't notice anything unusual about the movement but the other girls sure do. Similarly, Mike works on a car with [[ShesGotLegs legs]] and crotch on full display, also repeating 'in and out'...and then asks the boys [[ThatCameOutWrong "Who wants to go down with me?"]] Almost all raise their hands.

* EurekaMoment: Megan, when she does the math (doesn't like kissing her boyfriend, accidentally touches cheerleaders in different place, ect.) and realizes everyone is right; she is a lesbian.

* FeminineWomenCanCook: In the video Megan watches on arriving at True Directions, the girl is described as 'rediscovering her femininity' over a shot of her cooking.

* GetBackInTheCloset: A fluffy, lighthearted, upbeat comedy with no explicit nudity and little harsh language...rated NC-17 by the MPAA. Go figure.

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Played with. Mary is actually perfectly okay with the students having sex! ...as long as it's heterosexual sex in which the man is dominant and the woman is submissive and there's no foreplay and...

* BoyishShortHair: Jan and Graham (the latter especially, who sports a mohawk), which feeds into [[CureYourGays True Direction]]'s belief that they aren't "gender conforming" and this made them lesbians. [[spoiler:Ironically though, Jan is really straight.]]

* CondescendingCompassion: This idea underlies film's setup, starting with the intervention confrontation at the start of the film. Megan comes home from school to be confronted by her parents, her boyfriend, some of her female friends and Mike, a self-described ex-gay staffer from True Directions. On her arrival at True Directions, Megan is put through an intense session led by camp director Mary, who strives to break down Megan's insistence that she isn't actually a lesbian and her presence there is a mistake. Megan is actually reduced to tears by the end of the session. It becomes clear that Mary thinks True Directions' program is attempting "theraputic" intervention.

* JoblessParentDrama: The kids at True Directions are encouraged to "Find their Root", the Freudian "reason" why they have gay attractions. The only thing Megan can come up with is that her father lost his job when she was younger and her mother was a sole earner, which the True Directions people think exposed her to inverted gender roles and made her a Lesbian. Megan doesn't really agree, though.

* MaleGaze: Mike visibly ogling Rocky in his power vest and tight short shorts.

* OfCorsetsSexy: The girls wear purples while they give each other make-overs.

* SmokingIsCool: Graham smokes as part of her BadGirl image.

* TearsOfJoy: Megan cries these when she finally realizes she is a lesbian, complete with a group-hug.

* ButchLesbian: [[spoiler:{{Subverted|Trope}} quite brilliantly.]]

* CampStraight: [[spoiler:Jan]] was just assumed to be lesbian because she has such a strong [[ButchLesbian butch]] appearance, but she actually likes boys. She leaves the camp when she discovers this.

** [[spoiler:Graham]], who has been sent to "[[CureYourGays True Directions]]" camp in ''Film/ButImACheerleader'' "comes out" as straight after a while, complaining that her parents just assumed she was a lesbian because she's {{tomboy}}ish.

* {{Irony}}: If Megan's parents hadn't sent her to the camp, she likely would've gotten married to a man and had children, either never realising her lesbianism due to the justifications she already had in place or eventually realising it but deciding to continue presenting as heterosexual; most likely, she'd have been miserable. Because they wanted that life for her, they sent her there, and instead, she thankfully emerged as a happy woman who embraced her lesbianism and who would hopefully have a truly fulfilling life.
** Also, the one thing that Megan cites as being evidence above all that she's a 'normal' girl, her being a cheerleader, actually forms the main outlet of her latent attraction to girls.

* MistakenForGay: [[spoiler:Jan is actually straight and likes boys, but due to her short hair, love of sports and extremely baggy clothes, everyone incorrectly assumes she's gay due to old stereotypes about how only gay women like traditionally masculine activities.]]