Fire Island

Here's the thing: I have never been to Fire Island. Or Provincetown or any of the gay vacay meccas in the United States. I've been to San Francisco and New York, but everybody has been to San Francisco and New York. But The Pines and PTown are hotspots that many a gay man has decreed mandatory visit during the summer even before Stonewall. And I have heard the most incredible stories about Fire Island and Provincetown. Especially Fire Island. 

Tales of debauchery and heartbreak and summer flings and relationships and incredible sex and orgies. You name it, I've heard it has happened in one way or another during the summer in Fire Island. But I've never been there. So when I heard about this movie (I've been hearing about it since last year, TBH) I thought I needed to see it. And now it's here. 

And if you know me, you know they say 'gay rom com' and I'm there. Add 'Elizabeth Bennet' and I jump to it. Having a queer re-imagining of the (told and re-told) story Austen wrote in 1813 is very intriguing to me. I even read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, for Pete's sake! And with the myriad cliques and sub-cliques and the incredible snobbery so many groups of gay men have, I wonder why something like this has not been done before. The gay 'scene' is ripe for drama and class struggle.

Add to it that the cast is all LGBTQ and that it was made by Disney before the 'Don't Say Gay' brouhaha and you've got me interested. I'm sure this movie is gonna be part of the 'culture wars' the religious wrong has retaken lately with Death Santis going all Fascist Asshole on Disney and Disney not doing enough. On top of that, the cast is very diverse. It has Joel Kim Booster, Bowen Yang, Margaret Cho and Conrad Ricamora. There. Sold. When was the last time you saw so many queer, Asian people in one big studio movie? Right. 

Also, while watching the trailer, I realized that one, I have not been on a Summer vacation in a while, and two, that I don't have the big circle of friends I used to have ten years ago. I don't go to big parties or brunches or potlucks anymore and I don't see many of those friends as often, if ever. Yeah, many have gotten married, moved away, some even have children now but until a few years back we always made an effort to meet, one way or another. I now kind of think I missed out when they invited me to PTown and The Pines and I never went. So bittersweet. Add to that the two years and counting of the pandemic and now I look back and realize I have not been in touch with many of those friends in a long, long time. Darn it. I may have to get on FaceTime STAT.

So I'm gonna be watching this one. I'm sure it's gonna bring back memories of fun times and it is gonna make me miss some very cool people I don't see anymore. But that's what good movies usually do, right? Move us. It's going to stream on Hulu and Disney+, of course. Can't wait for the fabricated outrage of the stupid religulous wrong clutching their imaginary pearls one more time. That could actually make this movie even better.

XOXO