Deepa Mehta's Fire and Water

Canadian film director Deepa Mehta is once again in hot Water, with her new film, Water, which opens at the Toronto Film Festival. This is the third film in her trilogy of Fire, Eart, Water (Fire, the film with lesbian content, is reviewed below). Water is the story of the mistreatment of widows, who were forced to choose between prostitution or starvation. The set was burned and thrown in the river, protesters threatened the director's life, going as far as to say "the people involved with the film should have been beaten black and blue." The same group said that people of the world did not need to hear of the problems faced by widows in India, and that this was a money-making ploy (Mehta makes so little money, she had to mortgage her house to try and make this film). One group even hired a professional suicide attempter (who knew there were such people!) to disrupt filming (he'd been hired more than a half-dozen times before by other groups for other reasons). More on the disruptions can be found here.


Fire was an even more controversial film in India. The film locations were sources of protest. Hell, they even burned down a movie theatre that was showing Fire, because they didn't like the way India was depicted. Right, like burning down a film theatre makes us think so much more of you...

Anyway...

Fire is a brilliant film, and if you haven't seen it, rented it or stolen it yet, well, let's just say it's a must-have in any good lesbian DVD collection. In an extended household, Radha and Sita are sisters-in-law who both share unhappy marriages. They fall in love, and challenge traditions in a culture that has no word for Lesbianism.

The newly wed Sita (Nandita Das) is a gorgeous, hip woman who comes to live with her husband's brother and his wife Rahda (Shabana Azmi) in New Dehli. Restless, modern and independent, she realizes that her arranged-marriage husband is far from faithful (and he runs a porn shop on the side). The slightly older Rahda, on the other hand, offers the face of complacency, all the while holding in her righteous rage at a husband who won't touch her and a mother-in-law who hates her. Throw in an assistant who masturbates in front of the mother-in-law, and you've got a volitile situation. Within this environment the two women strike up a natural friendship which leads to smoldering passions and a sensual but secretive romance.

(spolier ahead)

We have all heard the idea that in India, when a husband is bored with his wife or when her family cannot pay the dowry, he sets her to fire to kill her (accidentally, of course). In Fire, Rahda accidentally catches her robes on the open-flame stove, and the cloth goes up pretty quickly. Her husband chooses to rescue his mother, rather than her (actually, he could easily douse her and have it over with, but wants to let her burn). Played out before us (and explained within the film, of course), is the myth of the burning woman who is saved only by pure love -- we watch every painful step Radha takes to find Sita, her pure love.

Damn! What a great film!

Things that make you go "What the f....?"

On Sep 1, The Herndon Davis Report became the first American Black, Gay and Lesbian weekly TV news talk show on satellite/cable to air during primetime.

The show focuses on themes relevant to the Black, Gay, and Lesbian community such as, gay rights versus civil rights, family, the workplace and black culture.

Is this 1975 or 2005? The FIRST?? Well, at least there is some visibility for Black lesbians on his show (although the L Word features Jennifer Beals as a main character). Expect it to be fairly conservative, as most groundbreakers are.

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Gari McDonald, the lesbian teenager who won the Miss Teen Bahamas pageant, is also facing problems with the religious right, who want her title stripped. I guess this is 1975 after all.

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According to Universal Studio executives, people are just plain old weary of that whole "gay" thing. Dusty Springfield who came out DECADES ago, is the topic of a biopic but studio execs want to ignore her lesbianism, because it's been done before.

Someone needs to tell that to Mariel Hemingway who played a lesbian in the iconic Personal Best, the silly Sex Monster and hey, she's even played one on TV! And how she is lined up for Her Line of Fire, where she will essentially play a lesbian action heroine. Go girl, go!

Oh, and pay no attention to the UK article (see Dusty, above) which claims that the L Word is cancelled. While there is no guarantee that the L Word will be renewed, they have to wait until the season actually airs, in Feb or Mar of 2006, before making any decisions.

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And then there is Pat Robertson , nutbar of the religious right. He says that God brought on Katrina because Ellen DeGeneres is hosting the Emmys. Maybe God wanted Billy Cristal instead!

Of course, according to various religous rightwingers, God is punishing New Orlean for:
a) allowing 100,000 gays to have sex in public (also called Mardi Gras, which isn't gay, but, you know, there will probably be a few there and that taints everything!)
b) abortion (no gays involved that I know of, but I'm sure the right will somehow swing the blame our way)
c1) because the US supports the withdrawal of Jews from the Gaza Strip
c2) because Katrina in Hebrew equals 374 which links to a passage in the Torah which translates into "They have done you evil"
d) the US war in Iraq
e) it's all Condeleeza Rice's fault, although it isn't clear to me what she's being punished for

Lesbian tv commercials too few and far between

Okay, so we have things like World's Funniest Commercials, Classic Commericals, and Commercials from Around the World. Where is the Lesbian TV Commercials DVD? Oh right, it's because commercials with lesbians in them are usually pretty crappy.

My favorite is one for the L Word, as it appeared on Showcase. As Sex in the City was drawing to an end, some smartass had a great idea - - "Different city. Same sex." Voiceover shots of LA, a couple of pairs of shoes, the hot babes of the L Word steaming up the screen. Out of context you'd wonder. But damn clever! The Commercial Closet has a surprisingly few lesbian TV ads, probably because they are almost all American. And US TV isn't going to show girl on girl TV ads if they can help it.

MTV Watch and Learn - kinda stupid, if you ask me. Unless you're a 12-year-old boy.

Ellen DeGeneres for Amex - Ellen can still be seen dancing for Amex, and it's nice to know that after all the shit she went through when she came out, that a company as big as American Express still support the idea of someone who dances to her own tune. The one online is longer than the couple of versions I've seen on TV.

Disaronno Liquor - for a while, this was shown frequently on TV. It's homophobic for guys, of course, but shows two babes playing footsies.

Boisevert Lingerie - only saw this one once or twice on TV. The sexy chick dresses in stockings and garters and black lingerie for her date... but check out her date!

Bonds T-Shirt - an Australian commercial that shows the T-shirt is so desirable that when a guy takes it from a woman after a night of sex, she goes after him, sees another woman wearing the shirt, and goes after the woman instead.

Kronenbourg Beer - oh the things a lesbian will put up with, just to get her hands on a beer! This is a pretty common theme -- guy buys a beautiful woman a beer, and as he is about to approach her, the equally gorgeous girlfriend shows up. He buy her a beer too, and they just look at him. I guess for guys, they're still hoping to get laid. For lesbians, it doesn't actually take it that far so we can keep hoping they stay lesbians (oops! did I offend someone with that comment?).

Clothestimes - one chick cruises another in a bathroom because of her sexy red dress. I mean, I really like your dress.

Community for Citrus Fruits - proves that oranges aren't the only fruits! Surprisingly good and definately not the Florida Orange Growers' ad!

Johnny Walker Red - Uses Que Sera Sera as the music to a very fashionable lesbian wedding. I'd rather see the honeymoon.

Farve Glede - A woman goes through a series of frustrating straight relationships which fail because the guys all hate her color choices. Then she meets Mary, who helps her paint the wild colors she wants.

Finlandia Vodka - Uses hip animation which features a couple of lesbians in a bar kissing, but it's so quick, if you blink it's gone.

Subaru - The car company takes on Martina Navratalova as one of their spokespersons, but mixes her up with other women. Plus, Martina (at the time) said she didn't want to be the lesbian spokesperson, just the plain ordinary spokesperson. I think I'll take lesbian over plain any time ;P

Jolt Cola - A young straight couple are making out in a car. Does he think about someone else when he kisses her? Yes, a totally hot, somewhat older woman. Does she think about someone else when she kisses him? She takes a drink of Jolt, and thinks about the same woman.

Gruppo Campari - Real lesbians don't have nails like that!

Amstel Beer - Whose hand is that on her knee...?

M&M Candies - When they first introduced the chick M&M, they had everyone lusting after her

Lingerie ad - Really short, and really hot for 5 seconds long...

Toyota car ad - one of a series, where a father isn't sure about his daughter's latest date. Sometimes it's a punker, sometimes a geek, this time, another chick.

Those are the only ones I could find on the Internet in an hour of searching. If you have others, log in and post the URL. But in the meantime, I will keep my eyes open for TV's Greatest Lesbian Commercials (or something like that!)