''Butch Jamie'' is a gender-bending romantic comedy film that premiered in July 2007 at

Outfest Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival ...

: the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Writer, director, and lead actress

Michelle Ehlen Michelle Ehlen is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actress best known for her comedic feature ''Butch Jamie''. Career Michelle is a graduate of The Los Angeles Film School where she studied writing and directing. She wrote ...

won Outfest's Grand Jury Award for "Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film."Butch Jamie
/ref> The film was produced independently through the filmmaker's production company, Ballet Diesel Films.

Plot

The film follows the story of Jamie, a struggling

butch Butch may refer to: People * Butch (nickname), a list of people * Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, an Old West outlaw gang *Barbara Butch, French lesbian DJ and activist * Butch Miller (wrestler) (born 1944), ring name of New Zealand professional wr ...

lesbian actress who gets cast as a man in a film. The main plot is a romantic comedy between Jamie's male

alter-ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I", "doppelgänger") means an alternate Self (psychology), self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original Personality psychology, personality. Finding one's alter ego will require fin ...

, "Male Jamie," and Jill, a

heterosexual Heterosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between people of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" t ...

woman on set. The film's

subplot In fiction, a subplot is a secondary strand of the Plot (narrative), plot that is a supporting side story for any story or for the main plot. Subplots may connect to main plots, in either time and place or thematic significance. Subplots often invo ...

s include Jamie's

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, wh ...

roommate Lola and her cat actor Howard, Lola's abrasive

German girlfriend Andi, and Jamie's

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

Asian friend David.

Cast

as Jamie * Olivia Nix as Lola * Tiffany Anne Carrin as Jill * David Au as David * Andrea Andrei as Andi * Joe McDaniel as Dan * Mary Lynch as Francine * Nathan Edmondson as Glen

Comedic elements

Butch Jamie utilizes

deadpan Deadpan, dry humour, or dry-wit humour is the deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion, commonly as a form of comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter. The delivery is meant to be blu ...

humor through

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such ...

, irony, and

satire Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

. The film incorporates elements of slapstick physical comedy along with the irony of Jamie entering into a "

" relationship with an unknowing woman. As a

, the film pokes fun at

gender roles A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cente ...

, social assumptions,

stereotypes In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

, and the politics of relationships. In addition to

and

, the film also satirizes the

movie industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post ...

. This is reflected not only through Jamie's adventures, but also through Howard, the cat actor who Jamie has projected her competitive drive onto. Howard's owner, Lola, takes the cat's career very seriously, complete with professional head shots and a demo reel.

Representation of butch women onscreen

While it's common to see comedies where men pose as women, female to male comedies are much less prominent. While the film is said to be a lesbian version of ''

Tootsie ''Tootsie'' is a 1982 American satirical romantic comedy-drama film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Dustin Hoffman. Its supporting cast includes Pollack, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Bill Murray, Charles Durning, George Ga ...

'', the fact that it highlights a

actress marks it as unique. Jamie's stereotypical butch

masculinity Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviors ...

sarcasm Sarcasm is the caustic use of words, often in a humorous way, to mock someone or something. Sarcasm may employ ambivalence, although it is not necessarily ironic. Most noticeable in spoken word, sarcasm is mainly distinguished by the inflection ...

, and cockiness are rarely seen in such prominence in female actors on-screen. Unlike

Dustin Hoffman Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is ...

in ''

'', Jamie's career problems are not the result of a

character flaw In the creation and criticism of fictional works, a character flaw or heroic flaw is a bias, limitation, imperfection, problem, personality disorder, vice, phobia, prejudice, or deficiency present in a character who may be otherwise very funct ...

, but from a flaw in the way women are chosen to be represented.

Sequel

Writer/director/actor

is developing a

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the sam ...

called ''Heterosexual Jill''. While ''Butch Jamie'' is a

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures us ...

, Ehlen proposes to have the sequel be a satire on

sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied wi ...

.In Development
/ref>

Awards

*2007: Grand Jury Award for "Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film" to Michelle Ehlen at LA

*2007: Jury Award for "Best Female Feature" at Long Island Gay and Lesbian Film Festival *2007: Jury Award for "Best Dramatic Feature" at Chicago Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival *2008: Special mention at Barcelona International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

References

{{reflist

External links

Butch Jamie Official Site

Butch Jamie
on the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

Production Company

Blog Site
2007 romantic comedy films 2007 films American LGBT-related films Butch and femme Films about filmmaking American independent films Lesbian-related films 2007 LGBT-related films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films