By It should be no surprise to anyone who has grown up that things you used to say 20-30 years ago aren’t acceptable anymore. As we continue to move forward in the evolution of the human race, we as a society continually redefine what words can and should be used when discussing certain topics, including but not limited to mental illness, ethnicity, and sexuality. When many millennials were young, it was pretty common to hear adults and even your friends use slurs when referring to marginalized groups because that’s just what happened back then.
So, how do you analyze older media that is loaded with uncomfortable words and dated stereotypes? At present, there is a trend of people looking back at old favorites and decrying them as absolute trash, but that almost feels ignorant. It’s hard for many to accept that at one point in time, they were in the wrong, even if they didn’t realize it. We’ve all made mistakes and hurt people, but we should be willing to confront them and learn to do better.
That’s the most fascinating aspect of Chasing Chasing Amy, a documentary by filmmaker Sav Rodgers that examines how the “problematic” Kevin Smith film helped him not only survive his troubled youth but come to terms with his sexuality. While this film isn’t the most complex regarding editing techniques, its deep look at not only the good, but bad aspects of its namesake film and how it has impacted the lives of its cast and crew as well as society is engrossing from start to finish.
Chasing Chasing Amy
Director: Sav Rodgers
Release Date: June 3, 2023 (Tribeca Film Festival), November 1, 2024 (Limited Release)
Rating: NR
Summarizing Chasing Chasing Amy is quite simple: the film is a look not only at the cultural impact that Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy had on the LGBTQ+ community but how it helped filmmaker Sav Rodgers deal with their mixed emotions about gender and sexuality during a troubling period in his life. The entire story starts many years ago when Sav gave a TED Talk in 2018 about how the movie saved his life. From there, it sort of became this white whale that Sav chased in an effort to interrogate not only why society has deemed Chasing Amy problematic, but how it became such a pivotal piece of media for him.
While there is plenty of insight from Kevin Smith and others integral to Chasing Amy, this documentary is actually more of a story about Sav. It chronicles not just the making of this very endeavor, but how through the process of speaking with Smith and meeting with his long-time girlfriend for the first time, Sav came to realize he was a transgender man. In a bizarre turn of events, his own life almost mirrors the story of Chasing Amy.
Now, Chasing Chasing Amy does not dismiss the negative criticism surrounding Chasing Amy. I started this review off by stating how as society moves into the future, certain words and phrases become unacceptable, and that applies directly to Chasing Amy. If you don’t know what that film is about, I can summarize it quickly. A straight white man falls in love with a lesbian and eventually wins her over after being convinced by his friends and societal standards that she just hasn’t found the right man yet. That’s being a bit curt with things, but that reading has become the general perception of Chasing Amy over the last three decades.
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Sav didn’t set out to right the record or anything with regard to how Kevin Smith portrayed LGBTQ+ individuals in his movie. On the contrary, Sav interviews numerous people who understand and explain why they feel the film has outdated terminology. The ultimate conclusion is that it’s a very accurate portrayal of the typical sentiment of the time. In the 90s, it was very common for people to throw slurs around when talking about gay and lesbian couples.
Where the real majesty of this film comes from is how Sav both accepts that his favorite movie is uncomfortable, but still loves it anyway. As he explains in both his TED Talk and at various points in this documentary, Chasing Amy holds up because of how raw it is. That film feels almost real because it came from Kevin Smith’s personal experience. For anyone who has dug into special features on the various home releases of Chasing Amy, you probably know a good portion of the insight Smith reveals in this film, but it puts into context the mindset he had when writing it.
I thought it was particularly inspired to not only reiterate some of that but then get the contrasting viewpoints from some of the cast and Smith’s friends. Director Guinevere Turner is on hand to detail how parts of Chasing Amy were based on her friendship with producer Scott Mosier and the conversations she had with Smith about LGBTQ+ individuals. It certainly shapes scenes in Chasing Amy differently, though maybe not for people who have been able to look past the problematic aspects of it.
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After watching this, I discussed parts of it with my friend who is a big fan of the film. As he said to me, “I’ve always felt Chasing Amy was about a guy who doesn’t understand LGBTQ culture trying to figure it out as he goes along.” Because of Chasing Chasing Amy, I’m able to see that in the movie. For certain, it has iffy elements and some of the language will make you want to punch certain characters, but nothing feels fake.
That’s what Sav interrogates along his journey here. He imparts his own interpretation of Chasing Amy to different individuals and they start to understand how pivotal the movie was for LGBTQ+ culture. Maybe it wasn’t the most sensitive film ever made, but it was the first major motion picture to feature a lesbian character who wasn’t a stereotype. Alyssa, the main character of Chasing Amy, is a proud lesbian who is smart, funny, and multifaceted in a way that cinema hadn’t portrayed up to that point. In some ways, Chasing Amy is still ahead of the curve concerning its writing of women.
Mixed in with all of this is Sav’s own love story with his girlfriend, Riley. Having met years prior when the two were still teenagers, Sav and Riley go on this journey together and we get to see how supportive the two are of one another. As Sav comes to terms with how his favorite movie isn’t some perfect ray of sunshine, Riley slowly watches Sav grow from being a confused individual to someone who is able to be their authentic self. I don’t want to detail too much as it would rob Chasing Chasing Amy of its impact, but everything is presented in a way that feels very organic. This documentary doesn’t contrive a bunch of scenarios just to make emotional moments.
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If I had to lobby any criticism of this movie, it would mostly be centered on the editing. Nothing about Chasing Chasing Amy feels distinct to the film itself. Even the fun comic book panels are more of an homage to Chasing Amy than anything and the rest of the documentary is shot in a pretty typical fashion. At one point, Guinevere Turner makes a joke about how documentaries all start interviews with the subject looking serious, but that’s about as clever as things get. I suppose that’s not a cardinal sin or anything, but it does prevent this film from tipping over into greatness.
Even so, by the end of the film, you feel as if you’ve gone on a tremendous journey with Sav. I wish more individuals would be willing to dissect and analyze films as deeply as Sav. More important than simply stating “X thing is problematic,” it’s important to understand why a thing might be a certain way. Chasing Amy is firmly a product of the 90s, but if a new film were to be set in the 90s, it also wouldn’t be accurate to leave out those messier details. People really did speak disrespectfully because that was commonly accepted in society. Sanitizing the past in media risks repeating those same mistakes in the future.
I could spin this review off into its own feature, so I’ll end this review with the following sentiment. It’s perfectly okay to love films, shows, games, and songs that are controversial or troublesome. If it means something to you, that is all that matters. At the same time, you shouldn’t shy away from the uglier truths of the world because confronting and learning from those mistakes will only make you a better person. We all need to learn to be truer to ourselves and the things we occupy our time with. By doing so, we can understand why people believe a certain way and work to better each other.
