Pitch Perfect and Lesbian Representation

Pitch Perfect, released in 2012, has become a cult classic for its edgy humor, catchy song mashups, and over dramatic plot. Although it is popular within the queer community, it has come under fire by fans and critics alike for its portrayal of queerness. Although it is best known for the queerbait relationship between Beca and Chloe, the only character that is explicitly a lesbian is Cynthia Rose, a butch Black woman who makes predatory comments towards the other women in the group. Within the movie, lesbianism is the butt of the joke whenever it is mentioned or alluded to. Before Cynthia Rose is out as a lesbian in the group, Amy, another member, makes jokes about Cynthia Rose's perceived queerness. Although Amy is correct in her assumption, it is implied that Cynthia Rose is perceived as the lesbian in the group because of her masculinity, which is only heightened because she is a Black woman. “This depiction of the “mannish” lesbian flows into perceptions of dark-skinned, big-boned Black women as being less feminine and more “mannish.” (Collins 198) All the other women in the Barden Bellas, the school’s acapella group, are feminine, making Cynthia Rose the odd one out of the group. 

Throughout the entire trilogy, Cynthia Rose’s predatory comments and actions are her entire characterization. She checks out Stacie, another woman in the group, and grabs her chest and butt during a scene. She attempts to give mouth to mouth to Amy, even though Amy clearly does not need it. She is implied to be inappropriately touching Stacie again in the second movie while the Barden Bellas have to share a tent and makes a comment about how she “hopes the sun never comes up”. 

Although it's to a lesser extent because Beca and Chloe are not officially queer, similar jokes are made about their implied queerness. In one of the first scenes that they meet, Chloe goes into the stall Beca is showering in to hear her sing. While in the shower, Beca is clearly uncomfortable but Chloe pressures Beca to sing anyway. Chloe makes comments about how she wishes she “experimented more in college” to Beca, who responds with “You’re so weird”. In the second movie, Beca makes comments about how she is “sexually confused” by a woman in an opposing acapella group. Finally, to hide from someone, Chloe backs Beca against a wall with her hands on Beca’s chest and proceeds to grope her before being noticed by the rest of the group.

In every example, lesbianism is treated as the punchline of the joke. It’s meant to be funny that the butch Black woman leers at the other straight women. Chloe and Cynthia Rose’s sexual assault of the other character’s is treated as a one-off joke, and continues the stereotype that lesbians are predatory. Even if it isn’t intentional, Beca’s comments about how weird Chloe is for “wanting to experiment more” imply that Chloe wanting to sleep with women is weird. The phrasing Chloe uses is also harmful because it suggests that her attraction to women is only an experiment rather than something that is part of her. 

The characterization of Cynthia Rose’s points to a larger problem in representation. Black butch lesbian characters are very rare, and choosing to portray the only Black woman in the cast as predatory is harmful. A common stereotype of Black sexuality is that it is animalistic and primitive, coming from the settler colonial narrative used to oppress Black people. “Western scientists perceived African people as being more natural and less civilized, primarily because African people were deemed to be closer to animals and nature, especially the apes and monkeys whose appearance most closely resembled humans.” (Collins 99) This, combined with the fear that homosexuality is similar to a passable disease, makes her characterization hurtful because it feeds into a white colonial narrative. Her masculinity is treated as an excuse for her to “act like a man” instead of positively representing gender nonconformity. This further reinforces the idea that being butch is not a positive trait and negative views on lesbianism as a whole. Audre Lorde writes about the fear that straight women have about being seen as a Black lesbian and how it “serves to keep us isolated and apart” (Lorde 5). This is reinforced by the harmful lesbian stereotypes like in Pitch Perfect. 

Citations:

Collins, Patricia Hill. Black Sexual Politics. Routledge, 2004.

Lorde, Audre. I Am Your Sister: Black Women Organizing Across Sexualities. Kitchen Table, Women of Color Press, 1985.