Arts
The Truth About Coming Out
The truth about Jane is that she is a lesbian. Don’t worry; I didn’t give away the whole movie. The Truth About Jane is not a story of suspense, but rather an account of what many of us have felt or experienced during our own coming out. As one of the Lifetime Original Movies, the cable network took a chance with this story and it paid off with a screen Actors Guild nomination for Stockard Channing.
Played by Ellen Muth, 16-year-old Jane narrates the movie starting with her own birth to establish the complicated bond between herself and her mother, played by Channing (the First Lady on NBC’s West Wing). The action quickly progresses from the maternity ward to the year 2000 with Jane starting her first day of high school. Right from the start Jane’s narration allows the audience to feel her burden of living up to her parents’ expectations, feeling new sensations for the first time for another female, and the agony of her coming out – without the dialog being bogged down with hard-to-verbalize emotions.
Jane realizes she is gay and goes through the self-loathing and self-accepting process, only to be outted by her younger brother after he sees her kissing her first girlfriend. The story reveals the many layers of the coming out process: self, beloved, family. After being confronted by her parents, Jane eventually breaks down and tells them ‘the truth.’
The reality of the parents’ reactions is dead on. That’s what I loved about this movie – the story showed all sides of the situation. The parents, especially mom Janis, were disappointed and expressed their anger and sadness of being – as they felt – stripped of the “normal” opportunity to watch their daughter get married and have kids of her own. Janis also goes through what I think all mothers go through. What did I do wrong? How could I have raised a gay child?
At the same time, I found myself rooting for Jane, feeling the frustration and hurt of trying to be yourself while the whole world seems to be trying to convert you. Jane’s portrayal of a young lesbian was good enough to make me believe that Ellen Muth had actually gone through it herself. Jane reminded me of the mood swings, trapped feelings of trying to fit in with peers, overwhelming anxiety of saying out loud that you are gay, and the fear of losing all of the people you love. I couldn’t help but get pissed at her mother for selfishly taking the ‘Poor me, how could you do this to me?’ approach. I cried when Jane cried and I got nervous and excited for her when she kissed a girl for the first time.
The film also cleverly showed Janis as a classic liberal: although one of her best friends is gay pal Jimmy, played by Rupaul, she quickly becomes a homophobe when the issue hits closer to home and she learns about her daughter’s sexuality. Janis searches for someone to side with her, but only finds her friends and husband shaking their heads at her outrageous actions against Jane. I loved how Janis had to, almost unknowingly, go through the coming out process with Jane.
After Janis pushes too hard and finds Jane on the brink of suicide, the story turns towards the characters fighting to find the light at the end of the tunnel. Jane’s family starts to deal with her sexuality and tries to show ways to be supportive. Everyone’s mood seems to lighten without the unrealistic ending of mother and daughter holding hands and skipping off into a field of flowers. Just as Jane is learning to grow into herself, her mother is learning to be okay with who she needs to be.
Other than a few cheesy high school situations, nearly the entire movie is packed with real dialog, honest reactions and true emotions. If you have somehow managed to forget your own coming out story or have never had the luxury of seeing it portrayed in mainstream media, The Truth About Jane will quickly remind you of the anxiety and fear of looking someone in the eye and telling them you are gay. If you are still thinking about coming out, this movie gives you a believable character to relate to, and will give you hope for when you do tell the truth about yourself.
Amber Leventry watches Lifetime (and other channels) in Williston.