As does The Children’s Hour, the play written by Lillian Hellman and filmed twice by William Wyler, Lee Mimi’s Girl’s School deals with salacious gossip and the resulting bullying. However, the background of this film is Taiwan in the early 1980s, and the targets of the gossip are not teachers but the close friends Chih-Ting and Chia-Lin.
The film also has the unique atmosphere of melodramas, which have teenaged protagonists, from East Asian countries in the mid- to late 20th century. They are conservative and conformist, and the image of teachers is positive. The traces of militarism shown throughout the school description are familiar to Koreans who went through a similar period. Naturally, then, the homosexuality depicted in the film is a misunderstanding and something to be corrected, and if you watch it closely, there is a long-winded story that even heterosexual audiences can understand. But maybe that was not enough. The film goes through a rather eerie process before its happy ending.
The film, which was made 40 years ago, is a relic of the times, especially now that same-sex marriage has been legalized in Taiwan. Despite the film’s persistent excuses and persuasion, however, the emotions of the two protagonists remain desperate, and above all, criticism on homophobia strikes home however it is articulated or when. [Djuna]