5/7/2019
Winner of the 2018 Grand Jury prize at the Sundance film festival “The Miseducation of Cameron Post” is a powerful and heartbreaking drama that is based on an all too real tragedy that is being put upon many young people still to this day. The concept of the gay conversion camp where parents send their kids to “become straight” is ridiculous, barbaric, and just plain wrong on every conceivable level.
Taking place in 1993, Chloe Grace Moretz plays Cameron Post a teen girl who has found love with another girl named Coley. Their relationship is kept quiet until they are found making out in the back seat of their car at the prom. Cameron’s Christian parents send her to a place called “God’s Promise” a gay conversion camp run by Reverend Rick and Dr. Lydia Marsh. They really don’t seem to know what they are doing but Lydia is very strict and determined to “heal” these kids at any cost. Cameron meets up with Jane (Sasha Lane) upon arrival and then with Adam (Forrest Goodluck). This trio bonds over smoking pot in the woods and their collective desire to live their own lives with dignity, respect, and freedom to make their own choices.
This concept of gay conversion therapy is so infuriating, this prison camp brainwashes teenagers into thinking that they are these horrible diseased people who are no different from drug addicts who need rehab. All of this under the guise of religious “love and understanding”. Cameron and the others are told they are gender confused and suffer from SSA or Same Sex Attraction. Their treatment revolves around the metaphor of an iceberg and they must find out what lies under the surface that has made them this way. Basically, if you're a girl who loves sports you're an obvious lesbian, and boys who spend too much time with their mothers will turn up gay. The tragic consequences of these teachings are emphasized by Mark, Adam’s roommate after he is denied a chance to come home by his father he has reached rock bottom. Rejected by his family and constantly told he is unworthy, he attempts suicide by genital mutilation. When Cameron is asked by an investigator about what goes on in the camp and if people are being abused, she sums up everything in one sentence. “How is programming people to hate themselves not emotional abuse”. After these events, Cameron, Jane, and Mark decide enough is enough and plan their escape. Reverend Rick is in a state of shock and denial and basically allows them to leave on a hike deep down knowing they’re probably not coming back. They hitch a ride in the back of a pickup truck and for the first time feel the freedom to be their authentic selves without shame and embarrassment.