Department of Anthropology

Series Title: Irish PRIDE - Equality in Ireland

The Irish American Community of IU (IACIU) connects student, faculty, staff, and Bloomington community members who share interests in all things Irish. There have been persistent stereotypes of Ireland and the Irish as being mired in the 19th century and dominated by The Catholic Church. For many Americans, Ireland is the dichotomy of economic depression and picture-perfect vacations. The films of Irish PRIDE - Equality in Ireland will bring to the IU Cinema the LGBTQ+ experience in Ireland. As a country with strong ties to The Catholic Church, the LGBTQ+ community has historically struggled in Ireland. In recent years, the nature of this struggle has changed as Irish society has benefitted from membership in the European Union, and experienced emigration and immigration in new ways. In 2015, the Republic of Ireland voted to legalize same-sex marriage. The campaign to accomplish this outcome made the world take notice of people and subcultures that had been pushed to the fringes of Irishness.

This film series will expand the nature of the dialogue that often happens around Irish identity by including cinema and centering the voices of marginalized groups. By screening these films during LGBTQ History Month, we endeavor to honor the Irish and Irish-Americans who help bring about positive change for all.

Film Title: Breakfast on Pluto

Year Made: 2005

Running Time: 128 minutes

Director: Neil Jordan

Country, Description, Other Notes: Ireland, Feature

Running to the boundless imagination of The Butcher Boy novelist Pat McCabe, Jordan here recreates Ireland's turbulent 1970s as an odyssey of gender-bending possibility, courtesy of the irrepressible, cross-dressing Patrick 'Kitten' Braden (Cillian Murphy). Abandoned on a doorstep as a baby, an adult Kitten embarks on a quest to find her mother, moving from Northern Ireland to London as she hopes to escape terrorism and prejudice; both, however, prove inescapable as Kitten makes her way through a harsh and exploitative society. Murphy triumphs in the central role with a blend of determined flounce and bruised fragility, holding together a picaresque narrative which ultimately relinquishes momentum for in-the moment revelation. These moments are, however, memorable: Brendan Gleeson plays a psychotic Womble, Liam Neeson a sympathetically flawed cleric, and an IRA nerve centre is uniquely reimagined. Despite this fizzy stylisation, sight is never lost of the heartbbreak and horror only just kept at bay.