The depiction of religion and homosexuality in "Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit"
Stephanie Schmitz
Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Cologne (Englisches Seminar), course: Hauptseminar: Concepts of Britishness in British Cinema, language: English, abstract: The drama Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit tells the story of a young lesbian girl, Jeanette/Jess, who is raised in a repressive Pentecostal home by an overpowering mother. Jess tries to find her sexual identity in the context of the fanatical Pentecostal church. Although Jess herself does not have any problems with her sexuality combined with her religiosity at all, she gets into a conflict with the Christian community and into a deep inner conflict because the church regards her sexuality as a sin and herself as possessed by demons. This paper discusses how the different conflicts in the story arise and which impact the film’s way of representing religion and lesbianism has on the viewer. It demonstrates how the ways in which the novel and the film version ofOrangespresent lesbianism work to naturalize and normalize it. By its representation of lesbian love and the church as its enemy Oranges challenges normative values and conventional standards.Oranges makes an attempt to reverse the viewer’s former attitudes towards these opponents.
