Taking a Bite of the Apple: A Film Review of John Apple Jack

Source: http://www.vaff.org/images/1383.jpg

On February 6^th, I saw the film John Apple Jack at the 15^th annual Reelout Queer Film and Video Fest. John Apple Jack, a 2013 Canadian film directed by Monika Mitchell, is a queer romantic comedy starring Chris McNally as John, Kent S. Leung as Jack, and McKenzi Scott as Vivienne, John’s sister and Jack’s fiancée.

John Apple Jack is a poorly constructed film with a confusing jumble of storylines. Nevertheless, it offers important messages about heteronormativity, homonormativity, race/ethnicity, and class that inspire both celebration and critique.

The film tells the story of John (McNally), a wealthy heir to a successful restaurant business, and Jack (Leung), a talented line cook in his kitchen, childhood friends that recently reconnect after twenty years apart. John lives an extravagant lifestyle characterized by promiscuous sex, fast cars, a posh apartment, and wild parties. But, when John discovers Jack is engaged to his sister Vivienne, and he is cut off financially from his wealthy parents, a new John emerges to fight for Jack, his perfect mixture of gay sex and gay love.

My initial reaction to the film was that it is overly confusing. The film’s creators inserted too many too disparate storylines into the film that don’t mesh well together, making for confusion and lagged interest among the audience. The most notable of these is the account of Vivienne and Jack’s son. It is never resolved whether Jack is, in fact, the father of the boy, a choice that was perhaps purposefully made to show that, even without confirmed biological relation, he loves the boy like his own son. Nevertheless, the back-and-forth, unsettled tale’s most prominent effect was to puzzle the audience. The film also features some unnecessary storylines that serve only to take attention away from the main focus of the story. For example, the film features a storyline about the bladder problems of Vivienne’s son, an irrelevant, unfunny addition to the film that should have been excised.

The setting and props, however, ought to be commended, as they greatly contribute to the story’s authenticity. The fancy sports car, business suits, and large, richly furnished apartment, for example, successfully demonstrate the extravagance of John’s upper-class lifestyle. Moreover, the setting of the film, Vancouver, reinforces and makes plausible the diversity of the characters. Indeed, writer and producer Rick Tae centered the film in Vancouver in order to draw on and depict the city’s “culturally diverse community” (Patrick, “‘John Apple Jack’—An Adorable New Gay Romantic Comedy”). This refreshing commitment to diversity is visible in the pairing of John, a white man, and Jack, an Asian man.

Despite the awkward construction of the film, it offers essential messages about heteronormativity, homonormativity, and the intersections of queerness, race/ethnicity, and class. It is important to note that the term queer, once used as a derogatory insult against gay men and lesbians, is not used in the same manner here. Instead, queer describes any identity (not just a gay or lesbian identity) that subverts the sexual norms, or the “shoulds” and “musts,” that sanction our sexuality (Aulette and Wittner 125).

Romantic comedies seem to perpetually feature heterosexual love stories, so it was refreshing to see a movie of this genre reject this trend and give representation to queer stories. Because heterosexuality is so pervasively depicted and encouraged, it has become the normalized sexuality against which all others are compared, a model known as heteronormativity (Bromley 167). Heteronormativity assumes the alignment of sex, sexuality, gender, and gender roles (Tolmie). Under the heteronormative model, queer identities are considered abnormal and inferior. This film, by depicting a gay love story, subverts the heteronormative standard and shows that other sexual identities exist and are worthy and desirable. It rejects the inevitability of heterosexual union so commonly featured in heteronormative “boy meets girl” romantic comedies. The film discredits the notion that men are only romantically and sexually attracted to women. John Apple Jack must therefore be appreciated for progressively undermining problematic trends.

Despite its disregard for heteronormative patterns, the film reinforces problematic trends of homonormativity, a phenomenon that assumes queer individuals want to be like heterosexuals and rewards those who actively pursue the domestic, consumerist lifestyle traditionally aligned with heterosexuality (Tolmie). Encouraging marriage and parenthood for queer individuals—the benchmarks of “normal” heterosexuality—as John Apple Jack does reinforces homonormativity and the notion that the only way for queer individuals to be accepted by society is to marry and have children, in so doing essentially rejecting what makes them queer, namely their dismissal of sexual norms (Aulette and Wittner 125).

At the beginning of John Apple Jack, John is portrayed as preferring promiscuous sexual behavior to the idea of settling down for life with one partner, a clear dismissal of homonormative trends. He changes his view, though, when he reconnects with and pursues a committed, monogamous relationship with Jack. The film seems to depict this committed relationship as more right and meaningful than John’s former lifestyle by characterizing his random hookups as inferior, unenlightened steps in the inevitable journey toward marriage. Ultimately, the film doesn’t give lasting expression to truly queer behaviors that subvert the “shoulds” and “musts” of sexuality, instead depicting a queerness that follows these norms and reaffirming that queer individuals ought to pursue the common traditions of heterosexuality in order to seem more normal and acceptable. Of course, John and Jack should be welcome to get married if they so choose, but the film disputably depicts this option as suitable above all others.

The film also portrays significant messages about race/ethnicity and class. As recently mentioned by a student in lecture, while attractive, white, male gay individuals often popularly represent the queer community, they do not adequately do so. John Apple Jack, on the other hand, seeks to represent the queer community’s diversity. While John is that typical attractive, white, male gay character, Jack is Asian, and together, they form a bi-racial couple. This takes a prominent step toward progress not only by depicting a queer, non-white individual but also by depicting a bi-racial queer couple, challenging society’s tolerance of supposedly more acceptable and “normal” queer individuals that are white. However, the intersection of race/ethnicity and class is problematic in this film. John, a white man, is a wealthy boss with an upper-class, extravagant lifestyle. In contrast, Jack, a man of a minority race/ethnicity, is depicted as a struggling, working-class employee. It is distressing that, once again, the upper-class person in the dominant position of power is white, while the role of the lower-class subordinate is fulfilled by a racial minority.

My experience of seeing John Apple Jack at Reelout was quite fulfilling. I believe that our young generation is not only tolerant of queer individuals, but moreover wholeheartedly accepting of them. I feel this acceptance nearly everyday at university, and I felt this very strongly in the audience at Reelout. By the end of the film, I felt unified with the largely young adult viewers in rooting for John and Jack. With the “Awwws” of the audience members at the cute, romantic moments, I felt surrounded by an extraordinary sense of unequivocal acceptance, which made the entire Reelout experience that much more enjoyable. As a lover of romantic comedies, I enjoyed the film for all of its adorable depictions of romance and love. My appreciation for the film was bolstered by its commendable messages on heteronormativity and queer diversity, though I did take issue with its adherence to homonormativity and depictions of race/ethnicity and class’s intersections. Ultimately, I would recommend John Apple Jack because these feminist critiques don’t take away from enjoying the film, but rather add a new layer of pleasure and thoughtfulness to the film’s viewing.

From aeac_9579

Works Cited

Aulette, Judy Root, and Judith Wittner. Gendered Worlds. Second Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. Print.

Bromley, Victoria L. Feminisms Matter: Debates, Theories, Activism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press Incorporated, 2012. Print.

Patrick. “‘John Apple Jack’—An Adorable New Gay Romantic Comedy.” homorazzi.com. n.p., 8 Nov. 2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.  <http://www.homorazzi.com/article/john-apple-jack-gay-movie-romantic-comedy-vancouver/#more-218948&gt;.

Tolmie, Jane. “Lecture 7.” GNDS 125: Gender, Race, and Popular Culture. Queen’s University, Kingston, ON. 25 Feb. 2014. Lecture Notes.