Pop Culture Fix: “Ammonite” Director Francis Lee Made Mary Anning a Lesbian to “Elevate” Her, Doesn’t Care What Straights Think

It’s the middle of the week and here’s a little Pop Culture Fix to get you the rest of the way! 

+ Ammonite director Francis Lee will receive New Fest’s inaugural World Queer Visionary Award.

+ And here’s Lee on why he made Mary Anning gay in his biopic.

+ Janelle Monáe tells Stephen Colbert about friend Chadwick Boseman, finding revolution in a song.

+ 10 of the most stylish lesbian characters in cinema.

+ The Nigerian filmmakers risking jail with lesbian movie Ife. (Check out Chinelo Anyadiegwu’s
interview too!)

+ Margaret Cho, Stevie Nicks, Serena Williams, Toni Morrison, Shonda Rhimes, and 20 other famous women on anger.

+ The Charlie’s Angels that made you gay.

+ Brandi Carlile’s cover of “Mad World” is a real 2020 mood.

+ Indya Moore’s NYFW debut is tens, tens, tens across the board.

+ Kate McKinnon has inked a new deal with SNL.

+ Andre Braughe reexamines his cop roles and urges Brooklyn Nine-Nine to rise to the moment.

+ Cynthia Nixon on why she identifies as queer.

+ GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics announced the winners of their TV Awards this weekend. Schitt’s Creek was the big favorite.

+ Stevie Nicks is on the edge of saving cinema.

+ Queer Eye and Drag Race took home some Creative Arts Emmys this year.

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!
Related:

Heather Hogan

Heather Hogan is an Autostraddle senior editor who lives in New York City with her wife, Stacy, and their cackle of rescued pets. She's a member of the Television Critics Association, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, and a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer critic. You can also find her on Twitter and Instagram.

Heather has written 1718 articles for us.

5 Comments

  1. Ok so that Ammonite interview is bizarre? Like some truly weird ways to talk about queerness and to decide on telling a queer story

    • Ahhh thank you thank you thank you, I was hoping I wouldn’t be the only one with this reaction! (Disclaimer: have not seen the movie) Once the director explained that there’s almost no information about Anning’s personal life, I was expecting the reasoning for the queer relationship to be something along the lines of “this might have made sense as a relationship that would have been sifted out of the historical record” or something like that. Definitely was *not* expecting a comment that basically translates to “she couldn’t have been with a man, because that would have turned her into a possession for him.” Like, this may just be the snack I just ate not sitting well with me, so I might be in an overly picky mood right now, but this somehow feels vaguely insulting to both people in relationships with men and people in other relationships?? Relationships between two women are not (typically?) *about* the absence of a man, I’d like to think that they exist at least a *little* more because of a pull between the women involved lol.

Comments are closed.