Last night I rewatched Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (Sony Pictures/2008). It's not There Will Be Blood, but it's a light-hearted, well-acted tribute to those nights in every young person's life that seem to last forever--those nights where it actually seems possible that similar musical taste can bond two people for life.
Nick (Michael Cera) is sensitive, smart, and funny, and the love of his life does not appreciate him or the mix tape CD's he puts together for her. Nora (Kat Dunning) is his "musical soul mate" and desperately wants to meet the stranger who makes all the amazing CDs his ex-girlfriend throws in the trash at school. When Nora finally meets Nick, it's at a club where Nick is performing with his band as the lone straight guy in a "Queercore" band called The Jerkoffs. It takes a while for the two to warm up to each other, but they eventually bond over music and--of course--a great big adventure in NYC.
While not as funny as it should be, it is engaging and good-hearted, and it shows an interesting evolution of pop culture depictions of Jews and gays, who--despite heavy repesentation of both groups in the entertainment industry--are often marginalized and stereotyped in movies and TV shows.
In some ways, Nora's character fits popular Gossip Girl stereotypes. She is the rich daughter of a famous music mogul, and because of this fact, the red carpet is rolled out for her. But to her credit she constantly downplays her status because she says her dad's position in society has nothing to do with who she is. She wants people to see her true self. That's why it's hurtful when Nick angrily calls Nora a spoiled "JAP" (Jewish-American princess); it simply does not ring true.
Even more impressively, the film is not content with establishing Nora as a Jew in a typical shallow movie way, with a handful of references to Hanukkah or JAPs. Nora is--to borrow from another minority's lingo--out. She is actually proud to be Jewish, and she even shares with Nick one of her "favorite things about Judaism," the concept of tikkun olam. She explains it as the world being broken and humans having the task of putting the pieces back together. "Maybe we're the pieces," Nick offers.
Just as Nora resembles Jewish girls we know in real life more than most other movie Jews, the same can be said for the gay characters. Nick's gay friends/bandmates are not limp-wristed, lisping stereotypes. They're certainly not murderers (like Hollywood used to make them) and they're not martyrs (like Hollywood currently makes them.) Thankfully, they are NOT in love with Nick or with any other straight guy. In fact, they do everything they can to ensure that Nick and Nora get together.
The best thing about the young gay men in this film is that they are not sanitized, neutered, asexual versions of themselves. They are comfortable in their own skins, and their presence here is by no means meant to make homophobic (or homonervous) audiences feel less threatened.
And that's one of the things I like about Nick and Norah's. Nora, Nick, and their gay friends are not used as "propaganda" for positive media images. They are all imperfect people, just as characters in any movie should be, and they have all the potential in the world to be stereotypes--they just fight against it. Nora is privelaged and well-off, but she would rather be seen as a spiritually grounded Jewish girl than as a rich JAP. Nick's friends are sexy, hot, and very sexual, but they're also really nice guys more concerned with helping their friends than getting off.
It almost makes up for the fact that we're supposed to believe these charcters can instantly find parking places at every NYC club and business they attend. Almost.
