Books // A charming tale or a curse for the eyes

it just came off annoying to read and hard to like her as a character.

Witcha Gonna Do?, written by Avery Flynn, is the first book in a romantic comedy series that follows protagonist Matilda Grace, a girl with no powers born into a family of the most powerful witches; and Gil Connolly, a character described as a “super hot jerk.” Together, they must partner up when Matilda causes her sister’s spell to glitch; fight against evil-minded forces; and save her family. They do this all while battling the evilest thing of all — love.

At first glance, this book seemed like a lighthearted young adult (YA) romance, similar to the type you would see on TikTok; but what I bought was indeed not that. Flynn tries her best to deal with adult subjects but lacks character depth, making the pacing feel off-putting. When it comes to worldbuilding, Flynn does an excellent job of making the scenes feel realistic and helps me picture the town, as there is rich imagery and detailed description. This was part of why I was excited to read this book, since I can be a sucker for fantasy! There is so much possibility for imagination to thrive — something that often can’t be mimicked for other genres. That’s why this book felt so disappointing to me, despite the engaging descriptions such as the “magical dragon blood tree” outside the café that hilariously seems to be attracted to Matilda. Flynn includes too much detail and seems to not have enough time to explain their necessity to the plot. Again, this seems to be to the detriment of Gil and Matilda’s romance as they go from enemies to lovers almost instantaneously, completely negating the beautiful slow burn inherent to this classic romance novel trope.

The writing style, in my opinion, is also a sore point in this novel as it is often childish and riddled with the type of cringy speech you see on your Twitter feed. For example, the opening line starts off with “Hi *Waves*,” which cheapens the sentiment of the novel as a whole. Also, another stylistic choice I’m not a fan of is how many swear words Flynn incorporates. Don’t get me wrong, a few swear words here and there can make a scene more intense, lighten the mood in dark situations, or even provide emphasis to character dialogues. Flynn’s usage doesn't actually do any of those positive things. It seems to me that she includes this aspect in the novel to give Matila a quirk when

Although I have my qualms with the structure of this book, I did quite enjoy the dual POV of Matilda and Gil. It is something that I have come to appreciate and love from reading the works of authors such as Colleen Hoover; it makes up for the lack of relationship-building Flynn (unfortunately) failed to create, as it allowed for more detail and perspective from the characters. Also, I enjoyed how Matilda talks directly to the reader as it made me feel engaged in a story I otherwise felt was hard to get through and connect to the characters/plot. Unfortunately, I feel like that comes to the end of the good things I can say about Witcha Gonna Do?, which hurts me. All in all, if you choose to look at Flynn’s novel on a surface level, it can definitely be an easy read, but I can’t say I’m excited for a follow-up to this story.

But I’m a Cheerleader, directed by Jamie Babbit, is nearly twenty-three years old and it is time we celebrate the LGBTQ+ movie that has somehow remained relevant all this time. Babbit (The Quiet, Russian Doll) had her directorial debut with this flick, and what a jumping off point it was.

The movie stars Natasha Lyonne as teenage Megan (a cheerleader) who is sent away to conversion therapy by her parents after the people in her life suspect that she is a lesbian. Megan heads off to True Directions (the conversion camp) and meets leaders Mary Brown (Cathy Moriarty) and Mike (RuPaul). The camp forces the young attendees to separate by gender binaries and learn how to master stereotypical gendered tasks in order to become heterosexual. From there she meets Graham (Clea DuVall), and while at first the two clash they later form a loving bond with one another. Throughout the course of the film the audience sees Megan become unapologetic in her sexuality, even when she is dismissed from the camp and abandoned by her family. Along to help her, and other forced attendees of the camp, are ex-students of Mary Brown: Larry and Lloyd.

The movie's most memorable moment is the climatic graduation scene where the students are set to announce their heterosexuality, but Megan shows up to perform a cheer for Graham. By the finale they are driving away from the camp to be together, and the final scene shows Megan’s parents trying to become allies.

From the witty dialogue to the bright colours, this movie can mostly be described as campy. There is always the joke of how so many WLW movies aren’t allowed electricity as they are always set in the olden times, but Babbit’s film lets young queer people enjoy a movie just as fun as other modern (for the time) ʼ90s flicks. Upon release the movie was treated poorly by reviewers, but Babbit knew that most of them were not her target audience anyway. Her goal (and something she accomplished) was to tell a lesbian love story where both romantic interests are safe and in love by the end of the film, for it was something that was a rarity. Even now the ever prevalent bury-your-gays trope leaves many just wanting a simple happy story, and But I’m a Cheerleader delivers it.

The film has become influential within the LGBTQ+ community, and even inspired indie pop band MUNA’s music video for “Silk Chiffon''. When I think about this movie I think about reblogging screenshots that I thought looked pretty, and when I first sat down to fully watch I felt as though I was being embraced in a warm hug. I encourage anyone that hasn’t to watch But I’m a Cheerleader to do so, and even if you have watched it a million times go make it a million and one.