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Chasing Amy

Bi Media

close up of Amy staring intensely at someone in the audience while singing into a microphone.

Chasing Amy is a 1997 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Kevin Smith. The film follows the story of Holden McNeil, played by Ben Affleck, a comic book artist who falls in love with Alyssa Jones, played by Joey Lauren Adams, a fellow comic book artist. Alyssa is portrayed as a bisexual woman who has had previous relationships with both men and women.

Throughout the movie, Holden struggles with Amy’s sexual past, not just her bisexuality, but the fact that she is more sexually experienced than him. She refuses to coddle him or allow him to slut shame her, which is pretty remarkable for 1997. At the same time, she is facing judgment from her lesbian circle of friends for dating a man. Amy is facing the same judgment and erasure from the queer and straight community that many bi folks continue to face today.

Although the film is far from perfect in terms of bi representation, Chasing Amy contributed to bringing discussions of bisexuality to the mainstream and sparked conversations about the representation of bisexuality in media. It remains a notable film in terms of bisexual representation and continues to be discussed within the LGBT community and the broader cultural landscape.