SBG 135: Death Becomes Her

Welcome back to Lez Hang Out, the podcast that hates Gay Halloween. What do you mean you’re Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn as Madeline Ashton and Helen Sharp at Ernest’s funeral?

This week, Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida) hang out and talk about why the 1992 satirical body horror-comedy Death Becomes Her Should’ve Been Gay. Although not everything in this film ages well (that fat suit was 100% not okay), the overall campiness and pure diva star power of Meryl and Goldie sharing the screen make this a must-watch in our books. 

Death Becomes Her feels like a love letter for every sapphic who never got over that one really intense love/hate homoerotic friendship they had growing up. From the beginning, the entire plot revolves around Helen’s overwhelming obsession with Madeline. It has been 7 years, and all Helen has thought about every single day is Madeline. While it may seem at first glance like the obsession is one-sided, Madeline clearly loves playing the games and entertaining the stalking just as much as Helen. Why is she only going after men who have literally been inside Helen? She’s being SO loud. 

In a wonderfully anti-BYG way, instead of Madeline or Helen dying in their eventual attempts to kill each other, they both live thanks to each having consumed a mysterious immortality potion. Though their bodies are horrifically wrecked and require a lot of maintenance not to look as dead as they are, the two have essentially bound themselves together for eternity. They go directly from hating each other to U-Hauling in the blink of an eye. By the time we see them attend Ernest’s funeral at the end of the film, Madeline and Helen are openly acting like an old married couple. 

We know one thing for sure, Death Becomes Her Should’ve Been Gay.

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You can find your fav tol and smol hosts Ellie & Leigh at @elliebrigida and @lshfoster respectively.

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