The Birdcage
The Birdcage is how human social life, groups, and societies emphasize on modern, industrialized systems. Val Goldman and Barbara Keeley are engaged to be married, and have decided to have their families meet. Val's father, Armand Goldman , owns The Birdcage, a South Beach drag club. His domestic partner is Albert , who appears regularly as Starina, the show's star drag queen. They are a nuclear family. A nuclear family is a household in which a married couple or single parent live with their own or adopted children. Barbara's father, however, is ultraconservative Republican Ohio Senator Kevin Keeley. According to the concept of states, this is power. They are an extended family. An extended family is where kin in addition to parents and children live in the same household or have a close relationship. Fearing their reaction if they learn the truth about Val's parents Barbara changes the family's last name from Goldman to Coleman to hide their Jewish background. This was sociological imagination. What we believe to be true or “natural” is strongly influenced by social forces. (McCreary, Lecture, 8/27/09). Meanwhile, the Keeleys are traveling to South Beach. An example of a sociological is that the father is running for senator, and is clearly in the upper class. As the evening draws nearer, Agador, the Goldmans' flamboyant, gay housekeeper, has been made into a butler and chef for the evening, despite the fact that he cannot cook and never wears shoes. Being a gay housekeeper was Agador’s social role and identity in society. The Keeleys arrive at Armand's residence, but Katherine, who is to play Val's mother, is still not there she is stuck in traffic. Everyone engages in awkward small talk but Armand is nervous, even more so because Katherine has not arrived. Kevin and Louise, meanwhile, are worried that Armand's nervousness is because he has heard about the Jackson scandal and is uncomfortable having the Keeleys in his house. Suddenly, Albert emerges