Adam is a 2019 American independent Coming of Age dramedy film directed by Rhys Ernst, adapted by Ariel Schrag from her own 2014 novel of the same name.
18-year-old Adam (Nicholas Alexander) decides to spend his last summer of high school in New York City with his older sister Casey (Margaret Qualley). Openly queer and an LGBT+ rights activist, Casey introduces her brother to the LGBT+ scene there, which leads to his meeting Gillian (Bobbi Menuez), a young lesbian woman. Since they first meet at a party with LGBT+ people, she's mistakenly under the impression he's a trans man. Gillian tells Adam she'll date him, though he's the first guy she has been with. Adam, guiltily, goes along with her mistake. With the lies escalating, he moves further into the LGBT+ scene.
Examples:
- Bed Trick: Adam lets Gillian think that he's a trans man, having sex with her repeatedly (it later turns out she knew the truth early on, however). It's discussed as well in regards to a murdered trans woman, whom his friend Brad thinks was also doing this, leading to her murder by a man she'd slept with.
- Blaming the Victim: After one of Casey's friends, a trans woman named Nelly, is murdered by a cis man she had sex with without disclosing her gender, Adam's friend says he can understand the guy having a hostile reaction (while saying he isn't defending her murder). Casey is naturally outraged and takes this as victim blaming.
- Cast Full of Gay: Most of the main and supporting characters are queer women, nonbinary people, trans men or trans women except for a couple, including Adam.
- Celebrity Paradox: Leo Sheng plays Ethan, and the cast watch The L Word. He later played Micah Lee on The L Word: Generation Q, the Sequel Series.
- Closet Key: Gillian tells Adam she's never dated a trans guy (he's actually cis) but is open to the idea, and starts a relationship with him. She realizes she's bisexual, not a lesbian, after this.
- Coming Straight Story: Adam's mistaken for a trans man by Gillian, going with it but also feeling guilty until he finally admits the truth, which she already knows.
- The Film of the Book: It's based on a 2014 novel of the same name.
- Has a Type: Casey tells Adam that she's into butch girls, saying masculine woman are the most sexy for her.
- Heteronormative Crusader: At the same-sex marriage rally, some Westboro Baptists (or at least a fictional group like them) are there holding their infamous “God Hates Fags” signs.
- Homophobic Hate Crime: A trans woman named Nelly who Casey knows is killed offscreen by a man whom she hooked up with (after her gender was revealed), devastating her.
- Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple:
- Gillian is pretty feminine, but wore a tuxedo while going to the prom with her girlfriend who had on a dress, as seen in a past photo.
- Casey likes butch women and trans men, whom we see her dating, while she's more feminine.
- Mistaken for Gay: Or rather, mistaken for trans. Adam gets hit on and picked up while at an LGBT+ club by a woman who's unaware that he's cisgender, thinking Adam's trans like most guys there. Later this also happens with another queer girl, Gillian, whom he dates.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted; there's Casey and Boy Casey. They date each other.
- Open-Minded Parent: Gillian's parents were very accepting of her being a lesbian, suing after she was barred from entering prom in tow with her girlfriend. She says her mom is also really into her sexuality, having watched The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love “about a hundred times”.
- Skinny Dipping: At Camp Trans, many camp goers swim naked in the nearby river.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Gillian actually realizes Adam isn't trans early on, due to his lack of knowledge on queer subjects and then suddenly learning, but in a rote way as he memorized things. She's okay with it, realizing that she likes cis men too, but they still break up because their relationship was entirely based on deception.
- Their First Time: Adam, who's 18, first has sex while with Gillian while presenting himself as a trans man using a strap-on.
- Where Everybody Knows Your Flame: Casey takes Adam to a club where queer women and trans men all hang out with her friends. Later, while dating Gillian, they go to a queer female/trans male BDSM club too.
