Jennifer Connelly looking like a hot stereotypical lez in "Higher Learning" appreciation post

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In this 1995 film, Jennifer Connelly played the character, Taryn - an activist and head of the campus feminist group.

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Genuinely my favorite kind of thread is something this incredibly specific and yet inexplicably passionate. Shine on, OP.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher_Learning

Higher Learning is a 1995 American drama film written and directed by John Singleton and starring an ensemble cast. The film follows the changing lives of three incoming freshmen at the fictional Columbus University: Malik Williams (Omar Epps), a track star who struggles with academics; Kristen Connor (Kristy Swanson), a shy and naive girl; and Remy (Michael Rapaport), a lonely and confused man seemingly out of place in his new environment.

The film also featured Tyra Banks' first performance in a theatrical film. Laurence Fishburne won an NAACP Image Award for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture"; Ice Cube was also nominated for the award. This was the last film appearance of Dedrick D. Gobert, who was shot dead in 1994 prior to the film's release.

The exterior shots and outdoor scenes were shot on the campus of University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) while the interiors were shot at Sony Pictures Studios.

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Also, I was today year's old when I learned that there was a sex scene that was cut from the US theatrical release:

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did this movie used to play all the time on TV, maybe MTV? I think I've seen the end a few times, but not the whole thing. Is it good?

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ConnElly*

My forever crush. I love her in Snowpiercer

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It’s very semi-indie 90’s but a good movie. Some cheesy moments but overall a decent watch.

did this movie used to play all the time on TV, maybe MTV? I think I've seen the end a few times, but not the whole thing. Is it good?

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did this movie used to play all the time on TV, maybe MTV? I think I've seen the end a few times, but not the whole thing. Is it good?

It's not bad. I think this movie is still pretty relevant today. It's got the incel radicalized into white supremacy trope. Even has a bi-curious/bisexual woman who hooks up with a woman, but quickly goes back to men. Lol.

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In this 1995 film, Jennifer Connelly played the character, Taryn - an activist and head of the campus feminist group.

The things I would let this woman do to me

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Never trust a Taryn

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omg is that my girl Regina King.I'll have to check it out. I've always like Jennifer Connelly's straight across eyebrows.

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omg is that my girl Regina King.I'll have to check it out. I've always like Jennifer Connelly's straight across eyebrows.

Regina King is great in this movie. Her character's commentary on Kristen's bumbling sexual discovery is hilarious, and she's a friend to Kristen when her other "friends" abandon her after a traumatic experience. I think this might be her second John Singleton role since "Boyz in the Hood".

And, yes, Jennifer Connelly has amazing eyebrows.

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Jennifer Connelly is right up there with Jennifer Beals in the “always, and forever will be, hot” category

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Love Jennifer always have but hate this movie. Spike lee is a homophobic piece of shit.

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Love Jennifer always have but hate this movie. Spike lee is a homophobic piece of shit.

John Singleton directed this movie.

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God, this woman is my eternal crush. Didn't know about this movie and she looks adorable in those glasses.

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I know she is wearing a thumb ring, but wear you you living that stereotypical lesbians look like Jennifer Connelly. Cause I am moving there soon. She was so hot back then. She is still a stunningly beautiful woman, but I loved when she had a little more weight and curves on her.

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This Kristen character had it bad.

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Also, I was today year's old when I learned that there was a sex scene that was cut from the US theatrical release:

Based on this video, her character is clearly a top.

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I know she is wearing a thumb ring, but wear you you living that stereotypical lesbians look like Jennifer Connelly. Cause I am moving there soon. She was so hot back then. She is still a stunningly beautiful woman, but I loved when she had a little more weight and curves on her.

She always hot but I find her hotter now. The years gave her a maturity on her face that's just

[Guest]

Also, I was today year's old when I learned that there was a sex scene that was cut from the US theatrical release:

SPOILERSPOILER

Some awkwardness/stiffness is to be expected, given that Kristen had never been with a woman before, but I still found - I don't know - the choreography of this scene a bit weird. Still though, this movie is from 1995, so kudos to these two actresses. Bold roles. Also, kudos to John Singleton (RIP). This scene wasn't filmed in your typical tawdry, male gazey fashion.

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omg is that my girl Regina King.I'll have to check it out. I've always like Jennifer Connelly's straight across eyebrows.

Regina king iconic. ICONIC.
How she is so under the radar by Hollywood is beyond me (I mean we all know why but)

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Also, I was today year's old when I learned that there was a sex scene that was cut from the US theatrical release:

SPOILERSPOILER

Some awkwardness/stiffness is to be expected, given that Kristen had never been with a woman before, but I still found - I don't know - the choreography of this scene a bit weird. Still though, this movie is from 1995, so kudos to these two actresses. Bold roles. Also, kudos to John Singleton (RIP). This scene wasn't filmed in your typical tawdry, male gazey fashion.

+1 to all of this in your spoiler tag

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omg is that my girl Regina King.I'll have to check it out. I've always like Jennifer Connelly's straight across eyebrows.

Regina king iconic. ICONIC.
How she is so under the radar by Hollywood is beyond me (I mean we all know why but)

It's a shame. Loved her in Watchmen. Love her eyes, too. Her eye color is striking.

[Guest]

Also, I was today year's old when I learned that there was a sex scene that was cut from the US theatrical release:

SPOILERSPOILER

Some awkwardness/stiffness is to be expected, given that Kristen had never been with a woman before, but I still found - I don't know - the choreography of this scene a bit weird. Still though, this movie is from 1995, so kudos to these two actresses. Bold roles. Also, kudos to John Singleton (RIP). This scene wasn't filmed in your typical tawdry, male gazey fashion.

This scene was deleted from the American release and the American DVD.

The only filmgoers who saw it were those in Europe and Australia, and it was included in the DVDs for Europe and Oceania.

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^ Because of this thread, I downloaded a torrent to watch and yeah, version I got was US and it made it look like she was making out with guy vs Connelly character. I was wtf is this thread about as there was barely any homo activity.

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Jennifer Connelly was one of the most beautiful women in the world before she developed a raging eating disorder and had breast reduction surgery.

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^ Because of this thread, I downloaded a torrent to watch and yeah, version I got was US and it made it look like she was making out with guy vs Connelly character. I was wtf is this thread about as there was barely any homo activity.

I downloaded this movie, too, but it wasn't a torrent. It was one of those direct download sites that uploads pieces of a .zip/.rar files into sites like Rapidgator. My copy was not the US version.

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I think Amazon Video has the non-US version to buy/rent.

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Love Jennifer always have but hate this movie. Spike lee is a homophobic piece of shit.

John Singleton directed this movie.

There's nothing that dumbass racists hate more than homophobes amirite?

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Jennifer Connelly was one of the most beautiful women in the world before she developed a raging eating disorder and had breast reduction surgery.

This movie is definitely pre reduction.

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The sex scene is a bit rehearsed but it was 1995, I'll cut them some slack. Jennifer Connelly just exudes passion in the way she looks at her. And her kisses are so tender.

Has she ever played another gay role?

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The sex scene is a bit rehearsed but it was 1995, I'll cut them some slack. Jennifer Connelly just exudes passion in the way she looks at her. And her kisses are so tender.

Has she ever played another gay role?

YES.

Her eye contact is smoldering, and she's so soft till she lifts Kristen's arms, and then goes for it.

Unfortunately, I believe this is her only gay role.

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Jennifer Connelly is right up there with Jennifer Beals in the “always, and forever will be, hot” category

Yep. At 51, she's still beautiful. I think she was 23 or 24 when "Higher Learning" was being filmed.

[Guest]

Jennifer Connelly is right up there with Jennifer Beals in the “always, and forever will be, hot” category

Yep. At 51, she's still beautiful. I think she was 23 or 24 when "Higher Learning" was being filmed.

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For some reason, I find actresses from older films more attractive (before 2005). It's just my opinion, of course. I can scroll through Netflix and watch movies that were recently released and I would hardly find any of the women attractive. Anyways, the actresses are hot and I'll definitely be watching.

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Has anyone seen this batshit movie called "Phenomena"? It's a Dario Argento horror movie with a homicidal chimp that's also a home aid, and a young Jennifer Connelly that has bug telepathy. She's like the Aquaman of insects. It's kind of like a superhero origin story movie before they really became a thing. It even has its own Charles Xavier like character in a wheelchair that plays a mentor to her.

Anyway, someone needs to write a fic where she grows up to be the Taryn that Kristen meets, and kills her rapist and other campus rapists with her ability. The fic would be a doomed, tragic romance.

Just think: Nearly 30 years after Higher Learning came out, it gets its own tag on AO3.

And it's host to a single, solitary fic: A Phenomena/Higher Learning crossover fic.

That would be epic.

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[Guest]

Jennifer Connelly is right up there with Jennifer Beals in the “always, and forever will be, hot” category

Yep. At 51, she's still beautiful. I think she was 23 or 24 when "Higher Learning" was being filmed.

I think a friend of mine really expressed it best by saying “gosh she really is just phenomenally pretty.”

Like I’m almost embarrassed to admit it because she’s so timelessly beautiful.

[Guest]

Has anyone seen this batshit movie called "Phenomena"? It's a Dario Argento horror movie with a homicidal chimp that's also a home aid, and a young Jennifer Connelly that has bug telepathy. She's like the Aquaman of insects. It's kind of like a superhero origin story movie before they really became a thing. It even has its own Charles Xavier like character in a wheelchair that plays a mentor to her.

Anyway, someone needs to write a fic where she grows up to be the Taryn that Kristen meets, and kills her rapist and other campus rapists with her ability. The fic would be a doomed, tragic romance.

Just think: Nearly 30 years after Higher Learning came out, it gets its own tag on AO3.

And it's host to a single, solitary fic: A Phenomena/Higher Learning crossover fic.

That would be epic.

Yes. I love it and think it is so underrated!! It took me a long time to figure out what this movie was though because I hired it from a video shop a few times when I was young before I knew who Jennifer Connelly was but parts of it stayed with me and I searched for a long time until I found it and was surprised it was Jennifer when she was younger.

[Guest]

Best thread/thread title ever and yes, she’s always been a babe. That brief possibility of seeing her dykey was a moment in heaven.

[Guest]

Jennifer Connelly is right up there with Jennifer Beals in the “always, and forever will be, hot” category

Yep. At 51, she's still beautiful. I think she was 23 or 24 when "Higher Learning" was being filmed.

I think a friend of mine really expressed it best by saying “gosh she really is just phenomenally pretty.”

Like I’m almost embarrassed to admit it because she’s so timelessly beautiful.

IKR. It almost hurts. I was once in a South American city, alone eating fried chicken next to a window, when a saw her double across the street, waiting for the bus. I thought holy shit, and she had deeper crazy intense blue eyes (distance plus my mediocre vision but t I was still able to see it). I thought I was lucky that she never saw me or I would’ve had a heart attack and die with greasy fingers. That’s the level of her beauty.

[Guest]

Random, but Sarah Warn herself (AfterEllen founder) reviewed this movie back in 2002 (the website was also launched that year).

https://afterellen.com/review-of-higher-learning/

It is no surprise that director John Singleton’s movie Higher Learning didn’t do well at the box office when it premiered in 1995. A movie primarily about race relations with a cast of actors who were mostly unknown at the time and a story that includes fraternity rape, bisexuality, neo-nazi violence, and a tragic ending is pretty much a marketing director’s worst nightmare.

Throw in bisexuality and lesbianism, and you’ve really got a marketing problem on your hands.

It was a testament to John Singleton’s credibility within Hollywood at the time that the movie got made at all. Fresh from the success of 1991’s Boys in the Hood (and the not-so-successful Poetic Justice of 1993), Singelton was clearly attempting to chart new territory with Higher Learning.

The movie follows the lives of three freshman at a state university: Kristen, played by Kristi Swanson (star of the first Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie); Malik, played by Omar Epps (Love and Basketball, The Wood and previously a regular on ER), and Remy, played by Michael Rappaport (Boston Public).

Swanson’s character Kristen is a confused, naive freshman woman who tries too hard to fit in to the party-hard Greek scene, until she is raped one night by a frat boy who has had too much to drink. Afterwards, she tells her roommate Monet (King), who calls up her (black) friends to go to the (all-white) frat house and kick some ass. The ensuing confrontation between the black and white men is clearly about more than just the rape.

In the weeks and months following the rape, Kristen stops trying to fit into the party scene and starts attending women’s safety groups with Taryn. As a slightly New Age-y lesbian with long hair and simple clothing, Taryn is played convincingly by Connelly. Taryn is soft-spoken and kind, befriending Kristen in her first days at the University, and then taking care of Kristen after she is raped by a fraternity player. Although the word “lesbian” or “bisexual” is never spoken, somewhere along the way Kristen figures out that Taryn plays for the other team, and she finds herself inexplicably drawn to her.

Taryn, who recognizes Kristen’s growing attraction to her even before Kristen does, is cautious: although it is clear she likes Kristen, Taryn is content to let the friendship develop at its own pace. When Kristen asks Taryn one night if she wants to stay over, Taryn resists, asking “are you sure you’re ready for that?” and although Kristen pretends not to fully understand, she can no longer ignore what is going on between them.

Meanwhile, Kristen meets Wayne, an artistic, long-haired freshman who she gradually begins to trust despite a fear of men since the rape. Kristen’s relationship with both of them culminates in a sequence of sexual scenes in which Taryn and Wayne are repeatedly interchanged–i.e. Kristen leans in to kiss Taryn, who then turns into Wayne, who later turns back into Taryn, and so forth–ostensibly to show Kristen’s sexual experimentation and her attraction to both Wayne and Taryn.

Kristen’s storyline ends at a University gathering with her looking back and forth between Taryn and Wayne, as if trying to decide which one she wants.

Like most mainstream movies, Higher Learning’s depiction of lesbianism and bisexuality is both compelling and problematic. On the one hand, such an honest portrayal of bisexuality in a mainstream film was almost unheard of in 1995 (and is still rare today); on the other hand, the movie leaves the impression that Kristen’s bisexuality may be the result of the rape (since she didn’t indicate any interest in Taryn until afterwards) and thus positions it as a retreat from men rather than an attraction towards women.

And although Taryn is a very likeable character and in many ways un-stereotypical (especially compared to other representations of lesbians in mainstream films of the mid-90’s), she still reinforces the stereotype of lesbianism as fundamentally anti-male since not only does Taryn appear to have only female friends, but she seems to spend most of her time recruiting women to attend women-only safety meetings. In other words, her entire existence is defined around protecting herself and other women from men.

Safety for women is an important issue, of course (especially on college campuses), and the character of Taryn is certainly realistic. But since this was one of the only representations of lesbians in mainstream movies at that time, it is unfortunate that Singleton chose to emphasize this aspect of Taryn’s character since it only reinforces negative stereotypes about lesbians.

Interchanging Taryn and Wayne in the sex scene also smacks of Singleton trying to have his cake and eat it too. By intercutting the images the way he did, Singleton avoids actually showing sexual contact between women (since it’s not entirely clear what Kristen did and did not do and with whom) while exploiting the sensationalism that is inevitably associated with any sexual activity between women in mainstream film. It’s also just an annoying scene to watch.

The buildup of sexual tension between the two women is well done, however, and the film does a good job of making both characters three-dimensional, even if Taryn could have been a little more well-rounded.

In comparison to the mainstream movies with lesbian characters that immediately preceded this film–1993’s Three of Hearts and 1994’s Sister My Sister and Heavenly Creatures–the way lesbianism and bisexuality is portrayed in Higher Learning is a huge leap forward. Just the fact that neither of the women in Higher Learning killed anyone, slept with their sister, or sacrificed their own happiness for the male lead constituted major progress at the time.

Within two years following the release of Higher Learning, positive lesbian characters began cropping up in a wide array of mainstream films, from Bound to Chasing Amy to The First Wives Club. While this change was the result of the collision of a number of social and economic factors, early 90’s films like Higher Learning which presented a positive (or at least neutral) view of lesbian sexuality contributed to this change by chipping away at the wall of negative lesbian images previously offered by mainstream entertainment.

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She's hot. Since film was talked about here - thought it would be decent and oh boy was it not. Yeah sex scene not their either. Love her in S1 of SnowPiercer. Hate what they did to her character in S2 and S3 (maybe due to filming Top Gun). Such a waste.

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For you, LChat. Remember me.

SPOILERSPOILER

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Jennifer still looks good, but she lost too much weight. She let the Hollywood pressure get to her. She also had a bbad experience with one of her boyfriends.

I wish she hadn't participated in military propaganda like Top Gun 2. It's not as blatant some other stuff, but it's still propaganda.

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Genuinely my favorite kind of thread is something this incredibly specific and yet inexplicably passionate. Shine on, OP.

X100
Old school lchat type posts

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Meh..looks like a man

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This music video turned 30 this year... tw heterosexuality

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Jennifer Connelly was one of the most beautiful women in the world before she developed a raging eating disorder and had breast reduction surgery.

Yep. I don't understand why actresses with beautiful curvy bodies feel the need to starve themselves.