Film Analysis: Boys Don T Cry
Willene Joan D’ Costa
Professor Abbott
LIT 370- 002
4/23/2015
Boys Don’t Cry
As Yoshino explains, the decision of whether or not to come out as homosexual, bisexual, genderqueer, or even transgender isn’t just driven by the individual’s desire to openly be who he or she really is, but also by the negative attitude of society, which can range from physical violence to threats, and in many cases, even death (Yoshino, 57). However, in the movie Boys Don’t Cry, Kimberly Peirce shows that in spite of all the social stigmas that are related to coming out, there are people with a positive attitude, like Lana, who accept and love individuals who belong to the LGBTQ community, and who strive to make them feel more included in society (Boys Don’t Cry).
Kimberly Peirce does a great job informing the audience about the stigma and abuse transgender people have to face from other members of the society through Brandon’s experiences with verbal, physical, and emotional abuse (Boys Don’t Cry). In the movie, Brandon Teena, born Teena Brandon, was a transman from Lincoln, Nebraska (Boys Don’t Cry). While he …show more content…
had not undergone any medical procedure to transition, he dressed as a man, behaved as a man, and dated women because this is what was normal to him (Boys Don’t Cry). However, this behavior did not go sit well with a lot of people, and he was met with a lot of verbal abuse (Boys Don’t Cry). Peirce portrays this negative behavior towards Brandon in the beginning of the movie when one of Brandon’s dates’ brothers chases him and verbally abuses him by calling him a dyke (Boys Don’t Cry, 5:29). By placing this scene towards the beginning of the movie, Peirce wants to make the cisgender audience aware of the fact that this sort of abuse is very often directed towards the transgender people. Moreover, by making the brother’s character use the word ‘dyke’ she illustrates the kind of misunderstanding transgender people have to face on a day to day basis to the audience (Boys Don’t Cry, 5:29).
Throughout the movie Peirce highlights that members of the transgender community are subject to a lot of violence and physical abuse which stems from society’s ignorance about gender dysphoria (Boys Don’t Cry). Peirce accurately shows this violence in the three different parts of the movie, with constantly increasing degrees of violence. The first instance is when John and Tom forcibly undress Brandon in front of everybody to prove that he is in fact physically female, and has been lying all this time (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:23:44). The second instance is immediately after, when they take him to an isolated place and rape him in order to make a point about Brandon being a girl (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:28:02). The third is when they shoot and kill him out of fear of being caught for the rape (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:49:22). This cycle of violence seems, unfortunately, consistent with the old saying, ‘People fear what they cannot understand’.
Kimberly Peirce uses Lana, Brandon’s girlfriend, to balance out the stigmatization faced by transgender people (Boys Don’t Cry). Initially, Lana seems to be suspicious about Brandon, as shown in the scene where she looks down Brandon’s shirt while they are making love and sees a very slight cleavage (Boys Don’t Cry, 58:44). However, she does not give up on him; she continues to be involved with him, and even dreams of going with him to Memphis (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:06:36). In this way Peirce depicts Lana as a role model of acceptance to the cisgender audience.
Even though Brandon isn’t entirely honest with Lana until after the bathroom incident, Peirce shows Lana as being as being accepting towards him in spite of his lies (Boys Don’t Cry). One such instance is when Lana gets to know that Brandon is in jail and goes to bail him out (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:12:29). On being questioned about why he is in the girls’ cell, Brandon lies about being a hermaphrodite. In spite of this false, yet unexpected revelation, Lana does not ask any more questions and bails him out (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:12:29). She not only keeps his secret but also treats him like a guy who isn’t any different (Boys Don’t Cry). When Lana’s family and friends question Brandon’s gender, she is willing to testify on his behalf, and “tell them what they want to hear” (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:21:09), because even if Brandon does have some sort of deformity, she knows that he is a guy (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:21:09). This is Peirce’s way of showing the transgender audience that while coming out may be hard, there are going to be some people who will be completely accepting and nonjudgmental.
Everyone's perspective towards Brandon changes once his truth comes out after the bathroom scene, to the point where it takes a violent turn (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:23:44). Peirce depicts Lana, as the only person who continues to be supportive in spite of the negativity from the people around them (Boys Don’t Cry). Peirce clearly shows Lana’s support in the bathroom scene where John and Tom harass and undress Brandon and force Lana to look at his genitalia up close (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:23:40). In spite of learning about the truth in that way, Lana continues to stand up for him and tells them to “leave him alone” (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:23:44). By having Lana’s character use the word ‘him’ in this situation, Peirce shows that Lana holds her stance in supporting Brandon, and will continue to do so (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:23:44).
Brandon’s truth does not affect Lana much even after she has time to mull things over (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:25:00). In this way, Peirce balances out the violence that has been taking place against Brandon and shows that he is not entirely alone (Boys Don’t Cry). In the scene at the police station, right after Brandon reports his rape and is being questioned by the police, he has to deal with a lot of negative behavior and derogatory questions from the police about his gender identity (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:25:05). Even Lana’s mother goes on a rant on how Brandon is to be blamed for all the violence against him. But Lana goes against them all and decides to wait for Brandon at the police station in spite of his her mom telling her to go (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:24:31).
Lana’s support does not end at just standing up for Brandon in front of others (Boys Don’t Cry).
Peirce shows the audience that Lana actually sees herself having a future with Brandon. She goes to visit Brandon while he is hiding at Candice’s house (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:40:22). Even though at this point she finds Brandon’s gender identity confusing and tends to interchange being a transgender person with homosexuality, she acknowledges that she has romantic feelings for Brandon and wants to go to Lincoln with Brandon and give their relationship a chance (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:43:30). This shows that she is willing to learn about Brandon’s gender identity and accept him the way he is (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:43:30). Through Lana’s willingness to accept Brandon, Peirce gives the transgender audience hope of finding a relationship in which they are accepted for who they are (Boys Don’t
Cry).
While the movie does take a dark turn towards the end with Brandon’s murder (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:49:22), Peirce balances out this extremely negative scene by showing Lana’s continued love and support towards Brandon. After Brandon is shot, Lana goes towards his lifeless body and lays down next to him and does not leave his side all night (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:52:00). This aims to show the transgender audience that even if things take a bad turn, those who love them will always be by their side, no matter what. Moreover, it shows the cisgender audience that if they make the effort to understand transgender people, rather than stigmatize them, then they and their loved ones would not have to face so much pain and sorrow.
Another way in which Peirce successfully balances out the gruesome violence towards the end of the movie is by closing the movie with Brandon’s narration from a letter that he wrote to Lana (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:52:35). By ending the movie in this way, Peirce shows that Brandon has a voice even though he has been silenced by hatred. She shows that Brandon had his hopes and his fears about his future, and by ending the narration with “Love always, and forever, Brandon” (Boys Don’t Cry,1:53:06), she shows that even if Brandon is physically gone, his love for Lana, his dreams, and his memory will live on forever (Boys Don’t Cry,1:53:06).
While Brandon’s story is very tragic, it sheds light on the realities of coming out as a transgender person (Boys Don’t Cry). This can be very traumatizing to the Peirce’s audience, both transgender and cisgender who can empathize with the transgender audience. However, through Lana’s support, Peirce shows her transgender audience that they do have a chance at being loved, happy and accepted, and she encourages her cisgender audience to be more accepting (Boys Don’t Cry).
Work Cited
Boys Don't Cry. Dir. Kimberly Peirce. Perf. Hilary Swank, Peter Sarsgaard. 20th Century Fox Film Corp, 1999. Film
Yoshino, Kenji. Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights. 1st ed. Vol. 3. New York:
Random House, 2006. 57. Print.
Professor Abbott
LIT 370- 002
4/23/2015
Boys Don’t Cry
As Yoshino explains, the decision of whether or not to come out as homosexual, bisexual, genderqueer, or even transgender isn’t just driven by the individual’s desire to openly be who he or she really is, but also by the negative attitude of society, which can range from physical violence to threats, and in many cases, even death (Yoshino, 57). However, in the movie Boys Don’t Cry, Kimberly Peirce shows that in spite of all the social stigmas that are related to coming out, there are people with a positive attitude, like Lana, who accept and love individuals who belong to the LGBTQ community, and who strive to make them feel more included in society (Boys Don’t Cry).
Kimberly Peirce does a great job informing the audience about the stigma and abuse transgender people have to face from other members of the society through Brandon’s experiences with verbal, physical, and emotional abuse (Boys Don’t Cry). In the movie, Brandon Teena, born Teena Brandon, was a transman from Lincoln, Nebraska (Boys Don’t Cry). While he …show more content…
had not undergone any medical procedure to transition, he dressed as a man, behaved as a man, and dated women because this is what was normal to him (Boys Don’t Cry). However, this behavior did not go sit well with a lot of people, and he was met with a lot of verbal abuse (Boys Don’t Cry). Peirce portrays this negative behavior towards Brandon in the beginning of the movie when one of Brandon’s dates’ brothers chases him and verbally abuses him by calling him a dyke (Boys Don’t Cry, 5:29). By placing this scene towards the beginning of the movie, Peirce wants to make the cisgender audience aware of the fact that this sort of abuse is very often directed towards the transgender people. Moreover, by making the brother’s character use the word ‘dyke’ she illustrates the kind of misunderstanding transgender people have to face on a day to day basis to the audience (Boys Don’t Cry, 5:29).
Throughout the movie Peirce highlights that members of the transgender community are subject to a lot of violence and physical abuse which stems from society’s ignorance about gender dysphoria (Boys Don’t Cry). Peirce accurately shows this violence in the three different parts of the movie, with constantly increasing degrees of violence. The first instance is when John and Tom forcibly undress Brandon in front of everybody to prove that he is in fact physically female, and has been lying all this time (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:23:44). The second instance is immediately after, when they take him to an isolated place and rape him in order to make a point about Brandon being a girl (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:28:02). The third is when they shoot and kill him out of fear of being caught for the rape (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:49:22). This cycle of violence seems, unfortunately, consistent with the old saying, ‘People fear what they cannot understand’.
Kimberly Peirce uses Lana, Brandon’s girlfriend, to balance out the stigmatization faced by transgender people (Boys Don’t Cry). Initially, Lana seems to be suspicious about Brandon, as shown in the scene where she looks down Brandon’s shirt while they are making love and sees a very slight cleavage (Boys Don’t Cry, 58:44). However, she does not give up on him; she continues to be involved with him, and even dreams of going with him to Memphis (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:06:36). In this way Peirce depicts Lana as a role model of acceptance to the cisgender audience.
Even though Brandon isn’t entirely honest with Lana until after the bathroom incident, Peirce shows Lana as being as being accepting towards him in spite of his lies (Boys Don’t Cry). One such instance is when Lana gets to know that Brandon is in jail and goes to bail him out (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:12:29). On being questioned about why he is in the girls’ cell, Brandon lies about being a hermaphrodite. In spite of this false, yet unexpected revelation, Lana does not ask any more questions and bails him out (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:12:29). She not only keeps his secret but also treats him like a guy who isn’t any different (Boys Don’t Cry). When Lana’s family and friends question Brandon’s gender, she is willing to testify on his behalf, and “tell them what they want to hear” (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:21:09), because even if Brandon does have some sort of deformity, she knows that he is a guy (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:21:09). This is Peirce’s way of showing the transgender audience that while coming out may be hard, there are going to be some people who will be completely accepting and nonjudgmental.
Everyone's perspective towards Brandon changes once his truth comes out after the bathroom scene, to the point where it takes a violent turn (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:23:44). Peirce depicts Lana, as the only person who continues to be supportive in spite of the negativity from the people around them (Boys Don’t Cry). Peirce clearly shows Lana’s support in the bathroom scene where John and Tom harass and undress Brandon and force Lana to look at his genitalia up close (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:23:40). In spite of learning about the truth in that way, Lana continues to stand up for him and tells them to “leave him alone” (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:23:44). By having Lana’s character use the word ‘him’ in this situation, Peirce shows that Lana holds her stance in supporting Brandon, and will continue to do so (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:23:44).
Brandon’s truth does not affect Lana much even after she has time to mull things over (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:25:00). In this way, Peirce balances out the violence that has been taking place against Brandon and shows that he is not entirely alone (Boys Don’t Cry). In the scene at the police station, right after Brandon reports his rape and is being questioned by the police, he has to deal with a lot of negative behavior and derogatory questions from the police about his gender identity (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:25:05). Even Lana’s mother goes on a rant on how Brandon is to be blamed for all the violence against him. But Lana goes against them all and decides to wait for Brandon at the police station in spite of his her mom telling her to go (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:24:31).
Lana’s support does not end at just standing up for Brandon in front of others (Boys Don’t Cry).
Peirce shows the audience that Lana actually sees herself having a future with Brandon. She goes to visit Brandon while he is hiding at Candice’s house (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:40:22). Even though at this point she finds Brandon’s gender identity confusing and tends to interchange being a transgender person with homosexuality, she acknowledges that she has romantic feelings for Brandon and wants to go to Lincoln with Brandon and give their relationship a chance (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:43:30). This shows that she is willing to learn about Brandon’s gender identity and accept him the way he is (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:43:30). Through Lana’s willingness to accept Brandon, Peirce gives the transgender audience hope of finding a relationship in which they are accepted for who they are (Boys Don’t
Cry).
While the movie does take a dark turn towards the end with Brandon’s murder (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:49:22), Peirce balances out this extremely negative scene by showing Lana’s continued love and support towards Brandon. After Brandon is shot, Lana goes towards his lifeless body and lays down next to him and does not leave his side all night (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:52:00). This aims to show the transgender audience that even if things take a bad turn, those who love them will always be by their side, no matter what. Moreover, it shows the cisgender audience that if they make the effort to understand transgender people, rather than stigmatize them, then they and their loved ones would not have to face so much pain and sorrow.
Another way in which Peirce successfully balances out the gruesome violence towards the end of the movie is by closing the movie with Brandon’s narration from a letter that he wrote to Lana (Boys Don’t Cry, 1:52:35). By ending the movie in this way, Peirce shows that Brandon has a voice even though he has been silenced by hatred. She shows that Brandon had his hopes and his fears about his future, and by ending the narration with “Love always, and forever, Brandon” (Boys Don’t Cry,1:53:06), she shows that even if Brandon is physically gone, his love for Lana, his dreams, and his memory will live on forever (Boys Don’t Cry,1:53:06).
While Brandon’s story is very tragic, it sheds light on the realities of coming out as a transgender person (Boys Don’t Cry). This can be very traumatizing to the Peirce’s audience, both transgender and cisgender who can empathize with the transgender audience. However, through Lana’s support, Peirce shows her transgender audience that they do have a chance at being loved, happy and accepted, and she encourages her cisgender audience to be more accepting (Boys Don’t Cry).
Work Cited
Boys Don't Cry. Dir. Kimberly Peirce. Perf. Hilary Swank, Peter Sarsgaard. 20th Century Fox Film Corp, 1999. Film
Yoshino, Kenji. Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights. 1st ed. Vol. 3. New York:
Random House, 2006. 57. Print.