There are two different worlds – the world of women and the world of men. These two worlds have their own rules of living, behavior and perception of outward things. However, sometimes it happens so that a person born male or female feels that he or she does not belong to the right gender. It is hard to imagine how a person feels when laws of nature separate person’s gender identity from sex and how it can be changed. A film “Boys don’t cry” opens a veil of the inward man who has the problem described above. It tells a story of 21-year-old girl named Teena who has problems with the perception of her gender and sexual orientation.
The film is based on a real story and it is one of the most shocking facts about this movie. I felt that it cannot be true and people could not behave like that because one of the major differences between us – people - and animals is our ability to sympathize, support each other in hard situations and forgive if someone made a mistake. However, this film showed the ugliest and dirtiest side of a human nature.
It was not hard for me to comprehend the message of the film because nowadays it is still a very contradictory question that is under the discussion. I have heard many stories about people who feel that they were born in a wrong body and the most difficult issue to solve is not the long treatment with hormones, operation and rehabilitation after it but to make the society understand that a person does not become a monster who had done something dreadful, it is the only way to find peace and to start live your life but not the life of a person who is totally strange. There is nothing more oppressive than to feel that you are not you but someone else who is strange, cold, and obscure.
I would like to start with my own vision of such problem as uncertainty in gender belonging. There is nothing dreadful that a person is looking for his own place in this life and tries to be happy. Sometimes those who break the rules are the happiest. I felt sympathy towards main character and his attempts to find peace and the ways he could feel happy. Teena is the real name of the main character, but in the whole movie we can hear that he is calling himself Brandon, is trying to become a real man in order to correspond to his self-perception. He is wearing menswear, speaks like a man, and is interested in masculine hobbies. However, not only the appearance of Brandon shows that he was born not in his body – his deepest thoughts and appreciation of his nature, painful rejection of the society and insuperable propensity towards the same gender people explains why he feels so lonely, lost and in the wrong place. He decided to run away from his hometown because he was sick and tired that people rejected him, moreover, he had problems with law. He met new friends and decided to start a new life with people who do not know about his gender and past, who will not judge him.
Brandon decides to struggle. One of the most touching and catchy plotlines is the story of Brandon and Lana’s relationship. It is hard not to see the obvious thing about Brandon – he is a man who falls in love and it has nothing to do with his sexual orientation. The moral lesson that can be learned from this plotline is no matter to which gender you belong – love is the only thing that matters. Brandon behaves with tenderness and care towards Lana and she gives him back trust, love, appreciation even when she finds out the truth. The truth does not stop Lana because she feels responsible for Brandon.
However, the brightest and the kindest plotline about Lana and Brandon, was totally ruined when it comes to the plotline when Tom and John find out that Brandon was born in a female body. They decided to teach him a lesson, which, in my opinion, is not appropriate for a human. It was a horrifying scene when Tom and John raped and abused Teena. They acted even worse than animals – in cold blood they caused her pain and made her sit in the car asking her with indifference if she feels all right. How could they even ask her how she feels after all the harm they have done to her? This is unbelievable and shows that some of the representatives of our society do not have any moral borders or a sentiment of pity towards people who are lost the control of their lives. I cannot comprehend why some people feel that they are like God who can decide who has to die and who has to live, what is wrong and what is right. A human cannot be truly sure what is right and cannot judge other people because all of us are carrying behind us a lot of sins.
Tom and John did not stop only on a rape; they wanted to destroy the happiness of all people who supported Brandon. They threatened Lana that they will kill her; they killed Candace - a mother of a little child just because she sheltered Brandon after the tragedy, they did not think that her child will become an orphan and will suffer without mother. They ruined everyone’s life just because their views did not match with others. However, this is not the justification of horrible cruelty and violence.
This is a very sad story about a person who was misunderstood by people, about a person who opened his heart and these people stopped his heartbeat. I would say it is one of the most disgusting stories about how cruel can people be if they do not comprehend some things. Such kind of people, as Tom and John do not ask questions and try to understand others; they dispense justice, which is a murder.
All in all, I would like to say that this movie taught me to be tolerant towards other people and to try to comprehend them even though sometimes things they do and think may be totally different from what I am used to. The greatest thing about humanity is that we all are so different and this is what makes us special like Lana was special for Brandon.
Works Cited
- Boys Don't Cry. By Andy Bienen and Kimberly Peirce. Dir. Kimberly Peirce. Perf. Hilary Swank, Chloë Sevigny and Peter Sarsgaard. 1999.
