Identity Issues Exposed In Boys Don T Cry

Boys Don't Cry, is a powerful, moving, heartfelt movie based on a true story on Teena Brandon’s life. Brandon Teena was a female to male transgender who struggled with a sexual identity crisis. She leaves her hometown to escape legal troubles and gender restrictions she faced to settle for a new life in Falls city Nebraska. She befriends a group of locals and falls in love with a girl named Lana who all do not know Brandon is biologically a female. Upon the discovery of her sex, Brandon’s friends Tom and John brutally beat and rape her. Brandon reports and files charges against them but Tom and John kill her as a result. This movie does not shy away from bringing light to the numerous real-world issues our world faces today. Topics such as hate crimes, homophobia, identity issues are dramatized and represented. It

For example, Brandon from the very beginning conformed to a socially constructed vision of what men are supposed to act like and look like. He dressed like a boy by cutting his hair, taping his breasts and even adding socks to his pants to make his appearance more believable. He would get into fights at the bar, engage in car races and showed aggression all to gain approval and display masculine strength and power. His actions highlighted that people believe they need to exert specific characteristics to become accepted within society. These expectations lead people to stigmatize others who do not fit within the norm and they call them names such as “faggots” “wimps” or “sissys”. This was shown when Tom asked Brandon to cut himself with a knife, then Brandon says, “I guess I’m just a pussy compared to you”. Another scene I found interesting was when Tom and John forced Brandon into the bathroom and took of his pants to identify him as a male or female. After knowing Brandon was a female Tom and John viciously beat and raped her. I found this scene degrading, humiliating and hard to watch because it is crazy and mind boggling how humans are so