Who Is Erving Goffman's Presentation Of Self?

In the 1999 film Boys Don’t Cry, Hilary Swank plays young Brandon Teena, a transgender boy who was born Teena Brandon. Brandon lives his life as a male, finally feeling comfortable in his body. He begins to date and is happy until his ex-girlfriend’s brothers discover his secret; he is biologically female. He runs from their threats and makes a life for himself in the town of Falls City, Nebraska. Again, he finds himself happy and comfortable as he falls in love with Lana and gets close to a new group of friends. However, once Lana’s ex-convict friends and ex-boyfriend discover Brandon’s secret, his life and everything he cares about are quickly threatened. Not only is this film an incredible depiction of the terribly sad, true events of the

Goffman analyzes one’s presentation of self in terms of two ideas: the character and the performer. The character one portrays is their idealized self. On the other hand, the individual as a performer needs to have the ability to learn and train for their role. In addition, the performer often times has fantasies and desires an audience to see their performance. In relation to to the film, Teena Brandon’s character, or ideal self, is Brandon Teena. She portrays herself as a male, wearing men’s clothing and a buzz cut and gives herself a male name to create a convincing character. However, Teena Brandon as a performer is much more dynamic and complex. As Goffman argued, a performer must have the “capacity to learn,” this translating to training for their role (Lemert, 256). For Teena Brandon, this idea of training can be examined in the scene of the film when she was getting ready in the morning as a male. Teena Brandon’s training and preparation for her character of Brandon Teena consists of her wrapping her breasts, dressing like a male, hiding her feminine products, and lowering her voice. The more practice she has at performing her character, the better and more efficient she is at doing so. These are all things she needs to learn and practice in order to make her character appear real to her

He argues that many people who engage in homosexual behavior do not want to “identify their minority status,” (Lemert, 416) This idea is extremely prevalent in the film because the story took place in the early 1990’s when there was few, if any, gay rights legislations in place (Infoplease, Gay Rights Timeline). This was also the time when the AIDS epidemic was in full swing, and it was thought to be a “gay-disease.” For these reason, in addition to the negative stigma of being homosexual, many people would not identify as being gay or lesbian but partake in homosexual behavior in private. Weeks goes on to further argue that a homosexual identity is dependent on the meaning that the actor and the actor’s surrounding community attach to homosexuality. In the film, there is a scene where Teena Brandon’s cousin says to her, “Face it, Teena. You’re a dike.” She responds arguing that she is not. This is a perfect example of the arguments put forth by Weeks because it demonstrates that just because one engages in homosexual acts, Teena having sexual relations with females, does not necessarily mean she is a lesbian. Weeks also discusses the term “political-lesbianism,” (Lemert, 417). This essentially means that when a woman identifies as a lesbian, it is not solely for her sexual orientation, but it is a