Boys Don’t Cry (1999) is directed by Kimberly Peirce. It follows the story of Brandon Teena, a transgender male, played by Hillary Swank, who was murdered on the 31st of December 1993 by Tom Nissen and John Lotter who are played by Brandon Sexton III and Peter Saarsgard respectively. The film demonstrates the entitlement of those with power, in this case, cis-gendered people in that town to harm another because they do not fit in with society. Peirce shows the struggles the transgender community, or the minority faces by illustrating masculinity, entitlement, and privilege by the majority of society.
MASCULINITY
Masculinity is one of the main themes of the movie as gendered violence was the cause of Brandon Teena’s death. His bravery to go against the gender constructs created by society ultimately led to his murder. At the beginning of the film, his cousin tells him that “you are not a boy. Why won’t you admit that you’re a dyke?”, to which he responds with “because I am not a dyke.” Firstly, the term ‘dyke’ is a slur that is used to refer to lesbians. By opening the movie with this conversation, the audience is able to see how those who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community are talked about in a negative tone. As the environment Brandon was in is established the tone of the film is also set through the subtlety of the comment his cousin mentioned.
Hegemonic masculinity is the idealized form of the masculine character by culture. This leads to men using violence to resolve conflicts and to show power and dominance, which are traits linked with masculine identity. A lot of careless behavior is carried out which projects the hierarchy of power that is usually associated with car-related instances. With this, Tom Nissen and John Lotter also portray their masculinity with a lot of alcohol and drug use, bar fights, etc.
The transgender community is constantly struggling to fit in since they are different from others. From the beginning of the movie, Brandon is already trying to follow the expectations of society when finding ways to conform to masculine ideals. This is portrayed through the cutting of his hair by his cousin. Coming to terms with their own gender dysphoria is already difficult and external pressure from others, makes them portrayed in a more pitiful light in this movie.
ENTITLEMENT
The rape and murder of Brandon Teena by Tom and John and were showed towards the end of the movie. By showing how their friendship came about throughout the movie, the audience will be disappointed, but not surprised at the fact that they were the culprits. Tom and John were people who always felt the need to show their masculinity in harmful ways, and committing the murder of Brandon is one instance. Peirce shows the struggles of coming out and the consequences of leading this double life of being a “hermaphrodite” as he says in the movie.
The movie demonstrates entitlement by those who are not a part of the transgender community in terms of forcing their stereotypical ideas on masculinity on others. For example, when Tom and John found out about Brandon’s sexuality, they felt entitled to the fact that they physically caused pain and shame to another person by raping and murdering him. In the film, they said that “if you keep our little secret, we’ll stay friends. (...) If you don’t, we will have to silence you permanently.” The use of ‘permanently’ implies a harmful situation that is about to occur. The audience is drawn into the story of how things changed so quickly between their friendship with the three of them right after Tom and John found out about his “sexual identity crisis”. This is done by physically removing his pants and by finding out he was kept in the women’s detention center.
PRIVILEGE
Those who are cis-gendered or are heterosexual, do not have to worry about being murdered because of their sexuality. The movie shows the consequences of gender binaries and the fact that if someone does not follow these, they are posing a danger to those around them and the law. When Brandon Teena went to the police to report his rape, he was asked things like “Why do you go around kissin’ girls?” instead of questioning him on things that would matter for his report against Tom and John. This shows the double standard of how people are not taken seriously when they are different. Also, Tom and John were seen cheering and taking turns hitting and harassing him holds the audience in shock as it shows how they are trying to prove their masculinity once again as they are real men. This raises a point for the audience as it portrays heteronormative privilege in its purest form as those who are cis-gendered, do not need to prove their gender to others. Thus, demonstrates the privilege that others have as there are many difficulties heteronormative people do not need to go through because of their sexuality.
CONCLUSION
Overall, Boys Don’t Cry demonstrates the power the majority of the audience has through the portrayal of masculinity, entitlement, and privilege by those in society who are not a part of the minority, in this case, the transgender community.