Boys Don't Cry 1999

 

This film talks about ‘’LESBIAN ’’ issue, which means homosexual women. Boys Don’t Cry is directed by a female director, Kimberly Peirce. Feminist films often are directed by females and they convey some certain issues that are related to women.

 The main character, Brandon, dressed like a boy and regarded herself as a boy. She changed her original name ‘’Teena’’ to ‘’Brandon, ’because that would show her gender. She loved to chase after beautiful girls. In the film; she fell in love with Lana, who accepted John (a criminal) to live with her and her mother. At first, Brandon, John, Tom (John’s friend) Lana and Candace had a good time drinking and smoking together. Unfortunately, John was very angry about Brandon’s relationship with Lana. Later, John was told by Candace that Brandon is actually a girl since she found her real name on fax. John has an unstable personality and he cannot even control his anger. He punched and raped Brandon. Then she ran away from them and was sent to the hospital by Lana. Lana loved Brandon and was ready to elope with her. Unluckily, they were too late to escape, Brandon was ended up killing by crazy John.     

  Both John and Lana’s mother show biases to Brandon. John kills her. Lana’s mom said ‘’I don’t want to let IT in the house’’ instead of ‘’he or ‘’she. ’Certainly, she views Brandon as a strange monster, not a human being at all!!

 Why did John rape Brandon? Because he wants to show his power and threaten her. By raping her, John proves that Brandon is a liar (not a boy) and is inferior to him.   

Brandon suffered from the rape, both mentally and physically. She never had sex before, so she must experience a painful intercourse, especially a force one!!When she was asked by the police about the rape, she was humiliated once again. I remember a word said by the police’’How can he(John) do nothing to you if he knows you are a girl? ‘This word seems very sarcastic for Bradon kept saying John did not rape her.

What about the title? The Title Boys Don’t Cry shows a social stereotype. The reason is because people always ask boys do not cry in front of others. Boys should be strong. If they cry, they are just like girls being weak!!I think the special meaning for the title is that Brandon is actually a girl, but she did not cry or run away. This demonstrates that girls are not always inferior to boys or are defeated easily!!

This film is based on the real events that happened in 1993.Brandon Teena was raped and murdered in Humboldt, Nebraska. She was 21 when she died. Nissen and Lotter (John and Tom in the film) were both involved in the murder. Teena had never commenced sex reassignment surgery (SRS), so she has sometimes been identified as LESBIAN by media reporters.