Gender Performance and Boys Don't Cry's portrayal of Brandon Teena

Boys Don’t Cry is about a female-to-male non-operative transgender named Brandon. What this means is that the main character is anatomically female, but identifies as a male. The non-operative part means that he choose to not operate and remain anatomically a female. The story begins with Brandon having just received a haircut and being dressed in men’s clothes. This is the first act of Brandon deciding to be male. He goes on a date with a woman at a rollerskate place. The movie starts with him transitioning to how he thinks a man should act and is followed by a tiny mob rushing after him for breaking the norm. This relates to Butler’s view of gender as consisting of a certain type of stylized acts and also serves as a microcosm of the overall plot.

Brandon’s story is at the bottom hopeful even though it ends with tragedy. He continues to identify as and act as his identity is rather than conforming to social norms. The emphasis on this is displayed throughout the movie’s beginning as he continually makes decisions with “it’s what a boy would do” as the rationale. In this way Brandon performs as his gender rather than what his anatomy and society dictates. But he not only acts how he thinks he should for himself, but also to take part in society’s performance of stylized acts. In other words, he acts like other males do because it makes him feel like a male in society. 

The social aspect is an important one. Without the social aspect one could internalize gender and not have to go through the trials and tribulations of being publicly transgender. As Butler stated, “because gender is a project which has cultural survival as its end, the term ‘strategy’ better suggests the situation of duress under which gender performance always and variously occurs. Hence, as a strategy of survival, gender is a performance with clearly punitive consequences.” The key phrase “cultural survival.” Heteronormativity is so deeply entrenched because people who “do not do their gender right” are punished. People who break what society has laid out as the correct path are seen as wrong. This is ignoring the fact that gender exists only as a construct and not as a physical reality. The idea of gender being the same thing or being directly attached to one’s sex is a false construct of society.

The main antagonist, John, believes that gender is attached to sex. The moment that best encapsulates how society views transgender people is when Brandon is forced to reveal his genitalia. Brandon has been dating John’s close friend (perhaps, it was a hard to define relationship) Lana but John has reason to believe that Brandon has been hiding his gender. Brandon swears up and down that he is male. This is true because he identifies as a male and gender is based on the acts one performs. However John forcibly removes his pants to reveal his vagina. John starts shouting “Does this look like a man to you?” at the people present. This movie is very tragic, but it does display hope in the way that Brandon continues to prove himself dedicated to what he knows to be true. Despite the fact that society has indeed exacted “punitive consequences,” Brandon continues to perform male acts and never give into the pressure that society places on him.

Though the article talks about LGBT sensitivity training in the town, it starts with background info. Can also be useful to see how the town changed since the incident the movie is based on:
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/12/two-decades-after-brandon-teenas-murder-a-look-back-at-falls-city/282738/