Movies can indeed enrich, encourage, uplift, dumbfound, and evoke many other powerful emotions within people through the various forms of art and mediums of communication present within them. In one way or another, “Boys Don’t Cry” evoked all the emotions described in the book within me (as well as some others) at some point in the movie. As the story as a whole was both based on a true story and dealt with a variety of real human emotions, it was an enriching experience overall. The fact that the story was unique and dealt with issues not normally portrayed as they were in movies also made the experience enriching. The movie was uplifting, mostly in the beginning, because even characters with as many problems as Brandon were able to find happiness and quality of life, if even for only a short time.
The movie was encouraging on some levels again as it showed there is potential for life despite many possible negative circumstances; however, this would have been more encouraging (and likely safer for Brandon) if deception was never used as a way to make progress in life or social relationships. The unique topics and issues, especially combined with the mischief of the characters, made the story rather thrilling. It was also suspenseful and thrilling to watch Brandon’s relationship develop despite her true gender. The ending was especially thrilling, of course because it was so violent and shocking. The ending was also dumbfounding as it was so ultimately horrible, cruel, ridiculous, and sickening. While the beginning was motivating and elevating, this was not the reaction I was ultimately left with. The most lingering emotions within me after watching this film are disgust mixed with being dumbfounded.
I expected the film to be about homosexual and transgender issues, discrimination, and general emotional issues related to such lifestyle. I thought health issues may eventually play a role, but I did not expect to see much, if any, violence and I definitely did not expect to see such a high level of violence. I expected that the film would basically show the emotional difficulties of being a transgender, and I expected the relationship to take a turn in some direction prior to the end. I thought the end of the movie would either result in becoming sexual or becoming hateful, as I did expect the true gender identity to be revealed. At this point I assumed either it would be a happy ending portraying the gay and transgender lifestyles in a positive light, or that it would end in a fight, serious anger, and depression as Brandon would leave yet again after being discovered.
I never expected there to be multiple deaths, violent raping, and all around chaos. I viewed homosexuality and transgender issues as something commonly “under wraps,” and while I was once against these lifestyles I was never violently opposed to them. At the time of watching this movie I was accepting of such sexually unusual lifestyles, and was actually a bit sympathetic of the ways either they had become because of society or limitations from the structure of culture. While in the back of my mind I was aware of the potential for violence because of deception in these situations, it was not an active thought process and after being exposed to this movie this is more of an active view and concern. I assumed normally it was the person involved in the relationship that would commit the murder (if anyone) and was caught off guard to find the males to be the ones raping and killing since they were not involved in the relationship. Also, I assumed that it was males disguised as females that were normally the victims of violence in “surprise” instances such as this. I did not expect that a woman would be killed in such a way and I am still very surprised that the events took place as they did.
While I don’t think the film is a great mirror of our social condition which informs people of the average social conditions, it is of course accurate to some level since it is based on a true story. As mentioned, personally my experience and knowledge tells me that men are more prone to homosexual violence whereas lesbians are rarely targets. Our current social condition often actually portrays lesbians as being “cool” even when they act like men in a transgender role. Fortunately, for the sake of lack of violence, homosexuals and transgenders are becoming more socially acceptable. Social awareness of “shemales” is spreading and with a generally non-hateful and non-violent connotation. While deception on this level has the potential for violence, this will likely never change and deception of any topic will always carry the potential for anger and thus violence. At least homosexuality in general is becoming more acceptable as the world becomes more globalized and generally liberal with regards to freedom of religion, expression, and general tolerance to difference. At this point the film is a fairly accurate mirror, but it would seem that in the future it may be as relevant as beating up Jews or black people, which today is far rarer than it once was due to increasing tolerance and awareness.
Overall I thought this was a powerful movie that shows the dark side of human nature, while social norms and differences between people still have the potential to make people do things they otherwise would not have. If Brandon was simply a lesbian, then she may have been simply ridiculed. Since she chose to act as a man and deceive, however, her difference was held with a much stronger contempt when it was realized than it otherwise would have been. While deception will always play some role in human anger and potentially violence, the fact that no loss of money or other potential loss is involved in such cases shows that people are seriously offended when their sexuality is intentionally deceived.
The men who raped and killed in this case simply could not tolerate a woman posing as a man and decided to take her life. Hopefully in the near future awareness and tolerance levels increase in this area, as well as with race and religion. The business and other circumstances of the world are definitely creating more and more conditions for integrated cultures and globalization than they are for segregation of any kind. People are going to be faced with more of each other and different varieties of each other, and the mentalities as shown in this movie do not cater to social harmony in these conditions. In the ever-growing and evolving world, the only lifestyles, actions, and mentalities that should not be tolerated are the ones such as shown in this movie: ones that infringe on the freedoms of others.