"Boys Don't Cry" Movie Review- What is Gender?

By Molly Ratcliffe

Boys Don’t Cry is a feature film biography based on the life of Teena Brandon (Brandon Teena), a young woman with a sexual identity crisis. I have owned the film for several years now, I remember watching Hilary Swank take home her Oscar for Best Actress in 1999. I have also recently noticed that the film has been added to the Canadian Netflix to which I subscribe monthly. Netflix categorizes it’s films based on thematic elements. This film comes up under two categories: “Gay & Lesbian”, and  “Strong Female Lead”. At first, one might think those categorizations make sense, but after watching the film and really analyzing it, one will notice it does not fit into those categories at all. 

The reason why it does not fit into the “Gay and Lesbian” category is because Teena is not a lesbian. In one of the first scenes of the film she is hiding in her friends house while a gang of homophobic men who are after her bang on the door. Brandon’s friend yells “Why don’t you just admit that you’re a dyke?” to which Brandon replies “But I’m not a dyke”. 

Because everyone in Brandon’s town knows that she is really a girl, they assume that because she likes women she must be a lesbian. This is a perfect example of people confusing the terms “sex” and “gender”. Sex is the physical and reproductive characteristics you are born with, while gender is your masculine or feminine identity. Yes, Brandon was born as Teena. That is her sex. But she is really Brandon, a male, which is her gender. By calling Brandon a dyke or a lesbian would imply that she is not at all a man. If she were a lesbian, she would be a woman, and would admit that she was a woman. We can make this even more confusing by adding the hypothetical situation that if Brandon was to like men, that would not make her straight, that would technically make her gay. 

The reason why the film does not fit into the “Strong Female Lead” is because as established before, Brandon, although physically a female, is a male. Yes, Brandon is a very strong character, one that an audience would have to have no heart not to sympathize for. But a typical “Strong Female Lead” would be a woman that embraces her gender, her sexuality and her femininity and doesn't let gender stereotypes stop her from doing what she wants. For example like another character Hilary Swank played as Amelia in Amelia Earhart.

The film takes place in Falls City, Nebraska where Brandon moves after leaving his hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska. While there, he makes friends with a group of young adults, three girls, Kate, Candice, and Lana, and two men, John and Tom who are both ex-convicts. 

Brandon is known only as a boy to the town and to his friends. Because Brandon is physically a girl, she does have slightly more feminine features such as small hands, thicker lips, and a smaller bone structure. Because of this, Brandon’s guy friends tease him by calling him gay or referring constantly to his small hands and small body. Again, what if Brandon was physically born a male and had those same features- why should that result in him being called gay? It reiterates the stereotype that femininity is a sign of weakness. There is an interested scene in a bar where Brandon steps in to defend his friend Candice who is being sexually harassed by an older man. The man proceeds to punch Brandon. Would he have punched him if Brandon was dressed as a girl? Probably not. 

Although the scenes that take place in Lincoln are slightly eerie and uncomfortable, the town of Falls City is even worse. The town resembles something out of the 1930’s- a good description would be a cross between the films The Hills Have Eyes and Deliverance. Before Brandon leaves, his friend warns him “You know they hang gays there”. That doesn't stop Brandon. 

When I say the film resembles the 1930’s I don’t only mean the houses, the stores, and the industry. The town’s views on gender and marital rolls never evolved and they are still living in a society where men are seen as above women. The men in the town are lazy, most of them into drugs and alcohol and have a criminal record. They work in blue-collar jobs and spend a lot of time with their friends rough housing, like the scene where they all go “bumper skiing” as a form of entertainment. 

The women in the town are also into drugs and alcohol, most of them teen moms who stay at home and look after their kids and their husband, and if they do work they are secretaries or line workers in factories. They don’t do much for entertainment since they are considered weak and fragile, so they just sit around and watch their men...bumber ski. There are several scenes in the film where older men (in their 50’s and 60’s) are going after young girls (Between 13 and 20). It is not uncommon for girls to be victims of sexual assault, Brandon even catches his friend John touching his own 4 year old daughter inappropriately. 

Eventually Brandon’s friends find out that he is a girl, beginning with his girlfriend Lana when she picks bales him out of jail and he is in the woman’s holding cell. I like how the film then goes against gender stereotypes; Lana falls in love with Brandon when she believes he is a boy. When she finds out that Brandon is physically a girl, she does not leave him and wants to carry on the relationship. Did I mention Lana is not a lesbian? This makes me think though; what if the one you loved turned out to be something they’re not? Would you still love them? I think this was a great example of progression and what it means to truly love someone.

Spoiler alert: The film sadly ends with Brandon being brutally raped and then murdered by his two friends John and Tom. The reason they rape him is because...well...I don’t know why they rape him. They do it as punishment when they find out Brandon is actually a girl. I just can’t comprehend how you can go about being someone’s friend one minute, and the next minute you are punishing them for something about their personality that you don’t like. But again with the double standard. Would they have raped Brandon if he was a boy and let’s say took their girlfriend or stole their money? Probably not since they would not want anyone to question their sexuality. But of course, as it has been since the beginning of time, a “rightful” punishment for a woman is to belittle her with rape. 

It’s incredibly sad that this film is a true story. It is sends shivers down my spine to know that when I was playing with Barbies and other girly things, things I wanted to do, a young woman, only 15 years older than myself was being murder for something she wanted to do, and that was to be a boy. I remember that in Hilary Swanks Oscar acceptance speech, she said that society will take a long time to change, but she hopes that this film has opened up a few eyes for future generations. It has been 12 years since the film has been released, and I am hoping that eyes are still being opened.