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UnHappily Ever After: Unrelenting Tragedy in the On-Screen LGBT Couple

Abstract

        As the lives and stories of LGBTQ+ people have become more widely represented in the media, particularly through television and film, analyses of the impact of these representations in turn became more commonly explored. The shift of LGBTQ+ characters from a background position on screen as viewed through a heteronormative lens to a leading place in the forefront of films and television programs has allowed for deeper examination into the ways in which members of the LGBT community continue to exist under the dominant control of cis-gender heterosexuals. The dictation of societal norms and plot design by these dominant media producers has created a foundation of expectation for queer couples to fit into in order to gain the representation on screen. Queer individuals who do not easily exist among a heterosexually driven sphere are therefore erased from media history and only made visible again through LGBTQ+ controlled content. Outside of this queer space, however, mainstream media continues to box LGBT couples into only a small selection of endings.

        A contradiction presents itself in mainstream media as expectations on screen shame queer couples who aren’t monogamous while simultaneously preventing them from living out the same happy endings that are granted to the majority of straight couples on television (Bonello, 2010). Through my examination of select LGBTQ+ related films and television shows in America, I will analyze this tendency toward unhappy endings in terms of its connection to heterosexual and cisgender gazes on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender relationships.

          What ideology or dominant thought might be causing this pattern of unhappy endings for LGBT characters? Is it intentional or subconscious? How do these subtle plot patterns contribute to the way we see LGBT couples in real life? Would a shift to happier ends in LGBT film and TV help the LGBTQ community or erase the struggles and realities of these relationships?

Method

         This research paper will mainly exist as an investigation into the driving forces behind the tendency for infidelity, breakup, and the generally tragedy-ridden plot points surrounding LGBT couples in popular television shows and film. The analysis of these media will focus on the larger events in the lives of LGBTQ+ couples over the course of the film or television series being examined and determine if the unhappy ending reveals more about the media messages being embedded than meets the eye.

        Media products will be analyzed in terms of stereotyping, bisexual erasure and “experimentation”, gay monogamy, and the developing shift of modern LGBTQ+ couples from the past stories of struggle. By breaking down the narrative structure of representations of queer couples on screen, dominant ideologies and biases will be less likely to creep into the future production of mainstream media.

Analysis

        As counterculture grows, media producers are forced to take public opinion into consideration during the creation of new content. For the LGBT community this meant breaking into the mainstream media to tell their own history. The Normal Heart (Ferguson, 2014), is one film which delves into the struggle of LGBT people during the rise of the AIDS epidemic through gay activist Ned Weeks and his relationship with Felix, a patient who later dies as a result of the AIDS virus. The themes of homophobia and discrimination during the AIDS crisis in America is a common topic in LGBT film. While these representations of LGBT people are important in order to subvert their position of oppression, it also begins to cause an association between LGBT characters and stories of tragedy and heartbreak. Recent years has brought a new representation of LGBTQ+ couples to the forefront. Queer couples who were once hidden behind heterosexual main characters and only included during episodes in which the main characters needed to learn importance of acceptance have slowly made their way to center stage, demanding the queer space that has been denied them in the past.  

        A pattern emerges when looking at films such as Brokeback Mountain (Ossana, 2005) and Boys Don’t Cry (Sharp, 1999) in which queer couples are not only closeted but eventually targeted and killed as a result of their sexual identities. Ennis and Jack’s forbidden love in Brokeback Mountain is the epitome of tragic love stories as both married men are forced to deny their love for one another. As both men return to their families, still closeted, Jack is discovered to be gay and becomes the target of a hate crime that takes his life. Adding insult to injury, Ennis only learns of his partner’s death by a returned letter marked “deceased” and is once more denied when Jack’s father refuses to allow Ennis to take Jack’s ashes to the mountain. The audience is then expected to relish the small comfort as Jack’s mother allows Ennis to keep some of Jack’s old shirts.

        A similar narrative occurs in the earlier film, Boys Don’t Cry as we follow Brandon Teena through his discovery of himself as a transgender man in a highly homophobic neighborhood. In order to remain undetected, Brandon must “pass” as a boy, presenting typically masculine qualities and gaining the trust of other boys. As Brandon falls in love with Lana Tisdel, the tragic love story begins. Brandon’s identity as male is challenged as his past begins to catch up to his new life. Although Lana and her brothers had no issue with Brandon initially, the discovery that Brandon was once Teena shifted their belief of Brandon to one of betrayal and fraud resulting in his rape and brutal murder at the hands of Lana’s brothers. Brandon’s death effectively silences the queer voice in the film, reinforcing the commonality of unhappy endings for LGBTQ+ couples who fail to align with heteronormative ideals (Love, 2007).

        Similar patterns present themselves in television shows in which LGBTQ+ couples share prominent air-time. Although the presence of LGBT couples at all is a plus side for the case of LGBT representation and television, the fact that these couples are subjected to often more negative plot lines than their heterosexual counterparts develops a commonality of LGBT couples to end badly or to require immensely more effort to sustain. Shameless (Wells, 2011) is one example of the changing portrayals of modern LGBT couples on television. The fan-favorite couple, Ian Gallagher and Mickey Milkovich, nicknamed “Gallavich”, have been a part of an on-and-off relationship for all seven seasons of Shameless. While the couple has had roughly the same air-time as characters Fiona Gallagher with her boyfriends and long term couple Kevin and Veronica Ball, the trials that Ian and Mickey must go through in order to try to remain together totals much more than any other couple combined.

        Over the course of the first four seasons alone, Mickey struggles with the abuses of his homophobic father versus his developing love for Ian, is forcibly raped by a sex worker at gunpoint by his father, is later forced to marry her when she gets pregnant, and is then beaten nearly to death after coming out to the neighborhood to prove his devotion to Ian. Ian, while more fortunate than his partner, must wrestle with the idea that Mickey may never be able to love him openly the way he wants, realizes his grades aren’t good enough to reach his dream of West Point Academy, enlists under his brother’s name and goes awol following the development of his bipolar disorder he inherited from his mother who abandoned him years ago. These leanings toward negative or harmful plot points for LGBT couples may stem from a more deep-rooted belief that those who are not cisgender and heterosexual have chosen a more difficult lifestyle. Hilton-Morrow and Battles (2015) discuss the dividing thought on sexuality as being either essentialist, where in a person’s sexual orientation is static and unchanging, or social constructionist which explores the idea that sexual orientation is a result of one’s social experience and influenced by a larger number of factors that all contribute to each person differently (p. 17).

        Love (2007), discusses this shifting belief surrounding LGBT couples in modern society from the formerly closeted and tragic stories to the new wave of LGBT people navigating relationships in similar ways to heterosexual couples. Although it does not explain the steady existence of tragic narratives in modern film and television as evident in Shameless, this may be true in cases such as Modern Family (Levitan & Lloyd, 2009), in which the comedy genre seems to supplement the seriousness of LGBT issues with humor. Cameron and partner Mitchell rarely mention issues pertaining to their sexuality and instead exist as just another upper middle class family experiencing the classic situational comedy drama. In one instance, the couple is on a flight from Vietnam with their newly adopted baby who is eating a cream puff. When another passenger comments, “look at that baby with those cream puffs,” Mitchell stands up and defensively argues their right to adopt as gay parents. While this moment provides humor over the misunderstanding on the flight, it also suggests that gay parents and gay couples in general no longer have to deal with the stereotyping of the past. In reality, many LGBTQ+ characters are expected to play into the stereotypes of their sexualities which define the arcs their characters will take in the program or film (Löf, C., 2016, p. 11).  

        The majority of films and television shows I have found in which LGBT couples are happy and prospering also happen to be comedy driven. But I’m A Cheerleader (Creel, 1999) explores homophobia through a fairytale structure as cheerleader Megan is sent to a gay conversion camp when her parents begin to suspect her of being a lesbian. The formerly straight Megan begins to fall in love with camp member, Graham, and then declares herself a lesbian. As the film progresses through comedic romance scenes, Megan joins other camp members determined to break out. Graham, however, too afraid of leaving, stays behind and waits while Megan plans a way to rescue all of the gay campers from their metaphorical cages. In the end, Megan saves Graham and the two girls manage to convince their parents of their love, living happily ever after. Movies such as this one seem to use comedy as a way to lull heterosexual audiences into enjoying LGBTQ+ messages. While drama requires viewers to take a serious look into the power dynamics of LGBT couples in a heterosexually dominant world, comedy invites the audience to laugh along with the queer characters whose issues become humorous exaggerations.

        But I’m A Cheerleader is not the only example of bisexual erasure on screen as both of Alyson Hannigan’s prominent roles on television have committed the same erasures. While Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Whedon, 1997) made strides toward equal representation by showing the first lesbian sex scene on television between characters Willow and Tara, they fail to acknowledge Willow’s identity as bisexual. Willow’s former relationship with boyfriend, Oz doesn’t exist as evidence of her bisexuality when she later begins a relationship with Tara but instead seems to draw a line between past Willow who simply hadn’t discovered her sexuality and future Willow who finally could admit she was a lesbian (Diamond, 2005). In an even more subtle manner on How I Met Your Mother (Bays, 2005), Alyson’s character, Lily, is constantly making sexual comments and longing after her female friend, Robin. Although commenting in one episode that, “a woman’s sexuality is a moving target”, Lily never vocalizes her sexuality and even goes as far as kissing Robin under the guise of it being the only way to wake up their uber-masculine friend, Barney. The word “bisexual” over the course of 9 seasons of How I Met Your Mother and 8 seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the word “bisexual” is never used despite the explicit presence of bisexuality in its main characters.

Conclusion

        The dominant ideology that stems from the ideals of straight, white, men, dictates that true happiness is only achieved by those who deserve it: straight, white couples. While this idea has slowly shifted over the years, remnants still remains in the ways media producers imagine the lives of LGBTQ+ couples on screen. If heterosexual, cisgender couples are the norm, any other partnership therefore becomes lesser, categorized by stereotyping to make them more palatable for heteronormative audiences and perpetuating the cycle of unhappy endings for queer relationships. Although these patterns may very well be subconscious creations caused by the dominance of the media for so long by the male gaze and heteronormative lens, the repetitive nature of these plot lines show the need for reconstruction of popular thought. Instead of sympathizing with coming out stories of young queer people and opening our eyes to the tragedies of homophobia and crimes against trans people, the constant stream of struggling LGBT couples creates the belief that couples in real life stand a very slim chance of lasting.

        Through this analysis of these films and television shows, it seems as though the likelihood of happier scenes depends upon the genre of program and film as well as the distance of the couple from heteronormative ideals on the scale of heterosexual to homosexual. The comedy genre and rich, white status presented in Modern Family allow Mitchell and Cameron to achieve their happiness, while the transgender identity of Brandon Teena and the intersectional identity of Poussey Washington (Orange is the New Black) as a black woman and lesbian, lead to their deaths. However, this pattern of unhappy characterizations of LGBT couples does not provide a clear rule for the creation of future media products. Neither extreme appears to be the solution to the current climate for LGBT relationships on screen. Instead, I propose future media to look more carefully at the realism of their relationships between LGBT characters and to respect the struggle of the LGBTQ+ community while also allowing the queer space to dictate how their relationships should play out to reflect the variety of couples in the real world.

*Accompanying media text: click here 

Sources

Bays, C. (Producer). (2005). How I Met Your Mother [Television Show]. Los Angeles, CA: 20th Century Fox Television.

Bonello, K. & Cross, M. C. (2009). Gay Monogamy: “I Love You But I Can’t Have Sex With Only You. Journal of Homosexuality. 57(1): 117-139.

Creel, L. (Producer), & Babbit, J. (Director). (1999). But I’m A Cheerleader [Motion Picture]. United States: Lionsgate.

Diamond, L. M. (2005). ‘I’m Straight, But I Kissed A Girl’: The Trouble with American Representations of Female-Female Sexuality. Feminism & Psychology. 15(1): 104-110.

Ferguson, S. (Producer), & Murphy, R. (Director). (2014). The Normal Heart [Motion Picture]. United States: HBO Films.

Hilton-Morrow, W. & Battles, K. (2015). Sexual Identities and the Media. New York: Routledge, 16-17.

Kohan, J. (Producer). (2013). Orange is the New Black [Television Show]. New York, NY: Lionsgate Television.

Levitan, S. (Producer)., & Lloyd, C. (Producer). (2009 -). Modern Family [Television Show]. Los Angeles, CA: Lloyd-Levitan Productions.

Lof, C. (2016). “Love is ours only in death”: An analysis of how lesbian and bisexual relationships are stereotyped on western television shows through the use of tropes. Sweden: University West, 1-69.

Love, H. (2007). Compulsory happiness and queer existence. New Formations. 63(1), 52+.

Ossana, D. (Producer)., & Lee, A. (Director). (2005). Brokeback Mountain [Motion Picture]. United States: Focus Features.

Sharp, J. (Producer)., & Peirce, K. (Director). (1999). Boys Don’t Cry [Motion Picture]. United States: Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Wells, J. (Producer). (2011). Shameless [Television Show]. Los Angeles, CA: Warner Brothers Studios.

Whedon, J. (Producer). (1997). Buffy the Vampire Slayer [Television Show]. Los Angeles, CA: 20th Century Fox Television.

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Research Proposal - Unhappily Ever After : The Unrelenting Doom of the Gay Couple

          For my research paper I intend to analyze the commonality of un-happy endings in LGBTQ films and television programs. Over the years as a media student and a film and TV lover in general, I have noticed that gay couples on television and in film rarely receive the happy endings that are so standard in heterosexual character relationships. I would also like to analyze this topic in terms of its connection to heterosexual and transgender gazes on gay, lesbian, and bisexual relationships.

           The questions that I would like to explore through my research and analysis are as follows. What ideology or dominant thought might be causing this pattern of unhappy endings for LGBT characters? Is it intentional or subconscious? How do these subtle plot patterns contribute to the way we see LGBT couples in real life? Would a shift to happier ends in LGBT film and TV help the LGBTQ community or erase the struggles and realities of these relationships?

           The first source I would like to use for my analysis, “Compulsory happiness and queer existence” (Love, 2007), discusses the shifting climate surrounding LGBT couples in modern society from the formerly closeted and tragedy-ridden stories to the new wave of LGBT people navigating relationships in similar ways to heterosexual couples. I believe this journal could give me further insight into the reasons for the tragic storylines that LGBT characters still find themselves involved in. I think it may also contribute some ideas for progressing future LGBT stories to allow for more reflection of modern couples and relationships.

          My second source explores more generally, the politics surrounding gay and lesbian visibility on television (Dow, 2001). Although this is a commonly analyzed concept in terms of how politics and the social climate of the particular time can hinder or allow LGBT representation to flourish, I think this will be helpful in deciding the contributing factors to the erasure of happiness in the lives of LGBT people. While representations such as in Boys Don’t Cry are praised for their truthful exposure of the LGBT oppression and conditions, a sense of normalcy in LGBT characters, particularly between gay men, is less widely accepted. I think this has something to do with the fact that harsh and heartbreaking stories force dominant groups to take an honest look at the victims of their oppression. In contrast, portraying two gay men in the same way you would any other couple creates the notion that LGBT people aren’t oppressed anymore.

          A third journal that caught my attention was one that explored the idea of adolescence and discovery of one’s bisexuality in terms of the show One Tree Hill (Meyer, 2009). Although my thoughts aren’t completely connected with this piece yet, I feel that there is some relevance between the way bisexual characters are presented and the likelihood that those characters will be portrayed in happier plots. I have found that bisexual characters are typically only positively accepted when they “choose” one gender or another and stick with it. Despite the static nature of bisexuality, the general public still believes that the mate a bisexual person chooses to spend their life with is the true gender they were attracted to all along. I believe the state of questioning gender makes these characters more receptive to writers of happily ending plots. 

          My method for analysis will mostly consist of dissecting media texts (film and television mainly) to uncover the driving forces behind the downfall or general negativity surrounding the LGBT couples involved. I may include some form of research into the effect these presentations have on the viewers of these texts seeing as I’m not the only person in the community to have questioned the lack of happy endings. 

          One media text that I want to explore is Blue is the Warmest Color, a cult favorite in the LGBT community, but a deeply sad story that begs the question: why can’t they just end up together? The Normal Heart is another film that I think can bring to light the tendency toward the negative and heartbreaking stories. I also want to analyze Shameless and the ways in which they have incorporated every member of LGBT over the course of the series. While I can constantly be found applauding them for this, I think the amount of horrific events in relation to happy events in heavily skewed against the gay couples portrayed in the show. Modern Family, however, is one program which I would consider to be an exception to this occurrence and one in which I need to explore more deeply to find out why it works and if it presents its own issues. I would also like to create either a short pilot screenplay or a comic strip in which I employ some of the methods I come up with for portraying realistic gay relationships without relying solely on negative events and crimes of oppression.

Sources

Love, H. "Compulsory happiness and queer existence." New Formations, no. 63, 2007, p. 52+ Retrieved at go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=temple_main&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA175632731&it=r&asid=a510eaf6302c98c66a4f8e10ee32d80a

Dow, B. (2001). Ellen, television, and the politics of gay and lesbian visibility. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 18(2), 123-140. doi:10.1080/07393180128077

Meyer, M. D. E. (2009). "I'm just trying to find my way like most kids": Bisexuality, adolescence and the drama of one tree hill. Sexuality & Culture, 13(4), 237. doi:10.1007/s12119-009-9056-z

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Digital Essay #2 - Sex and Gender in Hairspray and Boys Don’t Cry

        Gender binaries not only present themselves in the form of male or female; they also bring up the question of what it means to “act” like a man or woman. In the film Boys Don't Cry (Peirce, 1999), Brandon faces the reality of his disconnect with the physical sex he was born with as Teena and through his eyes we get a glimpse of what it is like for trans youth (Halberstam, p. 294). In contrast, Hairspray (Waters, 1988) explores conventions of being male and female alongside gay sensibility and the inclusion of camp behavior as a way to challenge dominant ideology. 

        Hairspray pushes back against racial and gender oppression by using gay sensibility in the way characters behave, dress, and interact. Divine’s portrayal of both Edna and Arvin challenges this heterosexual gaze in a similar way to her drag performances that use camp discourse to even the playing field between dominant and non-dominant groups. Edna is a masculine woman who is equally if not more powerful than her husband, Wilbur, and still takes part in feminine activities like getting her hair done and wearing dresses. The blurring of gender binary classifications in Hairspray also appears in the way the male characters present themselves. These men dance and pay careful attention to their hair and clothing choices, concerns that are typically belittled when women do them.

        Although the African-American characters in Hairspray are shown in poverty-stricken neighborhoods and discriminated against by the police, their identities seem to thrive in spite of their oppression. Rather than explore the areas of the racial discrimination that causes these divides, the film attempts to bring minority groups up to the level of dominant groups through cultural sharing of dance. In the film, minorities are pictured to be happy and carefree despite their obvious mistreatment in society. Motormouth Maybelle and Seaweed are portrayed with the same lens as Tracy who is outcast due to her weight. The use of dance and flamboyancy common in camp, acts as a neutralizing factor that eliminates difference and demands the respect otherwise not given to these oppressed groups (Meyer, p. 139).

        While these techniques work to liberate the segregation in Hairspray, they did little to alleviate the oppression experienced by real-life Brandon Teena and his on-screen character in Boys Don’t Cry. Brandon struggles with the inner conflict of his identity as a boy and the outer conflict of family and friends, who cannot comprehend Brandon’s situation. Brandon can’t even find solace with Lonny, a gay relative who thinks Brandon’s identity as a boy is a joke that he will eventually get over. Despite the important difference between sexual identity and sexual orientation, transgender people are lumped into the same category as gay individuals as seen through the countless gay slurs used during the film. 

        Brandon’s town is much less forgiving than that in Hairspray, resulting in his need to assimilate into the dominant culture and go unnoticed rather than attempt to subvert the dominant ideology by adopting a gay sensibility (Benshoff & Griffon, p. 269). Brandon binds his breasts, wears his hair short, and uses socks in order to pass for a man. When he gets his period, the audience experiences the panic and need to hide that Brandon feels as he tries to wash the blood from his jeans. Brandon’s safety and acceptance into the lives of Lana, John, Tom, and Candace depends on his ability to pass as a boy, using stereotypes associated with masculinity and his observations of the men around him as examples. Brandon’s relationship with Lana brings out the truest side of him, the protector who wants to love and care for someone who can do the same in return.

           Within the complexity of telling stories of LGBT lives, the struggles of race and class are often overlooked. Boys Don’t Cry explores poverty as a symbol for the lack of freedom from oppression. Brandon’s dream to leave Nebraska is outweighed by his need to be loved by Lana, which in turn leads to his brutal assault and later murder at the hands of John and Tom. The film doesn’t retell, however, that another person was killed alongside Brandon and Lisa that night. John DeVine, a black man, was also murdered by John and Tom during their fit of rage. Not only was their violence in retaliation of discovering Brandon’s external sex but also a result of their racist ideologies.

        Although films such as Hairspray normalize the gay sensibility and attempt to portray peace across all races, genders, and classes, it does not always portray the realities for those like Brandon who can neither fully feel safe blending in with the status quo or presenting a gay sensibility given his location. While many stories such as DeVille’s go untold, films like Boys Don’t Cry create a sphere in which trans visibility can exist and spread (Benshoff & Griffon, p. 281).

Works Cited

Benshoff, H. & Griffon, S. (2006). Queer Images: A History of Gay and Lesbian Film in America. 267-281. Retrieved from https://learn.temple.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1921271-dt-content-rid-8695173_1/courses/CO-MSP-4425-700-30934-201703/benshoff-and-griffin_queer-images_ch-12_week%207.pdf?target=blank

Halberstam, J. (2001). The Boys Don't Cry debate: The transgender gaze in Boys Don't Cry. Reports and debates. 42 (3), 294-298. Retrieved from https://learn.temple.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1921281-dt-content-rid-8695175_1/courses/CO-MSP-4425-700-30934-201703/halberstam_boys-dont-cry_week%207.pdf?target=blank

Hart, J. (Producer), & Peirce, K. (Director). (1999). Boys Don’t Cry [Motion Picture]. United States: Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Meyer, M. (1994). Reclaiming the Discourse of Camp. The Politics and Poetics of Camp. 137-148. Retrieved from https://learn.temple.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1921261-dt-content-rid-8695169_1/courses/CO-MSP-4425-700-30934-201703/meyers-moe-reclaiming-the-discourse-of-camp_week%206.pdf?target=blank

Risher, S. (Producer), & Waters, J. (Director). (1988). Hairspray [Motion Picture]. United States: New Line Cinema.

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Digital Essay #1 - Gender in Hedwig and the Angry Inch

        Gender binaries have existed in societies long before our culture created a name for the concept. Dominant ideologies define gender as having the quality of being either man or woman. Although this definition suits the human need for black and white answers to complicated questions, it doesn’t take into account the lives of those whose do not fit into these traditional definitions. John Cameron Mitchell’s adaptation of the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch in 2001 explored these conflicts through the eyes of lead character Hedwig, a transgender woman growing up in Berlin during a time of great political distress.

           Fausto (2000) explores the origins of gender in terms of scientific observations and the enforcing of social norms. Male sex is attributed to a person with testes and male genitalia. Female sex, on the other hand, is attributed to female reproductive organs and female genitalia. This tradition of labelling babies as either male or female at birth presents issues for intersex babies whose internal organs may not align with their external sex or assumed gender. Due to the subtle differences between babies at birth, ambiguous sex often leads to a decision by either doctors or the parents to label the baby as male or female. In these cases, medical procedures and treatments are usually advised in order to “correct” the unwanted gender. People with one gender can grow to identify more with a different gender to the one they were assigned at birth (p. 27 – 28).

        This issue occurs early in Hedwig’s life as she retells through song her childhood as a boy named Hansel. Social norms and ideologies shape the way that we see gender. A man is expected to present masculine qualities such as tough demeanor and a muscular form. A woman is expected to do the opposite in order to allow man and woman to unite as a couple. Women are expected to be slender, feminine, soft-spoken, and often overly emotional. Since these concepts are enforced by the system of social hierarchies and embedded in mass media, any person who doesn’t align with one or the other is considered wrong and unacceptable (Gross, p. 11).

        Although a baby can be born with clear signs of male sex organs and raised male, this does not always account for their internal identity. Social constructs exist in all aspects of modern society, spanning from education and careers to clothing, makeup, and toys. As children grow up, their guardians and communities act as role models. When a child or adult identifies more with the gender norms of another rather than the gender they were assigned, it creates a conflict of identity. Society puts pressure on individuals to label every aspect of themselves and deems them abnormal when those strict guidelines are challenged.

        This pressure is mirrored in Hedwig as she grows up having male genitalia but comes to realize that she is a woman. Hedwig’s mother accepts her choice to live as a woman and even goes so far as to give her identity over to assist in her new life, the first show of acceptance that Hedwig experiences. Hedwig’s boyfriend insists that Hedwig cannot move forward into her new life without first transitioning physically and removing her male genitalia. The botched surgery leaves Hedwig with ambiguous genitalia, neither male nor female, furthering her body dysmorphia. Hedwig’s transition reveals the true nature of her relationship with her boyfriend who later decides she isn’t what he wanted.

        Hedwig’s performances become an outlet through which she can challenge the status quo and attempt to reconcile the conflict between her internal identity and her external appearance, emphasizing her feminine qualities with wigs and makeup. This experience of performing gender is also found later in Yitzhak’s own desire to perform as female. Hedwig’s talent for songwriting leads her to Tommy, a lost teenager who represents potential for a world of acceptance outside of the one she left behind. For many trans people, external genitalia does not align with the gender they identify with, putting them into situations in which their “true” gender is called into question by friends, family, or sex partners. Although Tommy’s intentions with Hedwig were from a loving place, it became clear that he could only love the parts of her that are traditionally female. Tommy gains popularity by stealing Hedwig’s songs, showing the reality for cis-gendered people to be accepted over a transgendered person.

        The bittersweet final scenes show Hedwig coming to terms with the reality of her body, stripping down to underwear and her natural hair, standing vulnerably in front of Tommy. Both Yitzhak’s and Hedwig’s transformations, though different, present equally valid examples of the trouble with enforcing gender binaries. It is through their stories that we see the difficult ways in which trans people can find themselves despite their oppression.

Works Cited

Gross, L. (2001). Up From Invisibility: Lesbians, Gay Men, and the Media                America. New York: Columbia University Press.

Fausto-Sterling, A. (2000). Sexing the Body. New York: Basic Books.

Vachon, C. (Producer), & Mitchell, J. C. (Director). (2001). Hedwig and the             Angry Inch [Motion picture]. United States: New Line Cinema. 

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LGBT Representation 2017

Hi there everyone! I’m excited to delve further into our discussions and get to know everyone this semester.