Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Home › Groups › Critical Feminist Studies ›

Definitely an emotional read and other related topics to Middlesex

michelle.lee's picture
Submitted by michelle.lee on Sun, 03/18/2012 - 5:07pm

On the topic of Middlesex, I came across a film called Tomboy.  It's a French film from 2011 and it tells the story of a 10 year old girl, named Laure, who decides to introduce herself as a boy to other children when she moves towns.  She interacts with her new friends as a boy while she acts like a girl at home.  It reminded me of Middlesex since it touches on the idea of transgender/transsexualism at a young age.  It also has the same idea of "rebirth" since both main characters experience a point in life where they are "reborn."  Although Cal's case is slightly different since he is intersex while Laure is biologically female.  Both the film and novel exude this kind of subversive sadness.  I felt almost helpless at some points of the movie and novel because there wasn't anything I could do.  I am still trying to process formally what my emotions and my thoughts are for these books...

Trailer for the film Tomboy
Groups:

Comments

melal's picture

Tomboy, a cultural symbol?

Submitted by melal on Sun, 03/25/2012 - 2:50pm.

I think the topic of tomboy you raised is really interesting. Cameron Diaz claims to have always been a tomboy. Britney Spears, Charlize Theron, Hilary Swank, Michelle Pfeiffer, Keira Knightley all say they have, or had, a whole lot of tomboy in them. There are also a bunch of literature works contain girl characters who are tomboys, such as Josephine "Jo" March from Little Women, Jean Louise "Scout" Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird, and Rachel ("Hellfire") Hotchkiss from Mark Twain's Hellfire Hotchkiss.

I found that it’s chic in these post-feminist times for beautiful female stars to admit certain "maleness." Ordinary women, too, now often wear a tomboy childhood, once tinged with varying degrees of anxiety (why can I not find it within myself to be a dainty princess? will my daughter grow up to be a lesbian?) like a badge of honor. Interestingly, I found that the word “tomboy” was first used in the mid-16th century for males, denoting "a rude, boisterous, or forward boy," according to the Oxford English Dictionary. By then, because Thomas had been a popular name for centuries, "Tom" was a long-established moniker for the common man (hence tomfoolery). I think it really amazing that such transition happened, making the word tomboy from unpopular to popular.

sekang's picture

choice or inborn nature?

Submitted by sekang on Sun, 03/18/2012 - 9:52pm.

Hi michelle.lee,

I sometimes wonder why and how a person finds out that she or he is gay. The trailer of this movie doesn't really tell me why Laure decides to introduce herself as a boy. It seems to me that she chose to hide her true gender. I wonder if she knew what kinds of struggles she would face as she grows up. I also wonder if she thought about how "hiding her gener" would affect her family and her younger sister.

If it was just an inborn nature of hers that it was inevitable for her to live as a girl, I truly wonder how she found out that she was "stuck in a wrong genered body."

I think it is completely okay for a girl to be a tomboy and still live her life as a girl. I probably should watch the movie to find the answers to the questions.

But yeah michelle.lee, this movie is very related to "middlesex" :)

Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities

Scanning electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2

Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities has 50 remote-ready activities, which work for either your classroom or remote teaching.

About Student Papers

This paper reflects the research and thoughts of a student at the time the paper was written for a course at Bryn Mawr College. Like other materials on Serendip, it is not intended to be "authoritative" but rather to help others further develop their own explorations. Web links were active as of the time the paper was posted but are not updated.

Narrative is determined not by a desire to narrate but by a desire to exchange. (Roland Barthes, S/Z)

What's New? Subscribe to Serendip Studio

Recent Group Comments