The Cross-Dresser and Transsexual Essay -- Some Like it Hot Gender Rol

The Cross-Dresser and Transsexual Attitudes towards cross-dressing, transvestitism and transsexuality have changed greatly since the conformity of the 1950’s. Today, the drag queen RuPaul sells cosmetics and a female character with a penis can become a sympathetic addition to a prime time drama such as Ally McBeal. These transgressions from normative gender roles are frequently employed by filmmakers to examine the complexity and fluidity of modern masculinity and femininity. The roots of these explorations can be seen as far back as 1959’s Some Like it Hot, but only in the 1990’s were directors able to use these sliding identities to their fullest extent. By examining Billy Wilder’s, Neil Jordan’s and Kimberley Peirce’s use of external gender signs, gender roles, sex and sexuality in Some Like it Hot, The Crying Game and Boys Don’t Cry, respectively, we may see the progression of gender blending from comedic device towards accepted identity. While none of these films entirely empowers its transgendered characters, and masculinity is privileged as the more flexible identity, the latter two films nevertheless make strides towards a society where limited definitions of gender and identity do not exist. External gender signs such as costume, hair length and voice are the spectator’s first indication that a crossing has taken place. In Some Like it Hot, this cross-dressing has a purpose and is parodied throughout, while in The Crying Game and Boys Don’t Cry, the main characters’ transvestitism is realistic and treated with more sympathy. As our society is inundated with film images, we are comfortable with the picture of Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon dressed as women for the film Some Like it Hot. But one must remember that gen... ... and Boys Don’t Cry, on the other hand, show a move towards a society that is more willing to embrace these alternative identities. Both films use realistic disguise, behaviours and sexuality to help audiences identify with their transgendered characters. Furthermore, sex is shown to be of little consequence when it comes to a person’s true gender. Unfortunately, the portrayals of transsexuals in these two films are not yet fully liberating. The Crying Game stumbles into stereotype and limits Dil’s sexual behaviour, and even the most progressive of the three, Boys Don’t Cry, shows Brandon dying a horrible death. However, Peirce’s film has come a long way in open-mindedness since the antics of Joe and Jerry in Some Like it Hot. Perhaps in the coming years a filmmaker will finally dare to portray a happy and realistic transgendered character and also let him/her live.