Sunday, January 16. 2011
The Male Illusion
In literature, a tomboy is defined as a girl who behaves like a boy, boisterous, freethinking and independent. There are a lot of very different characters in book and film that have been defined as tomboys, such as "Georgina Kirrin", better known as "George", from "The Famous Five" by Enid Blyton, "Jean Louise Finch", better known as "Scout", from "To Kill A Mockingbird","Watts" from "Some Kind of Wonderful", "Idgie Threadgoode" from "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café", and, nowadays, "Juno MacGuff" from "Juno".
Well, what do these characters have in common? For starters, the movies pass the "Bechdel Test", because there are more than two females - not necessarily already women - they do have names, they talk with other females, and not about men.
But after all, being tomboys, they are not regarded as "really" female, they are some kind of sexless footprint of a female, and of course, often, there is homosexuality involved, OMG! Idgie does have, in the book more openly than in the film, of course, a lesbian lover, and so did Harper Lee who formed with "To Kill a Mockingbird" childhood memories into a book. With George, we do not know, because we never see her grow up, and with Juno, we accept that she might even be too independent to perpetuate the expected stereotype, so she is allowed to have a boyfriend and only befriend the adoptive mother of her child.
So to sum up the clichés, the characters do not really pass the Bechdel Test, most of them have homosexuell tendencies, and therefore they are boyish.
It does not seem to make any sense to anybody to say that these characters are more womanly than any other variety of this sex, since they know what they want, and they do what they want, and they know what they are doing. They are independent, because a woman is not defined by dependence, they are freethinking, because a woman is not defined by narrow-mindedness, and they are boisterous, because a woman is not defined by alignment. Their clothes, hairstyle and attitude are part of their personal approach as a woman, and, most of all, they do not need men to define themselves.
But of course, we have been taught differently; in most movies, tomboys do eventually give in to the charms of some idiot boy who did not even realise they were there before they were gone, somehow probably a fantasy of these boys - to be secretely loved, and to "cure" a lesbian.
Isn't that sweet? After all, a tomboy is nothing but a male illusion.
Well, what do these characters have in common? For starters, the movies pass the "Bechdel Test", because there are more than two females - not necessarily already women - they do have names, they talk with other females, and not about men.
But after all, being tomboys, they are not regarded as "really" female, they are some kind of sexless footprint of a female, and of course, often, there is homosexuality involved, OMG! Idgie does have, in the book more openly than in the film, of course, a lesbian lover, and so did Harper Lee who formed with "To Kill a Mockingbird" childhood memories into a book. With George, we do not know, because we never see her grow up, and with Juno, we accept that she might even be too independent to perpetuate the expected stereotype, so she is allowed to have a boyfriend and only befriend the adoptive mother of her child.
So to sum up the clichés, the characters do not really pass the Bechdel Test, most of them have homosexuell tendencies, and therefore they are boyish.
It does not seem to make any sense to anybody to say that these characters are more womanly than any other variety of this sex, since they know what they want, and they do what they want, and they know what they are doing. They are independent, because a woman is not defined by dependence, they are freethinking, because a woman is not defined by narrow-mindedness, and they are boisterous, because a woman is not defined by alignment. Their clothes, hairstyle and attitude are part of their personal approach as a woman, and, most of all, they do not need men to define themselves.
But of course, we have been taught differently; in most movies, tomboys do eventually give in to the charms of some idiot boy who did not even realise they were there before they were gone, somehow probably a fantasy of these boys - to be secretely loved, and to "cure" a lesbian.
Isn't that sweet? After all, a tomboy is nothing but a male illusion.
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