Boys Don't Cry - various observations
We didn't get to discuss a couple of the questions much in class, so I thouht I'd post something about the choice of actors/actresses and the role of alcohol.
Pierce's utilization of relative unknown performers was, I think, an extremely essential decision. Just imagine if we knew the actress playing Brandon...it would be far more difficult to put aside associations with that actress and see her as "the character Brandon." Every scene in which he would appear, the audience would be bombarded with memories of that actress playing other roles. Just think if someone as well-known as Kate Winslet or Nicole Kidman was in the role. It would be impossible to separate such a radically different character from their former roles, and the illusion would be lost. Using Swank (as Katie said, relatively unknown apart from the indie circuit) both provided us with a mostly unfamiliar face. I was able to see the character, not the actress.
I think it was also important to use unknown actors for the other roles. Again, we didn't bring our own associations of their past performances to the screen, which would have seriously hindered our ability to see them as these wild, abusive men and alcoholic, desperate women.
By the way, did anyone notice the amount of alcohol consumed in the film? There was hardly a scene in which liberal consumption of beer was not involved. Having lived in a small town (my first two years of undergrad), I realize that drinking becomes a major event when the number of 'productive' community activities is low. I wonder, though, if Pierce is also drawing a connection between senseless violence and alcohol. I doubt that she is taking a moralizing position, because what she portrayed was hardly uncommon. Even so, it really struck me how often the characters were drinking and driving, drinking at home, drinking outside. Drinking, it seems, becomes a way to numb, especially for Lana. When we first see her, she's wasted, numb, apathetic. As the film progresses, though, she seems to drink less. Tom and John seem to be constantly buzzed; more often than not, drunk, and I think this contributes to their impulsiveness in the violence against Brandon (not that they don't clearly have a propensity for violence already).
Comments
The references to substance abuse were, I believe, very intergral to the story/characters. I hate to be "that guy", but it seems that more and more often we (people) get buzzed/high/whatever, do stupid shit, then turn around and blame everything on the drug - and society takes it as a viable excuse. I consider myself pretty liberal, but people still need to take responsibility for keeping their judgment intact.
The part of the "Boys Don't Cry" that screamed this the most, in my opinion, was the drag racing sequence. Tom COULD NOT COMPREHEND his personal sense of consequence, so he takes it out on the rest of the gang. Or worse yet, he buries it with more booze.
These were the exactly the same conditions for the Matthew Shepard beating a few years later: two straight guys, impaired sense of judgment, encountering something they didn't really understand but somehow felt threatened by, and they wound up killing the kid. And I'm sure neither Brandon's nor Matthew's murdurers feel like it was worth it today.
Posted by: Christopher Kehoe | October 25, 2007 09:04 PM