Essay 4
I wrote a paper exploring the philosophy of behind the construction Boys Don't Cry – with regards to representation versus simulation. Baurdillard's theories of simulation destroying the representational subject came screaming to my mind after we watched the movie in class, and I wanted to use this paper as a chance to connect some of my thoughts.
A brief selection:
"Although the film tries to serve as a historical account, much of Boys Don’t Cry is actually pure fabrication. First and foremost, the leap from actual persons to scripted characters necessarily results in a series liberties being taken. Even if the person in question is totally compliant in being analyzed and recreated on film, the simple premise of an actor representing a subject automatically creates a gap between the “truth” and the “medium,” inevitably producing an imperfect duplication. Even the most iconic “method” actors who meticulously assemble their most memorable performances (for example, Don Cheadle as Paul Rusesabagina in Hotel Rwanda or Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote in Capote) openly admit the impossibility of living up to the real thing. This gap is littered throughout Boys Don’t Cry; how accurate can the many private dialogues between John Lotter and Tom Nissen (the rapists/murderers who did not contribute to the film) and Brandon Teena (the victim who died long before preproduction began) actually be?"
"In the case of Boys Don’t Cry, the subject of Brandon Teena is realized by the medium of actress Hilary Swank. In her article “Branding Teena,” however, essayist Annabelle Willox illuminates some shortcomings of a representation that relies solely on a reconstructed subject. The filmic character of “Brandon” is based upon interviews from those who knew Brandon Teena but not Brandon himself, and without that authenticity as a frame of reference, his life, passions, and quest become “simplified and described in uncomplicated and unquestioned terms” (Willox 408). In this sense, Willox demerits the efforts of both Swank and Pierce, labeling Boys Don’t Cry as a film that only “attempts to show the complexity of the main character” but never actually succeeds (408). She also denounces the efforts of critics and audiences to fully understand the complexity of Brandon Teena through the film alone; they will “almost inevitably fail” (408)."
My quote from Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation:
"Something has disappeared: the sovereign difference…that constituted the charm of abstraction. Because it is difference that constitutes the poetry of the map and the charm of the territory, the magic of the concept and the charm of the real. […] This imaginary of representation…disappears in the simulation whose operation is nuclear and genetic. […] It is no longer a question of imitation, nor duplication, nor even parody. It is a question of substituting the signs of the real for the real… (Baudrillard 2)"
And my references:
• Baudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994.
• Dannenbaum, Jed, Carroll Hodge, Doe Mayer. Creative Filmmaking From the Inside Out. Fireside, 2003.
• Imdb.com. 11 December 2007.
• Mitchell, W.J.T.. “Representation.” Critical Terms for Literary Study. Ed. Frank Lentricchia, Thomas McLaughlin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990. 11-22.
• Wikipedia.org. 11 December 2007.
• Willox, Annabelle. “Branding Teena: (Mis)Representations in the Media.” Sexualities. Vol. 6. California: SAGE Publications, 2003. 407-425.
Comments
This is an excellent paper idea. So excellent, that I wish I had thought of it myself. Boys Don't Cry really is a perfect example of simulation/simulacra, much better than the film exapmles that he mentions within his book (Last picture show, Chinatown, etc.) The pretense of acurate representation marks the downfall of reality, of which Boys Don't Cry is evidence of. The memory of this simulation will never be erased from cultural memory.
Posted by: Robin | December 14, 2007 12:22 PM