I really enjoyed the movie "Ma Vie En Rose." I thought it was very entertaining but also informative. I think that the plot was one that the viewer would be more sympathetic to, and therefore more sympathetic to the actual issue. To have a little boy going through an identity crisis is tough to watch, especially when he is so set on what he thinks he is or what he thinks he is going to be and his parents altogether do not understand. At first his mom is comforting thinking it's just a phase and the father is the one that is angry. And then the tables turn once the father looses his job; he learns to accept Ludo for whatever he feels comfortable in and the mother places blame, eventually coming to terms. I liked the evolution of the parents' characters. I also liked the aspect of the plot involving the therapist. The parents take Ludo to the doctor thinking that she will be able to provide a quick fix. Once they realize that that is not the case they change their minds and discontinue therapy. Fausto-Sterling and Chase both said that therapy is one means of coping with an intersex child and I think this movie shows (in a much more played down way) that it may in fact be a way of dealing with the issue it is by no means an easy solution and takes dedication on everyone's part.
Our discussion on transgender in pop culture in class today got me thinking about it. We were talking about how people tend to joke about situations when they feel uncomfortable or just don't know how to deal with them. I found an article that talks about how transgender characters are few and far between, much less than homosexuals and bisexuals. And that when shows and movies do portray transgender people they are not necessarily portrayed in the best of light. It is usually to fool other people for their own benefit. An example from the article was "Mrs. Doubtfire." I think we can all agree that it's a funny movie, but Robin Williams only assumes the character for his own interest, to be closer to his children. He is sneaky and disregards the court and his ex-wife. In the end everything works out and his character becomes a lovable television host. I think it will be interesting to see how transgender characters continue to be portrayed in media outlets and if that will have an affect on their appearance in society.
http://www.hrc.org/issues/3466.htm
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I think bringing up therapy is interesting. Personally, I would want to advocate therapy that would help the parents and the child embrace the process of exploring one's sexuality. I think that the movie portrayed therapy as a way of trying to convince Ludo to be a "boy," but I may have interpreted it incorrectly. Just as therapy sessions could help intersex individuals and their parents, I think that therapy sessions could have educated Ludo's parents about Ludo's situation and how they could be supportive in helping Ludo grow up. I also think that when Ludo's father lost his job, it was his own "therapy," or time of self-searching. At this point, Ludo's father was humbled, just the way that society tried to humble Ludo, and Ludo's father identified for once with his son's position and accepted his son's sexuality.
I also think your comments about how our society handles sexuality is interesting. Certainly, the movie portrayed "society" as judging Ludo (in suburbia) and I think despite the advances in acceptance of homosexuality, the progressive views on sexuality that we have studied in class may take a while to be widely accepted by society and not satirized like in "Mrs. Doubtfire."
You know, actually, "Mrs Doubtfire" is not an example of a media portrayal of transgender or transsexual characters. It is a portrayal of a man who is pretending to be a woman (or perhaps more accurately, pretending to be a female nanny), in order to achieve his aim of getting access to his children.
What happens though is sometimes people make an association between characters like Mrs Doubtfire or Tootsie and people who seek to be themselves for no other gain, and often for considerable loss, risk and hurt, than to be just that - themselves.
I guess satire is in the eye of the beholder (or the sub-text of the course material?) but to me Mrs Doubtfire is satirizing, fathers who care desperately for their children, overweight middle-aged Scottish nannies and estranged wives!
Keep up the great posts! Paula
I thought the therapy scenes introduced some interesting concepts. My main point of interest was that it is revealed that Ludo's mother was hoping for a girl when pregnant with Ludo. The extent to which this subconcious desire affected Ludo and his upbringing is not directly addressed after this point and left for the viewer to critique. I do feel that along with his mother's hope for a female, the role of the grandmother and the impact that she had on Ludo was evident. The grandmother was an interesting character that seemed to understand Ludo most. Unlike the mother and father, her stance did not change much. She was very open about Ludo's, deemed abnormal, tendencies. Along with this openness, I think she fostered Ludo's desire to be a girl. Overall, I think that the possibility of the mother's subconcious playing a part in Ludo's gender dissatisfaction is the most intriguing idea portrayed in the film.
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