Boys Don't Cry

The Oscar-winning film Boys Dont Cry provided a mainstream access to transmasculine embodiment in North America, celebrated and rejected. It has become a lightning rod for contemporary debates about the representation of trans lives and deaths on screen, and Morgan Page and Chase Joynt argue that new visibilities of transness on screen require us to re-engage earlier portrayals. They revisit the original contexts of production and distribution to unsettle the overdetermined ways the work has been understood and interpreted, ultimately relocating the film in a way that attends to its violence and values.

Format: Paperback / softback
Publication date: 20 July 2022
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press

Boys Don't Cry, the Oscar-winning film that made history upon its original release, offered North America its first mainstream glimpse into the transmasculine experience, a phenomenon that elicited both celebration and rejection in equal measure. Over two decades since its debut, the film has emerged as a focal point for contemporary discussions surrounding the portrayal of trans lives and deaths on screen.

Since 1999, the landscape of representational possibilities for trans individuals has undergone a seismic shift. Morgan Page and Chase Joynt approach the accumulated tension with a spirit of curiosity about the boundaries of these historical returns. They contend that the emergence of new visibilities of transness on screen necessitates a re-engagement with earlier portrayals, particularly in the case of Boys Don't Cry.

Boys Don't Cry occupies a central position in conversations about casting, violence against gender non-conforming individuals, and the blurred boundaries between butch and trans identities. Recognizing the struggles of a younger generation of queer and trans people who are pushing back against the images imposed upon them, including the film's egregious violence, and the impact it had on an older cohort who found it to be a formative yet complex touchstone, Joynt and Page revisit the original contexts of production and distribution to challenge the overly rigid ways in which the work has been understood and interpreted.

In their exploration, Joynt and Page aim to relocate Boys Don't Cry in a way that pays heed to its violent themes and underlying values, both within the film and in the broader societal context. They seek to complicate the narrative and shed light on the complexities and nuances of the transmasculine experience, challenging viewers to engage with the film on a deeper level and consider its enduring significance in the ongoing dialogue about representation and identity.

Dimension: 203 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780228010821