In recent years society has been challenged about the binary construction of gender identity and sexuality. The raise of the LGBTI community and the increase of media representation have helped to start the dialogue about the third gender – a taboo subject. The movie XXY is an example of film about intersex people. It was brought to the public eye in 2007 by the debutant film producer and novelist Lucía Puenzo. The plot of the movie was the recreation of one of her husband’s - Sergio Bizzio - short story titled Cinismo. The film tells the conflicted life of an intersex person, Alex, who is raised as a girl but with an ambiguous body – hermaphrodite.
Puenzo felt in love of the story from the moment she first read it. She was “especially interested …show more content…
She is in her teen years trying to be in harmony with her ambiguous body and to discover her own sexuality. All of this while fighting the authority of her parents over her body. Even though it is not clear that they want to “fix” her body with a surgery, Alex’s mother does want a doctor’s point of view. Alex character is fascinating because besides of being born intersex, she displays both feminine and masculine traits. Her visual image is ambiguous; she wears tank tops, loose shorts, and hoodies which will not be considered feminine but maybe more masculine. Alex has been taught to keep her condition a secret; which made her shy. She is the weird lonely kid who wanders by the beach, is not afraid to pick a fight, and pees standing. During the love scene with Alvaro, Alex is the one in control, the one penetrating Alvaro. However, Alex cries after Alvaro flees the scene because Alex’s dad saw them and this leaves her vulnerable. Alex gets very sensitive about not being desired because of her ambiguous …show more content…
It appears that the mother wanted to have girls and that gives a hint on why they decided to raise Alex as one. However, during the timeline of the movie, Alex is fifteen and has stopped taking “the hormones that would suppress fully developed primary and secondary male sex characteristics” (Foster 177). Her mom is worried; therefore, she calls a friend (Erika) whose husband (Ramiro) is a surgeon and specializes in fixing/removing “deformities.” Ramiro is fascinated by Alex’s case and decides to go there with his wife and their teenage boy, Alvaro. Both Kraken and Ramiro display a very masculine identity. Kraken tries to protect his family the best he can; at one point he hits Ramiro for insisting that surgery is the best option. He also threatens a friend of the family and some high school kids for treating his daughter as a freak. However, he does show a softer side when he realizes that Alex is unhappy. After talking to another intersex person, he realizes that he has to let Alex decide what is best for her. On the other hand, Ramiro is this “authoritarian [icon] of masculinity” who thinks he is always right and that things should be done his way (Foster 178). In one scene, he encourages his son to drink wine, because he is now a man and that is what men should do. He also talks to his son about how disappointed is on him and his concerns of
Puenzo felt in love of the story from the moment she first read it. She was “especially interested …show more content…
She is in her teen years trying to be in harmony with her ambiguous body and to discover her own sexuality. All of this while fighting the authority of her parents over her body. Even though it is not clear that they want to “fix” her body with a surgery, Alex’s mother does want a doctor’s point of view. Alex character is fascinating because besides of being born intersex, she displays both feminine and masculine traits. Her visual image is ambiguous; she wears tank tops, loose shorts, and hoodies which will not be considered feminine but maybe more masculine. Alex has been taught to keep her condition a secret; which made her shy. She is the weird lonely kid who wanders by the beach, is not afraid to pick a fight, and pees standing. During the love scene with Alvaro, Alex is the one in control, the one penetrating Alvaro. However, Alex cries after Alvaro flees the scene because Alex’s dad saw them and this leaves her vulnerable. Alex gets very sensitive about not being desired because of her ambiguous …show more content…
It appears that the mother wanted to have girls and that gives a hint on why they decided to raise Alex as one. However, during the timeline of the movie, Alex is fifteen and has stopped taking “the hormones that would suppress fully developed primary and secondary male sex characteristics” (Foster 177). Her mom is worried; therefore, she calls a friend (Erika) whose husband (Ramiro) is a surgeon and specializes in fixing/removing “deformities.” Ramiro is fascinated by Alex’s case and decides to go there with his wife and their teenage boy, Alvaro. Both Kraken and Ramiro display a very masculine identity. Kraken tries to protect his family the best he can; at one point he hits Ramiro for insisting that surgery is the best option. He also threatens a friend of the family and some high school kids for treating his daughter as a freak. However, he does show a softer side when he realizes that Alex is unhappy. After talking to another intersex person, he realizes that he has to let Alex decide what is best for her. On the other hand, Ramiro is this “authoritarian [icon] of masculinity” who thinks he is always right and that things should be done his way (Foster 178). In one scene, he encourages his son to drink wine, because he is now a man and that is what men should do. He also talks to his son about how disappointed is on him and his concerns of