Viewing Of “Boys Don't Cry” At Muhlenberg College

As a part of the series The Ethics and Politics of Identity, Muhlenberg College will hold a viewing of the film “Boys Don’t Cry,” directed by Kimberly Pierce, on November 14 at 7 p.m. in the Recital Hall, Center for the Arts.

 Wednesday, November 9, 2005 01:59 PM

A panel discussion with Tom Cartelli, English, and Beth Schachter, theatre, will follow. This event is free and open to the public.

Pierce’s 1999 film, based on actual events, “Boys Don’t Cry” powerfully recreates the “sexual identity crisis” of Teena Brandon who, for a short time, became Brandon Teena, the popular new guy in a small Nebraska town. Teena sinks into her identity as Brandon as seamlessly as Academy Award winning actor, Hilary Swank, sinks into her double role. As Brandon establishes a mutually-satisfying sexual relationship with hometown beauty, Lana (Chloe Sevigny), many of our stereotypical ideas about what is or what is not “same-sex” desire begin to become provocatively unraveled. Their romance does not last long, however, and the last, graphically brutal section of the film is not for the faint of heart.

The Ethics and Politics of Identity is a year long series of programs, sponsored by the Muhlenberg College Center for Ethics , about the ethical challenges that surround the changing categories of social, national, and global identities.