The Dutch Girl Movie Review: The Danish Girl

2512 Words6 Pages

“You’re not your gender. You’re not your sexuality. You are a human being above all else. In the end you aren’t known for your gender, you 're known for who you are.”(Anonymous). Maybe if ideas and people 's mindsets would have been like this in the early 1920’s than Lili Elbe would not have had such a hard time transitioning from a male to female. The Danish Girl tells a story based on the true life of Lili Elbe, a transgendered woman, and her wife Gerda Wegener. Throughout the movie we get to see the turmoil that transgender people felt during this period of time because of things like sexoligists, who misdiagnosed people, mental institutions, and so called “treatments” to help cure the disease of being transgender. This movie also explores …show more content…

In the United states during the 1920’s, or roaring twenties, through the 30’s was a time of vast African American musical and artistical expression. This movement called “The Harlem Renaissance” gave way to new ideas about homosexuality and transgenders. This movement was also, “Marked by the attitude that homosexuality was a personal matter”(Gibson 52). In other words, they thought that being gay, lesbian, or transgender was a personal choice and should not be against the law. Although a lot of attention was being given to gays and lesbians during this time, not much was written about transgenders until later on in …show more content…

Many people will still argue and say that a trans woman should have played the part of Lili and I would agree that the movie would have been better if this were so, but we also have to think about the movie as a whole and how Eddie did a fantastic job depicting the life and journey of Lili Elbe. The director himself said that he thought Eddie had a great feminine side, which is why he chose to cast him in the first place, and while Eddie in not trans, he must have an amount of femininity to him to be able to play this part so well, and I think that is something to consider. All in all, this movie did a fantastic job in recreating the story of Lili and Gerda, and of pulling in a lot of historically accurate things, such as the sexoligists and thier

Show More
Related

  • Some Assembly Required By Ayn Andrews Summary

    587 Words  | 2 Pages

    Andrews begins his narrative by comparing the outlooks upon being transgender to a more normal stance or as his girlfriend (who is bisexual) put it “‘Why can’t you just be gay?’” “‘Why can’t you be normal?’” Being transgender was still a fairly new concept at the time whereas being gay or bisexual was more widely accepted. He affirms the outlook upon being transgender by means of a quote from his current girlfriend “‘Why do you have to mess with this whole transgender thing?’” He

    Read More

  • The Antigay Movement In Vicki L. Eaklor's Queer America

    1579 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Vicki L. Eaklor’s Queer America, the experiences of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people in the years since the 1970s gay liberation movement are described as a time of transformation and growth. The antigay movement, threatened, now more than ever, created numerous challenges and obstacles that are still prevalent today. Many of the important changes made associated with the movement were introduced through queer and queer allied individuals and groups involved in politics. Small victories such as the revision of the anti discrimination statement to include “sexual orientation”, new propositions regarding the Equal Rights Amendment and legalized abortion, were met in turn with growing animosity and resistance from individuals and groups opposed to liberal and

    Read More

  • A Spectacle In Color Summary

    219 Words  | 1 Pages

    “A Spectacle in Color: The Lesbian and Gay Subculture of Jazz Age Harlem” by Eric Garber discusses how the Great Migration to Harlem was not only significant for blacks but for gays and lesbians as well. Garber argues that Harlem’s gay subculture was at its peak in the 1920’s and declined to shell of its previous self after the Stock Market crash in 1929. He goes on to discuss how in black communities, specifically Harlem, there were troubles of segregation, racism, and economic despair, but that being gay in Harlem added new troubles.

    Read More

  • A Critical Review of All Shook Up

    753 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...mosexual culture of the 1950s did everything to help keep their sexual status a secret.Homosexuals were looked at as a disgrace to whatever community he or she lived in. It was not acceptable for a couple of the same sex to be in public displaying affection. In addition, movies and tv shows brought about a lot of sexual wondering. At this time, teenagers were also being very disrespectful toward their parents.

    Read More

  • Siobhan Sommerville's Article: Scientific Racism And The Homosexual Body

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    In nineteenth century, a discourse on homosexuality started to occur; meanwhile, boundaries between black and white became more and more clear. (16) It was the era when the issues that were considered as minority started to appear, and it was also the time when people were reinforcing their ideal “social norms” into the society. It was a dark age for LGBT people, African American people and female. In the article, Scientific Racism and the Homosexual Body, the author, Siobhan Sommerville, makes a strong connection between scientific racism and sexology and women’s bodies. “Although some historians of the scientific discourse on sexuality have included brief acknowledgement of nineteenth century discourses of racial difference in their work,

    Read More

  • Black Female Sexuality in Passing by Deborah E. McDowell

    1191 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Deborah E. McDowell’s essay Black Female Sexuality in Passing, she writes about the sexual repression of women seen in Nella Larsen‘s writings during the Harlem Renaissance, where black women had difficulty expressing their sexuality. In her essay, she writes about topics affecting the sexuality of women such as, religion, marriage, and male dominated societies. In Toni Morrison’s short story, “Recitatif” there are examples of women who struggle to express their sexuality. The people in society judge women based off their appearance, and society holds back women from expressing themselves due to society wanting them to dress/act a certain way. Religion is one point McDowell brings forth in her essay, during the Jazz era she stated that singers such as Bessie Smith, Gertrude Rainey, and Victoria Spivey sung about sexual feelings in their songs.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Last Time I Wore A Dress

    1353 Words  | 3 Pages

    Daphne’s struggles with a perceptive look at how you can’t change what certain things feels right for you. Through out Daphne’s life she was pulled to being a boy. Instead of altering how she felt she learned that this was good for her, and this is how people should see gender identity disorders but people are afraid of the unknown. Daphne’s strength is covering the way to new thinking and understanding of this disorder. The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and along with heterosexual) has come a long way and everyday their effort to notify us on how they want to be treated evenly is allowing them to gain more acceptances. Our society is slowly fluctuating for the better and hopefully one day LGBT won’t have labels.

    Read More

  • Stonewall and the Progress of the LGBTQ Movement

    941 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the 20s, being gay was still not something people spoke about. Many had been

    Read More

  • Lars And The Real Girl Analysis

    1372 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lars and the Real Girl was an independent film about a young man named Lars who lived a quiet stable life until he was struck with such severe mental illness that the whole community rallied to support him on his mission to recovery. Lars was a great example of a man who had suffered from early attachment loss and childhood trauma that manifested into psychological dysfunction.

    Read More

  • Transgender In Pop Culture

    679 Words  | 2 Pages

    The news article I studied is from March 12th 2014 and found in the Fashion and Style section of The New York Times. Its title is “In their Own Terms- the growing transgender presence in Pop culture.” This article outlines the culture surrounding transgender and transgender situations in the United States, whilst following the lives and transformations of some known citizens of pop culture.

    Read More

  • Gender Stereotypes In Mattel's Barbie Doll

    1859 Words  | 4 Pages

    Barbie is tall, thin, has large hips and a large chest; she is beautiful, blonde, and she loves to shop; overall, Barbie is the feminine ideal. As researchers Jacqueline Urla and Alan Swedlund acknowledge, “little girls learn, among other things, about the crucial importance of their appearance to their personal happiness and to their ability to gain in favor with their friends” (1995:281). Gender roles are both centered around behavior as well as around bodies; this poses huge problems for transgender people, as well as explanations for transphobia; society has, for so long, accepted gender and sex to be synonymous. Because of this, a person whose gender is female and whose body is (rhetorically) male is a frightening and concerning deviant to most people’s understanding of the way in which gender exists. Everything that has to do with ideals for bodies leads to problems for transgender people; whether it is, as Urla and Swedlund also commented, that “...woman’s body was understood through the lens of her reproductive functions” (1995:287), or the general idea of “norms” for body proportions. When considering women’s bodies’ main purpose to be that of reproduction, it is apparent why the concept of transgender people may be concerning; transgender women -- that is, people, assigned male at birth but who live as women -- are women whose bodies cannot reproduce in the way that women are expected to; transgender men -- people assigned female at birth but who live as men -- may still have bodies which are viewed as useful mainly for their reproductive capabilities, but which they do not intend to acknowledge or use as such. When things stray so drastically from a norm which has long been accepted with minimal thought, onlookers panic that other norms will start to change as well. Straying from this norm also

    Read More

  • How Sexuality and Faith Are Essential to a Person's Life

    1817 Words  | 4 Pages

    Seidman, Steven, Nancy Fischer , and Chet Meeks. "Transsexual, transgender, and queer." New Sexuality Studies. North Carolina: Routledge, 2011. . Print.

    Read More

  • Discrimination In Paris Is Burning

    2078 Words  | 5 Pages

    Discrimination has always been prominent in mainstream society. Judgments are quickly formed based on one’s race, class, or gender. The idea that an individual’s self-worth is measured by their ethnicity or sexual preference has impacted the lives of many Americans. During the early colonial period, a social hierarchy was established with white landowners at the top and African-American slaves at the bottom. As equality movements have transpired, victims of discrimination have varied. In the late 1980’s when Paris is Burning was filmed, gay rights were still controversial in society. The lack of acceptance in conventional society created hardships in the lives of transgender women and gay men.

    Read More

  • The Stonewall Riots

    1946 Words  | 4 Pages

    Life for most homosexuals during the first half of the Twentieth century was one of hiding, being ever so careful to not give away their true feelings and predilections. Although the 1920s saw a brief moment of openness in American society, that was quickly destroyed with the progress of the Cold War, and by default, that of McCarthyism. The homosexuals of the 50s “felt the heavy weight of medical prejudice, police harassment and church condemnation … [and] were not able to challenge these authorities.” They were constantly battered, both physically and emotionally, by the society that surrounded them. The very mention or rumor of one’s homosexuality could lead to the loss of their family, their livelihood and, in some cases, their lives. Geanne Harwood, interviewed on an National Public Radio Broadcast commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, said that “being gay before Stonewall was a very difficult proposition … we felt that in order to survive we had to try to look and act as rugged and as manly as possibly to get by in a society that was really very much against us.” The age of communist threats, and of Joseph McCarthy’s insistence that homosexuals were treacherous, gave credence to the feeling of most society members that homosexuality was a perversion, and that one inflicted was one to not be trusted.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Speech On Transgender Rights

    1177 Words  | 3 Pages

    Within the recent years, the transgender movement has become more apparent than ever. With television shows like “RuPaul’s Drag Race”, “Keeping It Up With Cait” and “I Am Jazz”, the voices of transgender people are more public than ever. Celebrities like Caitlyn Jenner and Laverene Cox are changing the face of the movement by showing people that it is never too late to be their true selves. American laws acknowledge the rights of transgender people, but not in a positive way. These are just people trying to be their best selves.

    Read More

More about The Dutch Girl Movie Review: The Danish Girl

Open Document