Talk:Tomboy (2011 film)

Some remarks

It seems to me pretty clear in the film that the titular character, Laure, is not a boy nor has any biological features pertaining to the masculine gender. Consequently I wouldn't use the term "transgender" in order to describe her - let alone the pronouns "he, him" as in the plot summary. If by using "transgender" one wishes to indicate the sexual identity ambiguities displayed by Laure, there is probably a better term for this in English (I am not a native speaker). In my opinion, the movie in no ways adopts a strong stance on the problem whether there can be people "assigned" to a definite gender (as opposed to the "real", i.e. felt, gender). It is far more nuanced than this. Laure's character is not shown to be definitely a boy in a girl's guise : she is first mistaken to be a boy by Lisa and then goes on playing with that ambiguity. It is not shown whether she previously had the idea to pass as a boy or will continue to have it even after the truth is revealed. The film certainly makes a point in showing how social roles reserved to boys and girls rely on stereotypes and non-objective data, but the again it does not seem to me to demonstrate that Laure is really a boy. If one wishes to defend such an interpretation, one should at the very least present it as such. If not, this strongly biases the plot summary. E.g. when it reads : "A bath scene in the film reveals that Mikäel has a vagina, and a following scene confirms that Mikäel was assigned female at birth as his mom addresses him and his sister as "girls."", the most obvious interpretation, I feel, is that because Laure is a girl, she quite logically has a vagina, and is addressed as a girl by her mother just because she is one. Now this might seem "gender-unfriendly" or normative or whatever but the movie supports this reading just as much (if not more) than the other; and saying that Laure is in fact only Mickäel and a boy is just as normative: why couldn't she be both? She is depicted receiving (feminine) makeup and accepting it, if not liking it, which certainly suggests she hasn't completely given up on her girl identity.

As a detail, the name of the boy identity should be consistently spelled "Mickäel", just as it is written in the rolling credits. 129.199.151.78 (talk) 13:07, 25 April 2015 (UTC)

Yes, this is clear. I'm in agreement. This summary reads as massively influenced by mainstream narratives of gender, and is a poor representation of the film. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 23.28.216.39 (talk) 20:10, 17 December 2015 (UTC)

Deleted scenes

• Extended ending (Lauré's mother finding Lauré in the woods) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 181.222.93.115 (talk) 17:40, 17 March 2017 (UTC)

Hate

This film features hate scenes. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 177.194.188.32 (talk) 22:54, 6 May 2017 (UTC)

Laure's mother starting to hate her daughter. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 179.223.244.9 (talk) 03:25, 28 June 2017 (UTC)

Pronouns

The article currently uses she/her pronouns for Mikäel/Laure, but I'm not sure that is the best choice. Although the majority of sources do this, there is a significant minority that don't:

1. This post from Penn State's Lesbian and Gay Studies site says: Tomboy is an artistic and heartfelt film about Mikael, a transgender boy, and his summer experience exploring his gender identity in his new community.
2. The book Directory of World Cinema: France calls the protagonist Laure/Michaël and says the movie revels in her/his moment-boy-moment emancipations.
3. An IndieWire piece mostly uses male pronouns – Mikäel is highly invested in his male identity – but also the singular they: The 10-year-old child is ambiguously gendered and there is no mention of their gender until....
4. A BBC piece uses male pronouns: Ten year old Mickäel and his family move to a new neighborhood in Paris.
5. The book French and Spanish Queer Film uses her/his.
6. In the academic paper Boys Don't Cry and Tomboy: A Comparative Analysis the author says that the paper will refer to the protagonists of both films by the feminine pronoun, 'she' whenever they are dressed as females, and by the masculine pronoun, 'he' when they dress as males.
7. The blog Much Ado About Cinema uses they/them pronouns.
8. The blog Bitch Flicks avoids pronouns.
9. The director herself indicates that the protagonist's gender identity is ambiguous (although, admittedly, the director does use female pronouns for the character):

AE: Obviously there is a question of if Mikael is trans-identified, a lesbian, etc. but how did you see the character from the beginning?

CS: I wanted to keep all the hypotheses open when I was building the character. Not to avoid answers, but to make it more complex and accurate. That's what interested me in setting that story in childhood. It's a time where everybody pretends to be someone else for an afternoon, everyone makes up stories about themselves. I made it with several layers, so that a transexual person can say "that was my childhood" and so that an heterosexual woman can also say it. The movie creates bond. That's something I'm proud of.

I feel that the article should avoid taking a side here, and should mostly avoid pronouns, and use the singular they when avoiding pronouns would be awkward. WanderingWanda (talk) 03:30, 27 July 2019 (UTC)

From the 9 linked sources, 1 is academic, 3 are neutral and 5 are gender-related. So not all sources are neutral to this topic. --Angerdan (talk) 13:11, 9 July 2023 (UTC)

I'll add: I felt less sure about what to do about the protagonist's name than with their pronouns. Ultimately, I decided to go back and forth between "Laure" and "Mikäel" in the plot summary, depending on the context of the scene (for example, using "Laure" when they're with their mother and "Mikäel" when with friends.) I think this works pretty well. I did consider going with something like "the protagonist", but thought that might be awkward. WanderingWanda (talk) 18:10, 6 August 2019 (UTC)

Maybe it would be a better idea to use singular they to refer to Laure/Mickael. Wikijules29 (talk) 20:43, 29 January 2022 (UTC)

Using the corresponding names without pronouns seems a neutral solution. --Angerdan (talk) 13:11, 9 July 2023 (UTC)

Racism Content

This film includes negative representations and/or inappropriate mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and they are wrong now. Rather than removing this content, we want to recognize its harmful impact, learn from it, and initiate conversations to create a more inclusive future together.