Ma Vie En Rose Film Analysis

In Ma Vie En Rose Ludovic is one of the four children of Pierre and Hanna Fabre who was assigned male at birth but wishes to be a girl. Ludovic 's first appearance in the movie is of her showing up to a block party with a dress and makeup on. Ludovic is rushed inside by her parents and changed into "normal" clothes, clothes boys are expected to wear. Ludovic 's parents, and the guests, were taken aback by Ludovic 's entrance and her parents tried to play their clothing choice off as a joke. This is just the start of Ludovic attempts to express her gender. Ludovic also brings dolls to class for show and tell, states that she will marry a boy in her class, wears dresses, and relates to the woman character in a popular kids television show. Ludovic

After some time though Ludovic 's insistence in being a girl breaks the family down and they turn against Ludovic as well. Without any social institution to comfort her Ludovic becomes emotionally distressed. West and Zimmerman discuss the importance of upholding social institutions by doing gender properly and state, "if we do gender appropriately, we simultaneously sustain, reproduce, and render legitimate the institutional arrangements that are based on sex category. If we fail to do gender appropriately, we as individuals-not the institutional arrangements-may be called to account" (9). When Ludovic stopped doing gender correctly his family did not consider why it was not ok for Ludovic to be a girl and wear dresses but rather became frustrated with Ludovic and her perceived irrational obsession with being a girl. When Ludovic 's family questioned her rather than the social structure of gender they reinforced the social structure of gender. The consequence for Ludovic in this situation is that she cannot comfortably express her gender. Ludovic 's family felt as though they needed to fit in with the rest of the neighborhood. As Walker discussed in his article "The Death of David Reimer" he discusses how parents are pressured to conform to societal gender norms. When David Reimer suffered a botched circumcision as a baby his parents were persuaded to

Homosexual slurs are commonly used as ways to call someone’s masculinity into question. While Ludovic was not trying to be masculine, seeing as she wishes to express herself in a feminine manner, it was a blow to the family. In Pascoe 's "Dude, You 're a Fag,” she observes high school boys and their usage of the word 'fag. ' Pascoe finds that the word 'fag ' is used primarily as a temporary questioning of one 's masculinity. Pascoe states, "to be a fag is, by definition, the opposite of masculine, whether or not the word is deployed with sexualized or non-sexualized meanings" (92). In Ludovic 's case whoever spray-painted her house is pointing out Ludovic 's lack of masculinity desire to be feminine and doing so in a negative way. Ludovic 's family reacts negatively to the graffiti and displaces their anger onto