Gender Identity In The Film: Tomboy And Laurence Anyways

Tomboy and Laurence Anyways are two films that portray transgender characters and the issues that they face. Tomboy follows a transgender boy named Mikaël who moves to a new neighborhood with their family and Laurence Anyways follows Laurence, a transgender woman as she tells the story of her transition and her relationship with the love of her life, Fred. The two films explore various aspects of Mikaël and Laurence’s lives and how they are affected by their gender identities. The two films communicate the gender identities of the main characters differently. In the film Tomboy, the gender identity of the main character, Mikaël, is revealed slowly. Initially, Mikaël’s sex is kept intentionally ambiguous. As the film progresses, it is gradually revealed. In the beginning, Mikaël is seen having short hair and is usually seen

Although at times it appears that Mikaël is exhibiting behaviour that is often considered more masculine, it is still impossible to definitively tell Mikaël’s gender because there is always a level of doubt. The audience does not receive any kind of hint regarding Mikaël’s gender identity until Mikaël meets a girl from the neighborhood named Lisa. Lisa asks them what their name is and Mikaël hesitates before stating “Mikaël”. Lisa does not have any reason to doubt Mikaël’s response, but the audience realizes that the hesitation may indicate that Mikaël is not their birth name. Later on, during a scene where and their sister Jeanne are taking a bath reveals that Mikaël was assigned female at birth. Mikaël’s story is in contrast to Laurence’s story in Laurence Anyways where Laurence’s gender identity is implied in the opening scene. In the opening scene, a woman is walking confidently throughout town as citizens of the area look on with surprised expressions on their faces. The next scene cuts to a man in his apartment with the words “10 years earlier” at the bottom, alerting the audience