I found Normal to be compelling, engaging, and educational. I think the entire class enjoyed the movie, and it was definitely beneficial to watch in bioethics class, because an emotional connection to one's argument can be just as if not even more crucial and beneficial to an ethical situation as hard facts or detached analysis.
             Though I felt that all the characters in the film were powerful, complex and memorable, one character in particular that stood out to me was Patti-Ann, the pubescent teenage daughter of Roy, a man with gender dysphoria, and Irma, his confused but supportive wife. Patti-Ann was particularly interesting to me because she demonstrated the theme in the film that there is no such thing as a perfect gender condition, and that most people are, to an extent, confused about the roles that society imposes upon them based on their gender.
             Patti-Ann's character was conflicted; both she and her father were struggling with particular gender issues in a small, rural, religious and socially conservative town. Though Patti-Ann lived and was born as a sexual female, she was a "tomboy" and expressed discomfort when her mother attempted to impose "girlish" behavior, clothing, and general feminine standards upon her. Patti claimed that she did not feel comfortable wearing bras, tight clothes, or skirts, and often tried to wear her father's old clothes. This was ironic and must have been even more confusing to Patti-Ann, because at that time, her father was undergoing his own gender crisis and was getting rid of his old clothes in place of skirts and the type of clothes that Patti felt uncomfortable with. Near the beginning of the film, when Patti got her first period, she expressed disgust, depression and discomfort, a typical reaction for some girls, but one which especially resonated with Patti's character, a biological female who was uncomfortable with her body.
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