Bioethics- "Normal" Character Analysis
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.
Seeing through the outward immediate reaction of dysphoria, one could sense in Patti-Ann a poignant curiosity and fear stemming from lack of knowledge; Patti was going through a confusing pubescent experience typical to many teenage girls. Patti claimed that she did not feel comfortable wearing bras, tight clothes, or skirts, and often tried to wear her father's old clothes. Characters that were universal and interesting, and with flaws that I felt were not always common, but proved to be more common than many people think. icted; both she and her father were struggling with particular gender issues in a small, rural, religious and socially conservative town. When Roy and Irma's relationship would crumble into emotional arguments, Patti-Ann often took the side of Roy, partly because she was a contrarian teenager, and also because she was able to relate to Roy's confusion with gender and sexuality. To me, the movie Normal drew its emotional strength and appeal from its realistic, complex and intense cast of well-rounded characters. Patti's father was in a sense acting as a guide for her, going through a growing experience of his own, and Patti attempted to gain knowledge from their solidarity in uncertainty. However, Patti's reaction to her femaleness was not only one of disgust, although that was what disconcerted her mother, a woman who, in the beginning of the film, attempted to gain control of difficult situations through denying the validity of other character's emotions and decisions. At the end of the film however, Patti-Ann seemed to be content with the entire turbulent experience, having grown from her now advanced sexual knowledge; she impresses a host of girls of her age at slumber party by detailing the process of gender reassignment surgery. 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. 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-Ann also admired, looked up to, and was impacted by her brother Wayne, an almost hyper-masculine figure who seemed to also be struggling with issues of gender and maleness, living in his hard-working father's shadow and being a roadie for a macho rock band. 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.
Common topics in this essay:
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Patti-Ann Roy,
Roy Irma's,
attempted gain,
clothes skirts,
beginning film,
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