1.5 ~ Documentary of the Week

"Gender Rebel" (2006)

From Netflix: "Director Elaine Epstein's captivating documentary explores the lives of three biological females who reject the conventional concepts of gender and see themselves not as female or male, but something in between. The camera follows these individuals as they encounter challenges at every turn -- from the strain on their relationships to confrontations from communities intolerant of their way of life -- and find a way to cope with social alienation."

It's only 45 minutes long, so that's kinda cool. The cinematography is very "MTV True Life"...which is fine, I guess. I suppose they did that to give it as much of a "documentary" type feel as they could.

This movie features 3 people, all of which consider themselves "genderqueer", meaning that they feel both male and female, and sometimes they feel like neither. These people are anatomically female, though they do not identify as such. The way I explained it to my sister is that while a hermaphrodite has both male and female parts to an extent, they might identify as a man that happens to also have a vagina, or a female that also has a penis. This is the same, but opposite. Physically, they are one sex, but they are "mentally hemaphroditic" (<-- not a word, I know)...they feel they are both genders.

Another question my sister brought up while watching this with me is that the subjects of the film should have surgery to become male if they do not feel female. One of the subjects made it pretty clear that because she feels neither male nor female, she would feel just as trapped in an all male body as she feels in an all female body, so why chance an operation for no reason? Another subject actually goes and gets surgery, so obviously the choice of whether or not to physically alter their bodies to fit their mentalities is a matter of personal choice and not necessarily priority for everyone.

The first story involves a person that is struggling with telling her mother about the fact that she is genderqueer and that she is binding her breasts to make herself look more male. The second story revolves around a couple that to the naked eye is comprised of 2 lesbian females, though because they are both genderqueer, neither considers themselves females or lesbians. The last story is about a biological woman that has her breasts surgically removed to "make her outside look like she feels inside."

I thought the last story was the most interesting. Kim, who later changes her name to Ryan after having her breasts removed and starting testosterone treatments, starts to have problems in his relationship. These problems stem from the fact that before the surgery, they were in a lesbian relationship, but now that Kim is Ryan, his girlfriend Michelle feels like she's losing her identity within the lesbian community because she is now effectively dating a male. I thought this was interesting because these people's experiences show the gravity of choices made and how doing something that fulfills you can adversely affect someone else. Obviously situations like this happen all the time, where making yourself happy somehow ruins or otherwise changes someone else's situation, but seeing it in such an extreme was intense.

I've always been very interested in sex and gender psychology, and this documentary is Kinsey's scale in full effect. Great documentary, short enough to never drag, and if LGBT issues or psychology are topics of interest for you, you should check this one out.

1.4 ~ They're Here!

Oh, man. The first two movies have arrived, and I'm not scheduled to start until next week!

I guess I'll have to keep myself busy streaming documentaries on the Netflix website...which I've been doing a lot in the past few days. Should I maybe write about other movies I've seen outside the list as well?

I think not. It wouldn't fit in with the blogs "motif" of the project. If anything, I'll write about it on my personal blog.

Ok, so off to "documentary" I go...

-D

1.3 ~ A Look Forward...

I'm bored at work, and what better reason is there, really, to make a list of the first few movies on my list?

Week 1 (August 31 - September 6) : Introduction (a.k.a. giving Netflix time to arrive)

Week 2 (September 7 - September 13) : 12 Angry Men, 2001: A Space Odyssey

Week 3 (September 14 - September 20) : Akira, Aliens

Week 4 (September 21 - September 27) : Amadeus, American Beauty

Week 5 (September 28 - October 4) : Amistad, Apocalypse Now


Thoughts? Opinions? No spoilers, please! I've only seen American Beauty from this whole month's worth of films...

1.2 ~ in addition...

I feel I should note that of the 101 movies on this list, I have only seen 21 in their entirety. I should also note that several of these movies are movies that I had told myself I would never put myself through because I understand them to be too intense, violent, scary, whathaveyou.

Now, I shall put all my bullshit aside and I WILL watch these movies, if only to be able to say I did!

:scene:

1.1 ~ Week 1: Inception

Yesterday, I was bored. When I am bored, I hatch hare-brained schemes that hardly ever reach fruition because I bore myself before I'm halfway done. But in any case, here I am again, on a quest to enrich my being while fundamentally wasting time.

Who am I, you ask? My name is Desiree, and I am a great many things. I am a wife, an insurance agent, a freelance photographer, a Miami-an born and raised, and apparently I am deprived. My husband constantly is shocked at how though I can tell you about some pretty obscure films, there are many basic movies that no person should live without seeing that I have unknowingly missed.

Who's never seen "The Godfather"? Me.

"Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom"? Nope.

"Star Wars", for Christ's Sake?!

Not me.



Who'da thunk these were so important? Well, apparently LOTS of people.

So, in order to bring myself up to speed and maybe learn something about the world around me and what makes it tick, I have armed myself with this nifty list of "101 movies everyone should see", a brand new netflix membership, and this blog.

My goal is to spend the next year (that's 52 weeks, including this one) watching movies, writing about them and reflecting on why they were important to me, IF they were important to me, and why I gather the world finds them so important that they made a LIST!

So, off I go. Next time you hear from me, I'll be reviewing the first movie on my list, 12 Angry Men.

-D