Cross-Dressing in the Movies

Date of Award

2010

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Hassold, Cris

Keywords

Cross-Dressing, Transvestite, Drag, Queer, Gender, Film, Cinema, Hollywood, Feminism, Feminist Analysis, Narrative, Progress Narrative, Misogyny, Homophobia, Disney

Area of Concentration

Humanities

Abstract

This thesis is a feminist analysis of the progress narrative, a genre of mainstream movie that features crossdressing, such as Some Like it Hot (1959), Tootsie (1982), and Victor/Victoria (1982). I define the convention and how it is presented as feminist. I then explore this feminist potential through active reading.. I then critique the progress narrative movie and describe its weaknesses as a supposedly progressive genre. I describe how the movies pander to mainstream standards of social acceptability and thus undermine the very transgression that makes the films appealing. I come to the conclusion that, ultimately, progress narrative movies reinforce traditional ideas of normativity despite their feminist potential.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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