[Lee Jong-gil's Movie Reading] Male? Female? I am Me!

Director C?line Sciamma's 'Tomboy'

On the way to move. Ten-year-old girl Lore (Jo Heo-ran) sticks her head out through the sunroof of a car. She closes her eyes and raises her right hand to feel the refreshing breeze from the street trees. She seems to be enjoying freedom, but her expression is not very bright. When the sunlight falls on her face, she frowns. The father driving senses her discomfort, sits her on his lap, and even lets her hold the steering wheel. "Turn left?" "No, to the right. Turn the wheel slightly. That's right, good job." Only then does a smile bloom on Lore’s face. She momentarily forgets her worries and fears.

The film Tomboy delicately expresses Lore’s complex emotions from the beginning. She was born with a female body but behaves as a male. She introduces herself as Mikael to her new friend Lisa (Jin Dyson). Lisa and her friends believe she is male because of her short hair and excellent soccer skills. However, the lie does not last long, and Lore is soon forced to conform to femininity. Director C?line Sciamma concretizes the issues through four themes or settings: the novel The Jungle Book, a soccer ball, nature, and pregnancy.

Strict Discipline

Lore reads a novel to her younger sister Jeanne (Marlon Levana). It is The Jungle Book by British novelist Rudyard Kipling (1865?1936). "Suddenly a groan was heard, and in the jungle came this sound: 'Dooby dooby dooby.' Mowgli stared wide-eyed with his mouth wide open. A huge, shaggy bear appeared. The bear looked at Mowgli with brown eyes." The bear’s name is Baloo. He is Mowgli’s friend and teacher. He teaches how to distinguish rotten branches from sturdy ones and how to politely speak to bees when approaching a beehive.

Director Sciamma reflects the perspective of the animals who first encounter Mowgli onto the children. Lisa is like Baloo. She takes Lore into the forest and introduces her to friends. She also teaches how to enjoy playing together happily. The children who were wary of Lore gradually open their hearts. However, when they learn that Lore is female, they show violence. Competition and punishment come before acceptance and understanding. In the animal world of The Jungle Book, strict discipline also operates. No matter how much of a leader one is, if they lose their prey, they cannot survive long. Even if they survive, they are called a ‘finished wolf.’

A Male Domain

Lore is quite good at soccer. With light footwork, she captures the children’s attention and becomes the main player with a splendid goal. Popular sports like soccer, rugby, and boxing were long considered male domains. In fact, women’s teams in soccer and rugby were only established in the mid-1980s. At school, girls only played tennis, netball, or lacrosse. Physical contact or using the body in such ways was not allowed.

British anthropologist Judith Okely wrote in her book Own or Other Culture, "Women absolutely should not kick the ball because they should not kick men." She continued, "Women raising their legs or kicking were metaphorically exposing their genitals within the dominant male ideology. When there was no target, such movements institutionalized like a can-can dance that excites the mood."

The difference in sports between men and women connects to different physical experiences. In Lore’s case, she even knocks down boys of similar build. She frees herself from bodily restrictions.

Sex and Gender

The main setting of Tomboy is a green forest. Lore experiences all kinds of emotions in the forest. The final one is sadness. She throws off the blue dress her mother (Sophie Cattani) forced her to wear. This act rejects the natural, that is, the biological distinction of male and female sex. It could also be the starting point for advocating gender in the sociological sense.

French writer and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir (1908?1986) argued in her book The Second Sex that women are made. "One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman. No biological, physiological, or economic destiny determines the human being’s appearance in society. It is civilization as a whole that created the creative indeterminate called woman between the castrated human and man."

The dualistic social attributes of femininity and masculinity stem from Western Enlightenment thought. Specific biological traits of women such as menstruation, childbirth, and breastfeeding were accepted as the root of gender differences and inferiority. Considered natural, these traits made it difficult for women to escape the trap of the body.

The Changing Body

Lore’s mother is pregnant. Therefore, she seems somewhat indifferent to her daughter’s changes. In fact, no family understands Lore better than her mother. This is because she is experiencing bodily changes due to pregnancy. Pregnancy makes the body a space for another being and also one’s own. It even breaks the continuity of the body accustomed to habits. A typical example is when one tries to sit on a chair as usual but feels bodily restrictions.

Lore’s mother recognizes her daughter’s pain. Yet she also hurts her daughter. When Lore hits a boy, she forces her to apologize by revealing that she is a girl. The mother, undergoing bodily changes, understands how extremely uncomfortable her daughter’s life can become. However, all physical changes have a dual nature. Even pregnancy can be a burden but also a joy. Which way it leans is Lore’s responsibility as she passes through puberty and institutional frameworks.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.