Abstract

This study is a critique of the social construction of gender through examining its performative nature in terms of filmic representations which deviate from the expected gender norms. Focus groups were conducted on M. Butterfly (1993) and Orlando (1992) which were selected because they are recent examples of films which implicitly critique the social binary of gender. Some of the issues addressed in the course of the research include: the ways in which the "rules" of gender and the gender attribution process shape our interaction with others, the ways in which individuals interpret representations of gender which transgress normative gender and how this connects with social reality, how gender transgressions conflict with the gender attribution process, and how gender can be viewed as performance. The conclusions are formulated in terms of connecting the notion of the performative to both filmic and real life representations of gender, as well as in terms of future work to be done in this area. My principal conclusions are that the fluidity and multiplicity of gender identification are reaching the general public, as evidenced by my focus groups, both through the academic sources and the media; and furthermore that this public finds some sympathy for the rejection of the traditional binary and stereotypical model of gender, and instead look at gender in terms of a continuum.