Gender as Performance - Judith Butler!

Tomboy (2011)

The film Tomboy, directed by Céline Sciamma, made in 2011, is a strong example of Judith Bulter’s idea of gender performativity. It follows a 10 year old girl, named Laure, who moves to a new neighborhood and decided to present herself as “Mickaël,” a boy. As the film continues, the story shows that gender isn’t fixed, instead it’s something people perform through how they act, dress, and talk. Once Laure starts wearing boyish clothes, cuts her hair, and playing soccer with other boys, the everyone around her begins accepting her as “male”. Nothing about her physically changes, it’s all about performance, which reflects Butler’s belief that gender is created through repeated social behaviors.

The film also looks at heteronormativity, which is where society expects people to fit either in the female or male roles. When Laure’s mother finds out the truth, she forces her daughter to wear dresses again and “act like a girl.” This shows compulsive heterosexuality, meaning society pressures people to behave in ways they that support traditional gender and relationship norms.

By showing how Laure feels more comfortable as Mickael, the film creates gender trouble and challenges the idea that gender has to match people’s biology. Tomboy questions why being yourself outside the binary causes such discomfort for others.

Overall, this film demonstrates Butler’s theory by showing that gender is not something natural, it’s learnt and enforced on others. By using Laure/Mickael, it reveals to the audience and other fi how fragile and constructed gender identity really is.