! SS Texts both inform us of the social identities available to us, and them; both police our social selves and subvert them. !” Both texts, The Crying Game by Neil Jordan and Loaded by Christos Tsiolkas, use characters within the discourse to project social identities that have been due to social constraints. Throughout this essay, I will focus on sexuality, as this type of social identity has been depicted as a central theme in both texts. The characters from the texts work to, police and subvert their own sexual identities within their social milieu. ! S STo claim an identity as a homosexual is to claim a place in a system of social regulation!” (Connell & Dowsett, 1992). I would firstly like to establish the fact that homosexuality, in its most general sense, has been argued to have been socially constructed, therefore sexuality, in this case homosexuality, has to be considered a form of social identity.
I support this with Freud! |s theory that sexuality is a result of social processes whether it be within the family, cultural, class etc. , all such processes assist in forming a particular , ! SS sexualities are not received as a package! K. is arrived at by a highly variable and observable process of construction, not by an! yen unfolding! | of the natural; and that social process is deeply implicated into this construction. !” (Connell & Dowsett, 1992). The Crying Game and Loaded, exhibit sexual identities yet in different ways.
! SS Liberal Humanism!” was concerned with universal humanism which tended to homogenize various types of gays and lesbians. It was! SS Identity Politics!” , which was bench-marked in western countries throughout the 1960! |s, that appealed to Liberal Humanism and saw that everybody had a right to express themselves and their identities. It was this recognition that distinguished identities within the! SS homosexual identity!” . The increase of sexual personae, diversified drag queens, dykes, macho gays, and from The Crying Game, transvestites.
Throughout the novel Loaded, These diversities of homosexual identities were captured. The central character, Ari, repeatedly makes the distinction between these identities and refuses to be homogenized into such a broad identity, ! SSI hate the word gay. I hate the word homosexual. !” Ari would be defined as a man that has preference for men, sexually. He recognises the fact that he is gay yet to an outsider, or his family, he can hide his sexual identity complying with the social! SS norm!” , heterosexuality. Ari states that his attraction is towards real men and masculinity, ! SS Every time I look at a gay man, even if I think he! |s attractive, I can! |t forget he! |s a faggot.
I get off on real men, masculinity!” . In contrast, the character of Dil in The Crying Game, was portrayed as a transvestite. Dil is a man that functions in society as a woman. To encourage Dil! |s sexual identity as female, the film failed to reveal Dil as a transvestite until the latter half of the film, and lead the audience to believe the she was a woman. Sexual identities have been due to social constraints. Deconstructionist theories have given motive as to why such sexual identities have been seen as! SS problematic!” in society.
This theory governs the fact that heterosexuality is what is considered the social norm and any identities varying from this norm would be considered abnormal thus experiencing unjustness. Foucault debates that, ! SSt he social bases of concepts of normality and deviance, to the pervasiveness of social control, and to the role of professions such as medicine in sustaining control over! yen deviants! |. !” This is exemplified by Fury & Mansfield by stating that in society we generalize, in a text, a character! |s sexuality as heterosexual and if not, we would expect that this would become apparent in the narrative. (Cultural Studies and the New Humanities, 1998). This was not the case in the film The Crying Game. As previously discussed, the character of Dil lead the audience to believe that her character was female until the second half of the film.
When Dil revealed that she was biologically a man to her partner Fergus, her sexual identity became problematic, ! SSI can! |t help what I am!” . It was at this point where Dil realised that Fergus was unaware of her biological identity which she found s uprising due to the fact that she socialized amongst others with similar sexual identities at a gay bar. Ari! |s sexual identity in Loaded was also seen as problematic within his friendship circle. Despite the fact that Ari! |s close friend Joe accepts him as gay, Ari! |s sexual identity is seen to be avoided in the friendship, ! She! |s scared I! |m going to introduce Dina to faggot joints in the inner city and open her mind. !” Throughout the book, Ari makes the distinction that Joe is ashamed of his sexuality. He does this by continuously mentioning that he relents from talking about boys and gay bars whilst in Joe! |s company, ! SSI don! |t saying anything to Joe, he gets uncomfortable when I talk about boys.
!” Ethnicity, class and education are some of the concepts that contribute to the policing of social constraints put upon sexual identities. Ari, in the book Loaded, polices and allows for social controls to affect his sexual identity. Ari! |s milieu consists of traditional Greek orthodoxies from his family and friends. Although he has revealed his true sexual identity to his friends, Ari has failed to reveal this truth to his family.
He admits to Serena that he is not trying to protect his family from the neighbourhood gossip, however, he is protecting himself, ! SSI! |m protecting myself. Mum and Dad are adults. They can protect themselves. !” It is from this that it becomes apparent that by falsifying his own sexuality around his family, he is complying with the social controls that claim his sexual identity as abnormal. In the same way, Dil, in The Crying Game, policed social controls over her sexual identity. Dil passes through life as a woman.
When her character was first introduced to the cameras, Dil was shown to be involved with a man named Dave. Throughout history, it has been socially recognised that women are the weaker gender and many woman let this come into play in their sexual relationships. Dil! |s relationship with Dave greatly exemplified women’s inferiority to men. This was shown when both Dil and Dave left the pub and he was physically abusing her. Feminists have largely appealed against this type of behaviour which has proven to be socially acknowledged and, to some people, comply with the social.