Written and directed by MEF Executive Director Sut Jhally, The Codes of Gender applies the late sociologist Erving Goffman’s groundbreaking analysis of advertising to the contemporary commercial landscape, showing how one of American popular culture’s most influential forms communicates normative ideas about masculinity and femininity.
Imagine it, a situation worthy of Franz Kafka and his famous Metamorphosis, one day, you wake up as someone of the opposite gender. The emotions that run through you, horror, grief for the loss of a major part of your identity, shock, and most importantly, alienation in a place that you should be most comfortable in; your own body. Now imagine that you were born this way, a mind of one gender, trapped in the body of the opposite. The alienation following you from your crib, the fear of questioning who you are and who you were meant to be plaguing all of your social relationships and your confidence in yourself. This is the experience of someone who is transgender. A Metamorphosis that most don’t understand or fear because of social stigma and cynicism.
"I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other."
