Deconstructing Binary Gender norms
All about my mother develops as a story about a little boy aiming to achieve his goal of being a writer under the guidance of her Mother. The little boy with writing passion in the movie is Esteban. His mother having separated from his father eighteen years before the development of the plot, Esteban has never seen or met his father. The young boy (Esteban) is intelligent and enjoys a close relationship with the mother who is also the main character in the movie (Manuela). In the development of the plot, the director of the movie scores highly in relation to the quality arrangement of events. Manuela and Esteban attend a crucial performance that turns out to be vital for the development of the plot. Desire featured Huma Rojo as the main actress during the performance. According to Manuela, she used to be an actress in the early days, in the pursuit of education.
The director of the movie presents the views or events within the play through the perspective of Esteban. The viewers identify with the sensitivity of Esteban and the yearning and desire to create or achieve something within the society. Huma appears as the role model to Esteban. This is illustration of Huma as a distance muse thus an objection to inspire and develop complex desire towards the achievement of goals and objectives within the society. In the earlier development of the plot, Esteban receives a gift of Truman Capote in the form of music. This occurs in his seventeenth birthday. Esteban reflects the views of the tow crucial women in the development of the play though the desire to create a masculine figure within the society. Unlike Huma who focuses on the creation of a creator, Esteban has the desire to develop characters through writing techniques.
Despite these valuable dreams and prominent future of the young Esteban, Almodovar develops another crucial turn to the direction of the play. This occurs after the performance by Huma in relation to desire. Since Esteban had immense respect to Huma in relation to her views and character, he decides to chase after her following the performance in order to gain her attention and receive her autographs. In the process of seeking attention and autograph from his role model, Esteban loses his life after being hit with a car at the intersection. This reflects the dreams that were short lived by the promising young man within the development of the plot. The death of Esteban illustrates the shift and transformation of the narrative.
This is through the expressive essence of camera movements and the point-of-view shots during the accident. From this point, the movie, all about my mother, shifts the focus to Manuela (Esteban’s mother). This is through the onset of the journey towards locating Esteban’s father. This follows the essence of locating last scripts written by Esteban on the need and motive to meet his father no matter how ill he treated his mother. In the search for Esteban’s father, Manuela meets several women. These series of women included, ironically, the man she was looking for as Esteban’s father. Esteban’s father (transgender), known as Lola, forms a close relationship. The film develops around the women, relationships, and community in relation to the development of the plot. This is through examination of the biological aspect of being a woman and the issue of femininity.
The characters in the film “All About my mother” directed by Pedro Almodóvar are examples of deconstructed binary gender role in relation to their point of views and presentation towards the development of the plot. One of the most aspects of the deconstruction of norms and roles by the characters in the film is through the radical shift in the point of attention to focus on women and their relationships or relevant activities within the community. This follows the radical shift from Esteban following his death thus the ability of the plot to focus on Manuela and other women in film. Through this shift, the director scores through the achievement of the objective thus delivering a noticeable rapture (Santiago et al p. 152).
The director shifts the viewpoint of the viewers aligned to the male protagonists up to the point of his death. In all about mu mother, the shift is notable since the plot now focuses on Manuela (woman) as the mother thus the promotion of motherhood theme throughout the film. In most societies, women or mother are associated with the mere aspect of nurturing of their children. This is especially related to the male children who are most nurtured by male individuals within the society. The focus of the movie is on the women thus the act of being a woman (Santiago et al p. 154). The characters developed by Almodovar in the film portray the traits that are innate to women thus the deconstruction of binary gender roles. They are not only admired because they are women but because of the innate traits that are normally associated with women within the community. This is through the way these women (transgender) performs their femininity, projecting gestures that are complex, intensity in relation to emotions, and expressive poses with reference to the world that is unique and different form the masculine norms or gender roles.
The film focuses on the expression of feminism within the society thus the performance of femininity. Huma is an actress and later as the plot develops Manuela becomes her under study. Two of the female characters were born as male members of the society, but adopted transgender to portray the theme of deconstruction of the binary roles and norms.
The key expression of gender in the development of the film reflects on the character Agrado, a transgender woman. Agrado is also a prostitute who develops the plot through befriending Manuela as she seeks to locate Lola (Esteban’s father). In relation to this issue of gender, Agrado offers a crucial speech that reflects on the themes of the film when addressing the number of surgeries she has encountered to adopt the woman aspect. She has the ability and the courage to air the view of most individuals who undergo similar situation to become women thus representing their dream. She has the courage to command large audience, which is common with the male biological aspects within the society (Santiago et al p. 153).
Despite the fact that it is difficult to ignore the aspect of profanity in her speech, Agrado and her developed philosophy demonstrates saint in relation to compassion. In various means, Agrado is the central figure of the film in demonstration of femininity. This is evident in the aspect of the speech thus an opportunity to address various conventional issues and values such as transgender. The value or issue of transgender is vital in the determination of the importance of surface appearance of human beings within the society. The expression of Agrado in relation to speech demonstrates confidence in her state. This relates to her exterior, interior, surface of her being, and the generally identity from the new state following surgeries to attain the woman state. She is certain of who she is in the film thus the ability to enjoy an increase in the level of confidence. Individuals are usually hesitant in relation to who they are thus falling short of confidence in the demonstration of their being or inner identity (Santiago et al p. 154).
The film though the choice of character seeks to illustrate the reveling of transgender over the physical character or body aspect. This is through making transgender the focal point of the movie to evaluate the conventional issues surrounding the binary gender roles within the society. The director seeks to express the essence that surface rather than being about the physical beauty, offers the opportunity for the expression of emotions, interaction or connection with other, and valuation of inter-subjectivity. Through the film, the director has the ability and scores highly in the development of women community. This comes out clearly during the meeting at Manuela’s apartment where the four women (two of them are transgender) discuss their problems and share ideas. However, in the discussion of the problems and consolation of one another, there is evidence of the surface as a site for the expression of emotions thus being a woman (Santiago et al p. 154). The film seeks to address the act of being a woman. This is reflected in the dedication of the film to the women who played the actresses, women who act, and men who embrace the aspect of being women thus deconstruction of the binary gender roles.
Work Cited
Fouz-Hernández, Santiago, and Expósito A. Martínez. Live Flesh: The Male Body in Contemporary Spanish Cinema. London: I. B. Tauris, 2007. Print.
