SOC 202 Study Guide - Final Guide: Blurr, Plastic Surgery, Simulacrum
9 Jul 2013
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Transamerica: a 2005 film about a 40-year-old transsexual woman who goes on a road trip with toby, a teenaged hustler. There is an interesting plot switch where we find out that toby is brees son who was fathered by bree while she was a man. This movie is an exploration of the traditional western theme of identity. Much of the discussions in this chapter have to do with exploring the role of social and political forces in constructing narratives of identity. Genetics may have some role, but over all it is culture that gives us the ingredients to establish the lines of who we think we are. A critical issue in debates about the significance and limits of identity is the role of our bodies in determining who we are. The persistence of categories of gender, sexual orientation, and race as markers of identity and social power highlights the complex relationship between culture and physicality.
