Crossdressing without Intention

Viola’s crossdressing in Twelfth Night is one of the more unique crossdressing narratives in existence, if you ask me. It has a unique attribute that sets it apart not only from other stories, but even from its own adaptations, at times. Even in movies like She’s the Man, directly based off Twelfth Night, the crossdressing involved has a significant difference at hand: it’s fully intentional.

In She’s the Man, Viola wants to play soccer, so her choice to switch with her brother is a specifically chosen act. In Disney’s Motocrossed, loosely based on Twelfth Night, Andrea (the Viola character) takes her brother’s place in the race. In other Shakespeare tales, such as The Merchant of Venice and As You Like It, the audience is given the impression that the crossdressing can be undone at any time. Portia in The Merchant of Venice hopes to fix Bassanio’s debt to Antonio, ensuring the safety of her marriage. Rosalind in As You Like It maintains her disguise to continue wooing Orlando.

Yet, in Twelfth Night, none of that flexibility seems to be present. Sure, Viola makes the choice to dress as Cesario, but it’s not out of any personal benefit. It’s for the sake of her safety. In Illyria there are only two great powers, Orsino and Olivia, and Olivia is grieving and won’t take new staff. Orsino, on the other hand, will likely only accept a man, or at least, Viola doesn’t seem to feel like going into his service as a woman.

Then Viola, as Cesario, woos Olivia for Orsino – but it backfires. Olivia falls for her instead. And Viola then reaffirms the idea that she is crossdressing mainly because she has to, not because she wants to, because of how much she seems to regret that Olivia has been tricked. “Poor lady, she would better love a dream,” she says, mourning Olivia’s unluckiness in falling for her. She also mentions that “time” must untangle this problem, because “it is too hard a knot for me to untie!” Viola feels that there is nothing she can do about Olivia’s doomed love.

"Arry" with Gendry, a fellow recuit, among other things.

The only other instance I can think of where a female character crossdresses out of necessity, not opportunity, might be something like Arya’s situation in Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire. At one point early in the story, when her family is in trouble, Arya is forced to flee for her life. She joins up with some Night’s Watch recruits, but in order to do so safely, she dresses as a boy and takes on the name “Arry.” A few interesting incidents come up as a result of her disguise. At times, Arya shows frustration with her disguise, similarly to Viola in her position in Twelfth Night.

Perhaps it’s just that these situations are more difficult to write and deal with, but it’s still interesting how crossdressing women in fiction usually seem to have some degree of agency in their crossdressing, and to point out the exceptions to that guideline. I would argue that it often paints a more sympathetic picture of the crossdresser in question – fiction often demonizes women being selfish and taking action, or pursuing “usurp’d” masculinity, so a woman forced into those situations, rather than choosing them, becomes more palatable to a generally sexist audience.

She's the Man, or She Needs a Man?

After watching the movie She's the Man I began thinking about why it is that whenever women are featured as lead characters in movies, their character plots always have to be complicated by some (often heteronormative) love affair. It's as though these women can't exist as individuals and have complicated lives due to - I don't know - gender bias in the job market, or even "manly" things like loans or saving the world.

This trend of trivializing women's lives isn't just in movies where all women talk about is finding a man, keeping a man, or stealing a man. It's everywhere - even in the case of Wonder Woman! Wonder Woman leaves her home of Paradise Island (where everyone is a strong woman) and comes to the man's world to deliver the wounded Captain Steve back to his home, and to fight for justice.

However, her story soon becomes about her marriage to Captain Steve for a while until (thankfully) the storyline was refocused.

Going back to She's the Man - I guess I shouldn't be too angered by the fact that most of the movie revolves around the Viola/Sebastian-Duke romance. That's pretty much how the story is in Twelfth Night, as well. The play is slightly problematized when Viola/Cesario realizes that Olivia is attracted to her, but everything only gets set into motion when Viola/Cesario decides that she wants Duke Orsino, too. The real issue isn't that Viola lost her twin in a shipwreck and doesn't really have a life plan other than pretend to be a male worker for Duke Orsino - it's that she has to find a way to solve the problematic lesbian attraction between her and Olivia, and shift Duke Orsino's affection from Olivia to herself. 

Hmm...sounds familiar. Let's revisit the most popular things that women do in movies:

1. Find a man

    Viola/Cesario already solved this problem (she found Duke Orsino).

2. Steal a man

    Viola/Cesario pretty much does this since she ends up with Duke Orsino instead of Olivia. I'd             argue that even before her revelation as being a woman, she had the Duke's affections, or at least         sparked an attraction between them.

I know they're scared of the tarantula, but they're pretty close...

3. Keep a man

    Faced with the threat of being cut off from Duke Orsino when he is furious that Olivia welcomes         Cesario as her husband, Viola/Cesario immediately reveals herself to be a woman to "keep her             man."

Viola reveal scene from She's the Man

Shakespeare's Viola/Cesario is no different from many of the female characters in our media today. Even in movies and shows with somewhat "progressive" storylines for women - like Gone Girl and Revenge - it all comes down to being about man. It may not always be a heteronormative love interest (such as in Revenge where the plot revolves around Amanda Clarke's father being falsely imprisoned), but it's a man nonetheless.

Pandarus The Pimp: Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida"

  Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida:  Pandarus's Escort Service

    "'She's making her ready. She'll come straight / You must be witty now. She does so blush, and fetches her wind so / short as is she were frayed with a spirit. I'll fetch her'" (3.2 Ln. 27-30)

     Like many other Shakespearean plays that reduce women to a simple means of exchange, Troilus and Cressida is no exception. Women are used as war-prizes and as insults among men. In the case of Cressida and Troilus it appears as if Pandarus is the sole force behind the two getting together. Even though Cressida seems to have some interest in Troilus, it seems insincere because her feelings develop through coercion by Pandarus, who plays Cressida's uncle, and as it seems at this point, her pimp?   It seems a little unfair that Cressida is named unfaithful when she is not in control of her own life decisions, and at the same time the men around her never attributed her any wealth in the first place. Helen too is reduced to a bargaining chip and a symbol of male pride and prestige. Later on In Act 3 we get to see Troilus and Cressida meet and confess their mutual love. During this scene Pandarus is in attendance facilitating the coupling. This to me seems strange and off from the duties of a typical uncle. When Pandarus walks in on Troilus and Cressida around line 92 of 3.2 he interrupts the two and says, "'What, blushing still? Have you not done talking yet?'"  skip to line 130, and in the same area after Cressida begs to leave, it is Pandarus that says, "'Leave? An you take leave till tomorrow morning--'" This exchange makes it clear that at some level this is a meeting between two people that are genuinely in love, but it is obvious that Pandarus in soliciting his niece to Troilus. Hard to make a case for love and fidelity if Cressida is simply a pawn. 

     Pandarus's behavior reminds me of Z idler from the film Moulin Rouge (2001). In this popular Baz Luhrmann musical Nicole Kidman's character of Satine plays a courtesan who entertains at Moulin Rouge under the management of Harold Z idler (Jim Broadbent ). Even though Moulin Rouge is a brothel and Ewan McGregor's character knows she is a courtesan he eventually becomes jealous and believes at one point that Satine is unfaithful with little provocation. This is similar to Troilus's automatic condemnation of Cressida later on in the play. When Z idler is under the impression that McGregor is a wealthy duke, he readily solicits Satine as incentive for an investment from the Duke , and the real Duke himself has designs on Satine as well, and considers her property. Both the play and the film pay little attention to what the women actually want, and when they do try, it ends badly. 

They're the Worst: Genderfication's role in She's the Man

After viewing She’s The Man, we discussed in-depth the notions of misogyny and objectification present in the film.  Olivia does not have a shred of motivation in her character other than getting Sebastian, Viola’s mother displays a strict adherence to the gender norm of what a female “should” be, and the other female characters are either made fun of for not being classically attractive (such as Eunice) or are only present as sex objects (Monique, Yvonne, and Kia).

Taking this logic a step further, I would even argue that Viola, while having agency in regards to achieving  her goal- to make the man’s soccer team- ultimately still portrays a situation where she wants to get revenge on a man.  After her boyfriend Justin states that “soccer is only for men”, she dumps Justin.  While the film presents itself as a story of her showing that she can fit in on the team, it could still be read as a male centered narrative.  By having Viola’s anger at Justin motivate the beginning of the film, it gives him the agency and the power.  This differs from the play, where Viola makes the decision to cross dress on her own, for her own protection.  Viola in Shakespeare’s version of the play is much more independent.

However, while genderfication definitely rears its ugly head in regards to women, it does not hold its punches when it comes to male roles either.  Even when overlooking the idea that each man in her dormitory is somehow completely oblivious to Viola’s cross dressing, they all conform to the stereotype of un-intelligent hyper masculinity.  Duke, Toby, and the rest of their gang are muscular and aggressive.  None of them understand how to talk to women (marking them repeatedly as the “other”), and use the objectification of women for Viola to fit in with them.  This is augmented by their coach role models, who repeatedly call their players “girls”.   Those that do not fit this ideal, such as the principal and the RA, are viewed as creepy, weird, and perverted.  While Sebastian and Paul do not have hyper masculine aspects to their character either, Sebastian is slotted into the typical guitar man whore archetype, while Paul is subjected to the gay best friend role.  Neither feel like real characters with real motivations.  In this way, She’s The Man fails to create real people.  It relies entirely on society’s constructed gender roles to create an ultimately flimsy adaptation of Twelfth Knight.

The Good Ol' Switcheroo

At the end of Twelfth Night the only way Viola’s big reveal is theatrical is through the use of her and her twin brother’s incredible likeness to each other. If they didn’t look anything alike then Viola would have never gotten the chance to leave her charade and reestablish her public image as a woman. This being a great plot twist and reveal, it is no surprise that movies have continue this concept of sibling likeness in physical characteristic and formed a whole plot around it. For example, the 2001 Disney movie “Motocross” dealt with a female motocross racer, Andy, who, after her twin brother gets hurt, competes in his place in order to prove to herself that she can race and maintain her brother’s motocross career. Now while in Twelfth Night Viola does not assume the identity of her brother’s and instead makes her own, both reveals of the Viola and Andy are conducted by men. Viola is outed by her brother’s actions and Andy is outed by a jealous rival her found out her secret. While the female characters show great agency by taking on the identity of a male in order to make the best of the circumstances they’re in, both female characters are shown to lack the capability to solve any problems on their own or to figure their own mess out. Men have to come in and save the day, even if they didn’t mean to. This display of men having to solve the problems of female could be taken in a misogynistic way that women can’t do anything without an man’s help and while they can start something, they can never finish it. While I don’t necessarily agree with this interpretation (even though I’m the one writing it) I think it’s something to look into. If Viola and Andy are so smart and clever to the point they can convince men and women that they are males themselves, then why can’t they have the intelligence to solve the problem on their own? Is this the case because it’s less dramatic if they solve it themselves? Or is it because people like to see when things go awry and people are found out? Either way, I don’t think either female character is given the credit they deserve.

Bechdel on Steroids

Luke mentioned that homoeroticism, and in turn, homophobia, being used as a punch line is very common in today’s society. Whether it be the scene in She’s the Man when Malvolio the tarantula is in Duke and Sebastian's room they're jumping up and down on the bed hugging and screaming, but when they realize they're hugging they separate and scream even louder, or the blatant, “paging Dr. Faggot” in “The Hangover.” I was so shocked to hear people actually laugh at that when it was in “The Hangover.” Albeit the timing was funny because his girlfriend/fiancée is so uptight, but the whole joke was that he was called a faggot, which she then repeated back to him, “you better go Dr. Faggot.” What makes that kind of stuff funny, like actually where is the humor in it? Is it funny to be called gay? Is faggot a funny-sounding word? Or is that just the worst possible insult his friends could think of and that’s why they shouted it through the window?

This is why I’m proposing a new Bechdel test to evaluate the level of homophobic behavior parallel to the amount of homosocial relationships in the movie. As we know from the original Bechdel test, it is rare for two women to be having an independent conversation not talking about getting a man or having kids. This offers plenty of opportunity for men to be talking about a variety of different things whether with other women or alone. Hence: lots of opportunity for homosocial bonding.

Alison Bechdel, creator of the original Bechdel test

The new Bechdel test would be:

1) Is there a direct conversation between two men not talking about getting a girl

2) Is there no sort of homosexual joke, parody behavior, or homophobic tension regarding that conversation

Answer is, probably not. Although many, many movies involve male bonding over a variety of things other than getting a woman, few of these movies go the full run time without a single homophobic joke or punch line. Even Ron Howard slips homophobia into his new movie, “The Dilemma” with the opening lines, “Electric cars are gay. Not homosexual gay, but ‘my parents are chaperoning the dance’ gay.” As a result Anderson Cooper stepped in and pointed it out on CNN, and the new trailer was not publicized heavily by any means. To come out of the blue at a time when we have been making strides towards anti-gay bullying and finally noticing the negative effects of gay jokes and gay targeting is beyond a punch line.

One movie that would pass the “new Bechdel test” is “Big Daddy” the Adam Sandler Movie when the two male lawyers, who had not had their sexual identities revealed to the audience, kissed passionately. When one character attempts homophobic behavior with the line, “I gotta admit, it weirded me out a little when those guys kissed.” Adam Sandler responds, “"Why? They’re gay. That’s what gay guys do."

In one fell swoop, gay people are demystified and romanticized – but not overly-sexualized. Woo hoo!

Oliva Getting The Short End Of The Stick

Shakespeare plays are mostly known for having a huge conflict and towards the end it works toward a “tidy” ending where social order is restored and couples are paired off to have a happy ever after. But for the Shakespeare play Twelfth Night it’s quite interesting how at one point we are rooting for Oliva for going after her man ‘Cesario’ because instead of just sitting around and waiting for him to come to her like a typical situation that was expected from a woman during that time by being silent. She is the one taking control by proposing to him and also breaking away from the idea that she should marry a man of the same age and social status. Granted “he” was really Viola it was still awesome to see a woman character taking control of the situation and acting rebellious.

But all of that was lost towards the end of the play because even after Viola reveals the big secret that she isn’t ‘Cesario’ but instead a girl, one would expect to see Oliva be one to hold a grudge and become infuriated for being the most deceived. But instead she disappoints us all with just quickly moving on to loving, Viola’s look-alike brother Sebastian. Who she knows nothing about because it was Viola who was the one who caught Oliva’s eye, not Sebastian. Oliva easily was able to transfer all of her passion for ‘Cesario’ into a relationship with Sebastian when she marries Viola's look-alike brother.

Yet somehow her marriage to Sebastian helps to reestablish the play's sense of social order because it leads back to how Shakespeare’s play almost always ends with marriage and that would pretty much lead to reestablishing the order in the world. Oliva’s character was a huge disappointment and the ending was quite awful because it portrayed her as pretty much willing to settle down for anyone. Which leads to the conclusion that she couldn’t become independent but rather have a male figure in her life in order to feel a sense of belonging.

Shakespearean Contracts and Marriage as Misdirection

Throughout Shakespeare’s work, contracts, whether in the form of a literal written document (such as the picture above) or a spoken promise of sorts (such as Viola/Cessario’s promise to Olivia that she/he will never marry a man), often play a key role in both the surface and underlying functioning of the play. Specifically, it is in Shakespeare’s focus on language and word play, and the deceptions/complications possible through this, that these contracts draw much of their significance/power in his works (the specificity of Shylock’s own contract proving to be his undoing). Yet the contract of marriage remains surprisingly untouched; while individuals (such as Bertram in All’s Well) might be “tricked” into getting married to someone in the first place, the actual marriage often appears to lack duplicity or major incident, the characters simply marrying once the time has come. I wonder, was this simply necessitated by each play’s narrative (the weddings serving often acting in part as a conclusion) or was this more of a reflection of the age Shakespeare inhabited and perhaps his desire to (while still playing with the lines of gender and sexuality) not alienate his potential audience through a total break in the current social norm?

It seems likely, or at least possible, that Shakespeare’s preservation of the “sanctity” of the marriage contract would've been used to simultaneously mask the often more fluid treatment of gender throughout the rest of the work[s]. Consider the conclusion of Twelfth Night. The Duke continues to refer to Viola/Cessario as his “boy,” even after the reveal of Viola’s true nature; this appears to be playing with the notion of the Duke’s sexuality, with a possible interpretation being that the Duke would/does/will love Viola Cessario no matter her/his form. However, it is made clear that before the wedding of Viola and the Duke, Viola will once more dawn her “woman’s weeds.” Thus, the two will be married as man and wife, adhering to the social standard, and in doing so possibly reassuring the piece’s original audience. A similar situation occurs in As You Like It, with the relationship of Orlando and Ganymede/Rosalind toeing the line between homosocial and homoerotic, until the quadruple wedding, at which point Rosalind abandons her disguise and returns to what would be considered the feminine norm in the play/society.  These examples lend credibility to the argument that Shakespeare might have in particular sought to preserve the “sanctity” of the marriage contract to allow for the relatively gray area of each couple’s sexuality to be addressed while still adhering to the social norm.

Gay? Hahahah!

When I was little, I can remember there being a skit on MadTV that involved two 'heterosexual' men watching football. They were both very involved in the game, and whenever their team made a point, they went wild. At one point, they just started making out, and the audience laughed. My sister laughed, too. I didn't; I thought it was love at the time. In our society, and in other society's in the past, same-sex attraction has been seen as a threat to the norm(Two men cannot produce a child, two women cannot 'properly' consummate a marriage, etc.). Since this has been a problem for an ongoing period of time, there's only one way for homosexuality to be seen as 'acceptable' in the eyes of the heteronormative public: as a punchline in a homophobic joke. For example, in 'Twelfth Night', the situation Viola is in is comedic, rather than tragic. Most people see it as, 'oh, how funny! Olivia, a woman, loves Cesario, who is actually another woman! How funny!' I see this situation as tragic. Olivia has fallen for someone she can never have, both by law and Viola's wishes. I feel as if Shakespeare is using this 'joke' to get people to understand homosexual attraction, but they just don't get it. Nowadays, homosexuality is used as a punchline in too many heteronormative comedies. In the Kevin Hart movie that I refuse to look up because I do not want it to have any more attention than it deserves, he pretends to be the best man at a guy's wedding. In a scene, Kevin teaches the guy to ballroom dance, but they end up doing the Douggie instead. An older woman watching says to her friend, 'Oh, those gays are just so talented.' This is degrading to me as a homosexual man. It's a stereotype that is overused first of all and it's boiling down my sexuality to a joke. All in all, I'm just ranting about a problem that probably doesn't exist and I'm over it.

Love Triangles

Love Triangles

In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, the entire story is based around one other thing besides crossdressing: a love triangle. Duke Orsino has fallen in love with Olivia, Olivia has fallen in love with Cesario - who is actually Viola in disguise – and Viola has fallen in love with Duke Orsino. In the end, there is confusion but a happy ending with the marriage of Duke Orsino and Viola.

Love Triangles are an interesting twist in literature, but are they ever a good idea in real life or anything beyond fiction?

Now in fiction, a love triangle makes for an interesting plot twist, keeping the reader or viewer – whatever the medium is - on the edge of their seats with suspense as to who will fall in love with who. In real life, however, such an act of compassion could have undesired consequences, and might not end with a happy ending.

The best reflection of this is TV’s sitcom How I Met Your Mother. The series follows one Ted Mosby on his quest to find true love while dealing with the lives of those around him. On the sitcom, Ted falls in love with many girls, often at the same time. The most notable and perhaps well known of these times is when he is dating Victoria and is still friends with Robin. Now, Ted initially was in love with Robin, who did not return Ted’s affection at first. When Ted meets and starts dating Victoria, a little baker in New York, Robin realizes that she has feelings for Ted, but chooses to ignore them so that he may be happy. Then Victoria moves to Europe, and Ted finds out that Robin has feelings for him. In the End, Ted eventually gets together with Robin, but only after going through an awkward breakup and interaction with Robin as friends.

Another example of this is the Relationship between Robin and Barney. Barney initially only sees Robin as a target for intercourse, which luckily Robin doesn’t return. When Barney becomes in love with Robin, he tries and tries to understand his feelings while trying to get Robin to see how he feels. They wind up together, but it ends badly and the two go through one of the rockiest break-ups seen on television. Eventually, they try dating other people, only to hoo0ok up once more and end badly, with Robin choosing someone else over Barney, and Barney left with nothing.

Series like How I Met Your Mother are hilarious, but often times leave us with reflections on how things like Love Triangles can really affect those involved and those around you. So it begs the question:” is it ever a good idea, really?”

The Debutante Tradition: What does it mean to Viola?

The film production She’s the Man directed by Andy Fickman, although more heavily focused on the Ganymede (Viola/Sebastian) aspect, also strongly plays out the common practice of debutantes.  Viola, the stereotypical tomboy, is dragged unwillingly into the entire affair although she finds it “archaic”.  In Viola’s social class this is customary for young women about to become a “lady” to have a “coming out” ceremony and be introduced to society proclaiming herself a fully-fledged lady, while on the arm of a male usher.  Debutante ceremonies were a means for the sovereign to view the ladies of higher nobility who were bachelorettes entering the social season and ready to be married. 

            In Viola’s case, the debutante tradition was carried on by the Junior League and every woman was expected to participate although it was not required.  What is interesting about such a tradition is that another term for it is a “coming out” ceremony.  And was a question posed to the ladies of Viola’s Junior League, “Who’s ready to come out?”  Although the audience knows what the director of the ceremony was referring to, the phrase “coming out” is a modern term used to describe someone who is “coming out” into their homosexual preference.  Viola, being a tomboy, has or projects what is considered more masculine characteristics, therefore the debutante tradition could be a symbol of Violas “coming out”, although not into her sexuality, but into her true identity and her mother’s acceptance of that.  However at the end of the film, Viola did give in to wearing a dress, a thin and sleek one and chose to be presented on her own terms but was still presented to be in accordance with her mother’s wishes.  Since Viola kissed Duke at the presentation, she lets every man there know that she is “taken” and socially unavailable to them.  Therefore, the debutante tradition, for Viola acts as a presentation of herself as a tomboyish woman who loves soccer, to everyone she knows within her social circle. 

What Qualifies as Homo-erotic?

In Twelfth Night, the attraction between Duke Orsino and Viola-as-Cesario can be interpreted as homoerotic pretty easily. The duke takes an instant liking to Cesario, noting the "young man's" beauty and even taking pains to describe it. He tells Cesario that "Diana's lip / is not more smooth and rubious; thy small pipe / is as the maiden's organ, shrill and sound" (1.5.30-32). He clearly admires Cesario's looks, and describes them as more beautiful than Diana. Orsino does emphasize Cesario's feminine traits, but this desire can still be categorized as homoerotic since he believes himself to be attracted to a man. In fact, even in the end of the play, when Viola's plot is revealed, Orsino refers to her as "boy" and leaves the stage with Viola still in drag. Her true "women's weeds" are never shown, leading us to believe that the desire here, at least from Orsino, is homoerotic and homosexual.

I find this attraction very interesting. In Shakespeare's day, homosocial bonding was the norm; men had relationships with other men that they simply did not have with women. Male friendship was certainly idolized, but I would argue that it was often homoerotic as well. This is certainly the case with Cesario and Orsino's relationship; there is an underlying homoerotic tension throughout every interaction.

What I thought was interesting was how this has changed. Today, the terms "homosocial" and "homoerotic" are fairly uncommon, even unknown to some. However, I would argue that the underlying culture has not changed. Homosocial bonding is still very prevalent, even flaunted and celebrated as the highest level of friendship.

I think the idea of underlying homoeroticism is very interesting when applied to ideas of masculinity today. What came to mind immediately were Men's Health covers. Here is a magazine marketed towards men and largely written by and for men, with health, dating, and sex tips. Here's an example of a recent cover featuring Shaun T, fitness guru known for his Insanity and T-25 videos.

This feels incredibly homoerotic to me. All of the covers are similar; men set up to be admired for their physique. However, I'm willing to bet that were we to throw out the word homoerotic, most of  the "Men's Health" audience would recoil. Interestingly, Orsino is attracted to Cesario for his boyish, feminine traits, while chiseled, muscular men frequent the cover of Men's Health. Regardless, I view both situations as homoerotic, and I would be interested to see what you all think about this and how our views of homoeroticism have changed since Shakespeare's day.