"Rampant Transsexuality"
| None | Light | Moderate | Heavy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language | ||||
| Violence | ||||
| Sex | ||||
| Nudity |
What You Need To Know:
Technically proficient, DIFFERENT FOR GIRLS is well written, well directed, and well acted. However, the movie presents a problem. DIFFERENT FOR GIRLS tries to ram transsexuality down audience’s throats, much as the films IN AND OUT and the TV episode of ELLEN have sought to make homosexuality acceptable to the public at large. One can only wonder what new perversion the film industry will seek to make publicly acceptable in its next venue: animal sodomy? Media bombardment does have an impact.
Content:
(Ro, AB, HoHoHo, LL, V, S, NNN, A) Anti-Biblical, Romantic worldview with perverse homosexual elements of a sexual tryst between a man & a transsexual woman who used to be a male classmate at an all boys’ school; 10 obscenities & 22 vulgarities; boys fight at a school, man fights man in police vehicle, boys chase boys, car & motorcycle accident, terrorist bomb scare, & policeman beats up recruit; depicted sex with a transsexual, man gropes female transsexual & implied adultery; frontal male & female nudity, close-up of sexual organ; alcohol; and, miscellaneous
More Detail:
British-made DIFFERENT FOR GIRLS is sexual romance with a twist: one of the lovers is a transsexual. At their boys’ school, some seventeen years before the story begins, Paul Prentice (Steven MacKintosh) defends the effeminate Carl (Rupert Graves) from bullies who harass him for pretending to be a girl in the showers. Both boys face discipline from the headmaster, and the experience forges a bond of friendship between them.
Next, they run into each other in a car accident on a busy London street. Over lunch, Prentice finds out that Carl, now called Kim, has been surgically altered a year earlier to resemble the woman he has always felt that he was. At first put off, Prentice looks at an old school photo and remembers the depth of his friendship with Carl. He decides to restart the friendship, this time with Carl as Kim, a woman.
As they spend some time at a rock dance club, outrun bullies, ride Prentice’ motorcycle, and even have a romantic dinner together, the old feelings begin to come back. Prentice’s girlfriend, a dispatcher, gets upset, because he seems to be cheating on her and doing a bad job in his messenger deliveries. Then, one night at dinner, the sexually conflicted Prentice lashes out at Kim, but immediately discounts his anger. Convincing himself that a man’s sex organ is only a bit of flesh, and nothing more, Prentice pulls his out to make the point to Kim, and to all the neighbors.
As Prentice is arrested for indecent exposure, Kim tries to block the officers’ access and gets herself arrested for obstructing justice. In the paddy wagon on the way to the police station, a feisty cop teases Kim and gropes her. When Prentice tries to defend her, the policeman pummels him. He vows to file charges against the cop, but he needs Kim as a witness, and she refuses to cooperate, fearing the possibility that she might be remanded to a men’s prison. Kim hides out at her sister Jean’s (Saskia Reeves) house.
Kim then proceeds to help Jean negotiate her own marital difficulties. Her husband, Neil (Neil Dudgeon), has just discovered that their son, Matthew, is really not his own. Neil is sterile. An army sergeant, Neil feels less than the man that he should be. Kim encourages him.
Meanwhile, Prentice enters court. At the trial, Kim does show up and speaks on Prentice’s behalf, enabling him to get off with a fine. Later, at Kim’s apartment, Prentice asks to see the result of the surgery just for “curiosity.” As Kim disrobes, Prentice gets turned on, and they end up fornicating. Prentice despairs of being able to support Kim, since he was just laid off from his messenger job. What to do? The insatiable London tabloids come to the rescue, paying them handsomely for their story. Although Kim expected to lose her job at the greeting card company, the boss likes her “versatility” and keeps her on staff. The implicit message to Kim’s co-workers seems to be: transsexuality is coming − get used to it. In the final scenes, Prentice and Kim buy a fancy new motorcycle and ride off together into the busy London streets.
A morally vapid apologetic for transsexuality, DIFFERENT FOR GIRLS tries to ram transsexuality down audience’s throats. Kim tells Prentice that she had a growth which was not part of her, and she had it cut off. Later, Prentice muses that on the basis of chromosomes, all people are women in the beginning. During their fornication scene, Prentice protests to Kim that he is not homosexual: he is straight. Kim replies that she is straight, too. Sure.
DIFFERENT FOR GIRLS is well written, well directed, and well acted. In fact, this may be a break-out film for Steven MacKintosh, who has budding star appeal. This low budget film is crisply shot with powerful close-ups, naturalistic lighting and colorful production design. However, sound quality is muddled. As expected, it is difficult for audiences to identify with these characters.
Technically proficient, DIFFERENT FOR GIRLS presents a problem. The problem is that all the artisans’ fine film craft has gone into making a movie to promote such a sordid message. One can only wonder what new perversion the film industry will seek to make publicly acceptable in its next venue: animal sodomy? Make no mistake about it; the purpose of this film is to make transsexuality acceptable for the mainstream public, much as the films IN AND OUT and the TV episode of ELLEN have sought to make homosexuality acceptable to the public at large. Media bombardment does have an impact. The only remaining question for Christians is where are the believers to counter with the Good News of the redemption that is only available through Jesus Christ.
- Content: +2Share:
- Content: +1