Comparing Gender-Crossing in Girlfight and Billy Elliot :: Compare Contrast Comparison Essays

Comparing Gender-Crossing in Girlfight and Billy Elliot It seems that the year 2000 was one full of gender-bending films, including Girlfight, starring Michelle Rodriguez. This movie was about Diana, a troubled teenage girl from the projects of New York City. Sent on an errand for her father one day, Diana discovers the secret world of boxing at a gym in Brooklyn. She watches her brother unenthusiastically box in the ring, and then tries to convince the coach to work with her. With time, she starts competing with other lightweights - both male and female. With this newfound confidence, she pulls herself together at school and is able to stay out of trouble. Also made in 2000 was Billy Eliot, starring Jamie Bell, about a boy in Northern England who schleps to weekly boxing classes only to encounter reoccurring defeat in the ring, similar to Diana's brother Tiny in Girlfight. One day, a bunch of tutu-ed girls and their sour instructor begin sharing the space at the gym. All of sudden, Billy becomes hopelessly passionate about dance. Like Diana, Billy rejects conventional gender roles but must hide his new love from his chauvinistic father. The parallels between Girlfight and Billy Elliot are uncanny. Both Diana and Billy enter sports that are not typical for their genders but somehow draw inspiration from the love of their deceased mothers and withstand the rejection from the rest of society. Furthermore, each film ends with triumph - Diana wins the match against her boyfriend, and Billy becomes a ballet star and flies across the stage as the male lead in Swan Lake. Both individuals have tread against the conventions of society. And ironically, in both films, boxing is seen as the epitome of male sport. What happens in the "real world," when individuals enter sports not traditional for their genders? Certainly, it seems that both films revealed realistic outcomes for gender crossing in sports, although Girlfight and Billy Elliot seemed to focus only on the negative social and cultural implications of gender crossing in sports. First of all, gender roles are a very important issue. According to Diana's father and most of the coaches working at the gym, boxing was "a man's sport." In the film Girlfight, Diana was only seen fighting one other girl, while all of her other competitors were male. Furthermore, Diana was the only female practicing at the Brooklyn boxing gym. For anyone walking into the gym, the idea that boxing is in the male realm become perpetuated.