Lawrence of Arabia as Transgender Allegory, Parts 1, 2 & 3

[SandraJane]

The BILERICO Project



Lawrence of Arabia as Transgender Allegory [Part 1]


Filed By Drew Cordes | September 19, 2012 12:30 PM


http://www.bilerico.com/2012/09/lawrence_of_arabia_as_transgender_allegory_part_1.php


Lawrence of Arabia is my favorite film. I love it as much as one can love a piece of art that wasn't created by one's own child. The glassy-eyed way a mother magnets her 6-year-old's vaguely heart-shaped Crayola scribble to the fridge? That's how much I love this film. I've seen it so many times I can play it forward and backward in my mind. What follows will not be an unbiased evaluation. Openpic.jpg(Also, there will be "spoilers;" that is if it's possible to spoil a movie that's been kicking around for 50 years now.)

----What is so endearing to me - transgender white-collared American queer woman - in this 227-minute bladder-burster, infamous for its lack of even a single female-uttered line (ululation notwithstanding), about a British soldier during World War I? I could go on for pages about the film's various aspects and expertly explored themes - the deceptive messianic highs and hauntingly gruesome lows of war, the psychology of humans in pain and distress, the just-stunning cinematography, the colonial imperialism and Middle East politics, the high-water-mark orchestral score, the investigation of personal ethics, the poetic screenplay, the contrast of cultures, Peter O'Toole's deft high-wire act of flamboyance and fearlessness (he was relatively unknown at the time).

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The BILERICO Project



Lawrence of Arabia as Transgender Allegory [Part 2]


Filed By Drew Cordes | September 20, 2012 11:00 AM


This is the second installment of a three part series on Lawrence of Arabia as an allegory for transgender people's lives. Click here to read part one.


http://www.bilerico.com/2012/09/lawrence_of_arabia_as_transgender_allegory_part_2.php


T.E. Lawrence is a man who's struggling very much with who he is, where he belongs and what he can do write his own fate in the face of great challenges and opposition. Sometimes he succeeds beyond his wildest dreams. Sometimes he fails miserably. This should sound familiar to just about all trans people.

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The BILERICO Project



Lawrence of Arabia as Transgender Allegory [Part 3]


Filed By Drew Cordes | September 21, 2012 1:15 PM


This is the final installment of a three part series on Lawrence of Arabia as an allegory for transgender people's lives. Click here to read part one or here for part two of this three-part essay.


http://www.bilerico.com/2012/09/lawrence_of_arabia_as_transgender_allegory_part_3.php


T.E. Lawrence is a man who's struggling very much with who he is, where he belongs and what he can do write his own fate in the face of great challenges and opposition. Sometimes he succeeds beyond his wildest dreams. Sometimes he fails miserably. This should sound familiar to just about all trans people.

Can You Pass?

With each success leading the Arab army, Lawrence's confidence swells, and he begins to see himself belonging with them more and more. He becomes so overconfident that it often borders on God complex: