I think we have a lot to learn from Pica Pica as well!

Have you read the Tao of Pooh?

You might like it.

None of you have nominated Yentl. I don't know if that is because you disagree, don't like the movie, or are simply unfamiliar with it. It is my wife's favorite movie, and Yentl is a role model for her. Like Yentl, my wife had the experience of having a Jewish bookseller (in Boston) refuse to sell her a religious book until she lied, saying it was for her husband. We have the VHS version, but a new two-disk DVD version came out this year, so I bought it for her birthday and we watched it together.

For those unfamiliar, I shamelessly quote the Wikipedia article: "Barbra Streisand portrays Yentl Mendel, a girl living in an Ashkenazi Jewish community in Poland. The film is set in an era during which women are forbidden to receive an education in Jewish Talmudic Law, but despite this, Yentl is instructed in the teachings by her Rabbi father, Rebbe Mendel (Nehemiah Persoff).

"After the death of her father, Yentl decides to dress like a man, take the name Anshel, and enter a Jewish legal school, or yeshiva. Upon entering the yeshiva, Yentl makes friends with a fellow student, Avigdor (Mandy Patinkin), and meets his fiancee Hadass (Amy Irving). The story is complicated as Hadass' family cancels her wedding to Avigdor due to fears that his family is tainted with insanity, and decides that she should marry Anshel instead. Meanwhile, Hadass develops romantic feelings for Yentl (as Anshel), while Yentl herself is falling in love with Avigdor. After much turmoil, Avigdor and Hadass are reunited, while Yentl leaves Europe to go to America, where she can lead a freer life."

Having looked at Wikipedia, I'd like to know more about the play on which it is based. Again, quote: "When her study partner Avigdor discovers the truth, Yentl's assertions that she is "neither one sex nor the other" and has "the soul of a man in the body of a woman" suggest the character is undergoing a gender identity crisis, especially when she opts to remain living as Anshel for the rest of her life."

S

Quote from: Simone Louise on April 02, 2009, 04:50:44 PM
"Barbra Streisand portrays...."

I try to avoid movies with Barbra in it.   

I had not heard of it, sounds interesting.

Quote from: Nicky on April 02, 2009, 05:08:01 PM
I try to avoid movies with Barbra in it.   

What can I say? I also liked On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, and put Yves Montand's version of Come Back to Me as the first song on a Valentine's Day playlist I made for my wife.

S

Quote from: Nicky on April 02, 2009, 03:44:19 PM
Have you read the Tao of Pooh?

You might like it.

Yeah!  I have about worn out my copy.  It popped into my life about the time I really started dealing with my gender issues.  It was a really good introduction to the concept of Tao.  It did more for my spirituality than King James ever did!
Another reason for my attachment to Pooh is because of when my oldest son was seven months he had to have surgery to fix the fontanelles (soft spot) on his skull.  It was a major surgery, and he spent 3 days in pediatric intensive care.  When he was finally moved to a regular room, he looked like a prizefighter that had lost a 15 round fight.  Head swollen, eyes black and barely able to open, and the poor guy was in so much pain.  He carefully got into his room bed, then just kinda sat there sad and started crying.  It was ripping my heart out.  Then I found his favorite toy.  I found his stuffed Winnie-the-Pooh that sang.  I pushed his belly, and Pooh started singing, "Up, down, up.  When my ups down it touched the ground...."
I pressed his belly again and Pooh gave a chuckle.  I looked at my son and he had this crooked little smile, and when Pooh chuckled he gave this laugh in spite of the pain and confusion.  That was when I knew he would be ok.  And that Pooh has a place of honor in my home from now on.

Quote from: Simone Louise on April 02, 2009, 04:50:44 PM
None of you have nominated Yentl.

Yentl was a wonderful movie. I don't think of the primary character as androgyne though, she dresses as he so as to be able to study at yeshiva.

My favorite non binary gender movie (and book is even better) is Orlando.

Z

Quote from: Zythyra on April 03, 2009, 12:53:33 PM
Yentl was a wonderful movie. I don't think of the primary character as androgyne though, she dresses as he so as to be able to study at yeshiva.

Z

Yes, and when Avigdor suggests they could be together if she study secretly, she rejects him--whom she loves dearly--and goes off to America. The freedom to ignore gender roles trumped everything else, even in Barbra's version. Perhaps Manhattan/Long Island was Yentl's vision of the Androgyne island.

S