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Ashley’s Critical Film Review

Over the years, Cinema has been touching on topics that haven’t been so popular in the past such as sexual identity. An amazing example of this would be the film “Zen in the Ice Rift”. The film I chose to view at the Reelout Film Festival was “Zen in the Ice Rift” by Margherita Ferri. The Italian film was created in and then released in September 2018 and tackles the topic of gender and sexual identity. Walking into the film I was unsure how I felt about watching an all Italian movie with subtitles. As the film continued it was easier to follow as I became more invested in trying to understand each characters story. The film had a more diverse dynamic to it as the plot followed a 16 year old named Maia Zenardi, who in the film, plays the protagonist, as she takes on the role of the only female hockey player on the local ice team Zen aspires to make the national team, but she is constantly bullied by her teammates and schoolmates, who call her “half female, a shitty lesbian and a bitch,” Maia who is now referred to as ‘”Zen” tries to find herself as she comes out as transgender. In a course reading entitled “Being in Question” written by Sara Ahmed, she speaks about refusing social norms while breaking out and creating your own. “When you deviate from a straight line, it is the deviation that has to be explained” (Ahmed). Thi quote relates perfectly to the film as, Maia, also known as ‘Zen’, is heavily questioned by others for his choices. Zen was born a female so according to everyone in his life there was only one gender he could be and that was female. Because he wasn’t accepted as transgender and stilled viewed as a female, Zen was called a “lesbian” by others who bullied him at school.  In other eyes, Zen didn’t fit or conform to their social norms and therefore labelled. Zen constantly feel as if he needs to explain himself or make sense to others because he feels no one can truly understand him. His life heavily relates to Ahmed’s article, specifically the quote discussing deviating from a straight line. Once Zen branched out and truly discovered who he was, he was questioned by society. The “straight line” from the quote refers to social norms and what is socially acceptable. Zen grew up in a small Italian community with many people who didn’t object social norms or allow for anything other than accepted. In Zen’s case when he came out, instead of acceptance, he received negativity and was expected to follow feminine norms. Throughout the film Zen is constantly gendered and passed by his peers. Passing is defined as “a way of labeling persons as not “naturally”belonging to a group in which, nevertheless, labelers predominantly place them. “Passing”thus refers to a power among representatives of the dominant culture to assign people to their privileged group” Gendering refers to “he active and compulsive assignment of gender to individuals based usually on visual and auditory cues.” (Week 2, Lecture 1). Everyone in Zen’s town, including his mother, continued to gender and pass him by calling him his birth name, Maia which he no longer prefers as he is a transgender man. The struggles Zen experiences because of this cause him the suffrage as he wants nothing but to succeed and be accepted. Zen’s own mother won’t acknowledge his transition and continued to call him Maia. Zen constantly feels isolated by those around him who continue to gender and pass him. intersectional theory asserts that people are often disadvantaged by multiple sources of oppression: their race, class, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, and other identity markers. Kimberle Crenshaw first coined the term intersectionality in 1989. “Intersectionality recognizes that identity markers do not exist independently of each other, and that each informs the others, often creating a complex convergence of oppression” (Alemán). Within this film, intersectionality plays a significant role as Zen is constantly oppressed throughout the film with his gender and sexual identity. Due to Zen’s oppression, he falls into a community of secluded and un-accepted individuals. Many of the LGBTQ+ community have a constant target on their back for acknowledging and presenting their true selves. Many people in society, especially Zen’s society, don’t follow these practices along with finding it of normal societal ways, therefore oppress and isolate these individuals which is what happens to Zen. Although Zen finally finds someone to confide in and trust his journey was anything but easy. Overall, the film sends an inspiring message to the young audience watching it. To conclude, this heart tearing film provides a beautiful portrayed sexual and gender identity story and sheds light on our society.

References

Ahmed, and Sara. “Introduction: Sexism-A Problem with a Name.” New Formations, Lawrence & Wishart Ltd., 22 Sept. 2015, www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-444046228/introduction-sexism-a-problem-with-a-name.

Dr. Baba. Module 2: Feminist Foundations. Queens University.

Alemán, R. (2019, August 2). What is intersectionality, and what does it have to do with me? Retrieved from https://www.ywboston.org/2017/03/what-is-intersectionality-and-what-does-it-have-to-do-with-me/