MovieChat Forums > Swiss Army Man (2016) Discussion > Swiss Army Man and Transgenderism

Swiss Army Man and Transgenderism


I've recently come across this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHrFVmYRngQ - brilliant video essay from Bobby Burns, explaining how 'Swiss Army Man' reads beautifully as being a secret story about coming to terms with gender dysphoria. On my rewatches I too have felt like Hank is more obsessed with being Sarah and living what he imagines to be her life of domestic bliss than Hank was ever interested in being Sarah's boyfriend.

And considering that this film is all about a character going from a suicidal self-loathing state to a point of 'coming out' and self-acceptance I think it'd be a very valuable film to reach a transgender audience.

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Gah! My eyes! They rolled so hard I think I sprained some ligament! Someone call me an optometrist please!

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As per Poe's law I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and interpret your post as satire.

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My post is completely serious. Transgenderism is a real thing and people who are transgender do often suffer with suicidal depression and social alienation, like Hank does. If you'd like to put forward your reason why you think a transgender interpretation of 'Swiss Army Man' is invalid or preposterous, I'd be happy to hear it.

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Actually I think you have a good point

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"If you'd like to put forward your reason why you think a transgender interpretation of 'Swiss Army Man' is invalid or preposterous, I'd be happy to hear it."

It's not invalid, but I think it's quite a weak interpretation that looks for something that isn't there because it's an issue you feel strongly about, and that's fine, but it feels like you're reverse engineering the movie to suit what you'd like it to be. Hank is a biological male and identifies as such, I didn't see anything that suggested otherwise. The mere fact of a man dressing like a woman in a movie isn't enough to come to such a specific interpretation, especially in the context of everything else in the movie. He doesn't dress like a woman because he feels feminine, he dresses like a woman in the context of his fantasy friendship with a cadaver, and he only did so for a couple of scenes at most. If (and a big if) anything the man is a transvestite, which is quite different from being transgender.

When I said your post feels like parody, it's because to me your interpretation really sounds like something out of the onion.

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Actually being a transvestite IS included under the umbrella of being a transgender person (see link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT#Transgender_inclusion. People who are transvestite may face the same sort of social stigma as other types on the trans spectrum. Something that Hank seems painfully aware of when he says "Do you know what people at home would say if you say me dressed like this?"

Personally I think it's more than cross-dressing in Hank's case. Hank was living as Sarah when he put that yellow dress and red wig on. He kept taking the wig off when he wanted to speak to Manny as Hank again. He put on a more feminine manner when he was being Sarah. And like the video analysis says Hank does seem a lot happier once he starts using his female persona.

The other scene I'd point to is the scene where Hank tells the story about "Jessie", the model in the swimsuit magazine. Neither Hank or Manny are aroused by just looking at the pictures of the bikini models. It is Hank creating a female persona that excites him and when Manny then gets an erection they are both horrified by it. Manny yells "I'm disgusting, my body is disgusting!" in direct reference to his penis. And since Manny's experiences are all echoes of Hank's life I think it's implied that Hank was disgusted by his first erection too. Being disgusted by your own body is a major symptom of gender dysphoria. And as the video states Hank calls himself ugly in the film and he looks incredibly moved when Manny tells him he looks "beautiful" as a woman.

So there you go. I'm not saying that the trans interpretation is the definitive reading of the film (personally I'd interpret Hank has being bisexual and genderqueer) but I think it's just as legitimate as saying that Hank is a lonely straight guy with an unrequited crush.

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...but Hank didn't even know that Sarah had a boyfriend until he got reception in his phone about 3/4's of the way through the movie and didn't know she had a child and a suburban mom life until the very end. I don't think he wanted to be Sarah at all, rather he wanted to live vicariously through Manny to get over his social anxiety and imagine what it would be like if he just talked to Sarah on the bus one day.

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but Hank didn't even know that Sarah had a boyfriend until he got reception in his phone about 3/4's of the way through the movie and didn't know she had a child and a suburban mom life until the very end.


Hank did know. Hank must have seen Sarah's Instagram pictures before because he recreates those pictures in his woodland world - for example, the cafe where him and Manny eat and Manny posing with the Mickey Mouse ears are both based on photos from Sarah's Instagram. It's heavily implied that finding out about Sarah having a husband and family was exactly what caused Hank to have a breakdown, run away and end up stranded on that island. When Manny finds out that Sarah is married and has a child he relives the same existential crisis that Hank suffered.

Personally I think that Hank is sexually confused and repressed, most likely bisexual and if not trans, certainly gender queer. I think Hank recreating Sarah's family life and taking the role of the wife/mother figure also comes from Hank's wish to recreate his own family unit that he lost after his mom's death. I think there's a LOT going on with Hank. I don't actually feel that the 'Transgender' video covers all of Hank's psychological issues, but I do feel like there's not enough consideration given to Hank's sexuality and cross-dressing.

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I saw the movie lask week and loved it.

The other day I saw that same video and was very impressed. Saw it again tonight, and I have to say that the transgender idea becomes very clear in certain scenes and throughout the movie.

I've been looking for a coment of The Daniels about this but haven't been able to find it. I would really like to know if they have something to say about that.

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I've never seen the Daniels specifically talk about a transgender interpretation, but I do remember one of them saying that they welcomed interpretations of 'Swiss Army Man' being a "coming out" movie. And if they see it as being a coming out film then I guess it can relate to any type of LGBT person. It's surprising to me, considering that the only kiss in this film is a same sex kiss, how many people seem to resist the idea of Swiss Army Man being a queer film and Hank being a queer character.

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That moment it's what holds a double interpretation I think. He kisses him as a man, but transmutes mentally as Sarah, so I guess both interpretations have solid grounds.

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Either way it's still unavoidably a queer kiss. Either it's Hank kissing another man or it's Hank imagining himself to be a woman when kissing a man. So Hank has got to be either bi or trans, maybe both. That said, I've seen some viewers who discount the kiss as being romantic, saying that Hank only kissed Manny so he could breathe underwater. And Manny clearly is helping Hank breathe in that scene so that's a valid reading too. Personally I think the scene was clearly romantic especially given the almost kiss the evening before.

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So you're saying just because he kissed another man he has to be a transvestite or a homosexual? Did you just assume the characters orientation just like that? Well I'd recommend that you check your fcking privilege pretty damn fast, you zionist cis-scum! Not everything has to fit into your tiny little box of a world view.

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Fracking liberals, always squeezing symbolic agendas into everything.

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Fracking right wing nuts, always complaining about "agendas"

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I'm liberal, and I too get sick of those on the left reaching for things to meet their ideology. Seeing what they want to see. If a film or peice of art actually supports that and tackles those subjects, great.

For the record, those on the right also like to reach (particularly religious people who see religion in art). It's not exclusive to those on the Left. Also I have to say, logically the films plot does not really support the thesis of OP. Of course the Daniels are going to say they are "open to whatever people's interpretations are". That's what most Artists will say, as art generally can be interpreted many ways. And they don't want to TELL people how to feel about art.

But I guess that kind of is its own point, isn't it? I mean this film is kind of vague and open in a lot of ways. It's not like a concrete plot, where things are more defined. So in films like this, the audience does kind of take away what they want from it. I guess my issue is, people are pointing towards the kiss and the dress scene. But clearly in his mind, he's doing it from the perspective of the guy kissing the girl. So beyond that, it's kind of ADDING what you want to it (but the plot doesn't go beyond that to support it).

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Don't listen to the transphobe haters. If that's the conclussion that you came to then there's nothing wrong with it. That's what art is for!

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this is why you lost the election

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Not being a hateful bigot and instead choosing acceptance and compassion?
The fact that you connect this to Trump says a lot about you and what that *beep* stands for.

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I'm mexican, and yea i'm pretty pissed because trump won because of special snowflakes like yourself

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No. The universe does not revolve around you and your struggels.

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