TransAmerica film poster: Belonging related text

Quite often students come to us without good related texts for the HSC Area of Study 'Belonging', and with no clue as to how to find and analyse a suitable text on short notice. The TransAmerica film poster is an extremely valuable related text for Belonging. There are a few different  versions of the film poster, so make sure you follow this link to the relevant poster.

Analysis:

The TransAmerica film poster explores the idea that individuals often experience a conflict between the desire to belong to a group – which requires conformity – and the desire to maintain a sense of self-belonging.  The poster depicts a person standing with their back towards the camera, facing two bathroom doors, one male and one female. The pose suggests inner conflict and indecisiveness, which is further reinforced by the lack of movement suggested in the image. This is explained by the title TransAmerica, which reveals that this figure is a transgendered person facing the conflict between their own desires and their society's expectations. This text highlights the state of confusion and lack of belonging that individuals often experience when they don’t conform to society’s expectations of gender and behaviour. It also reveals the conflict between the need to conform to society’s rules and expectations and the desire to stay true to ones own sense of self... 

The figure is dressed in women’s clothing, which reveals their own inner desire to be accepted as part of that group. This is emphasised by the placement of the shadow across the female bathroom door and the placement of their body, which covers slightly more of the female door than the male door. However, the placement of the left foot pointing in the direction of the male bathroom door reveals the conflict between the pressure to conform to society’s expectations and the desire to maintain a strong sense of self. 

The poster uses colour symbolism to reveal the power of the pressure to conform to gender expectations. The doors of both bathrooms are painted blue, while the outside wall is painted pink. Both colours are gendered in that pink is generally considered feminine and blue is often considered masculine, at least in terms of infants. Interestingly, the blue doors are separated from the pink walls by a strip of yellow paint. Yellow is considered a neutral gender colour. The colour symbolism in the poster suggests that the figure does not fit in to any group but is separated and excluded from both, much like the yellow paint separates the pink from the blue. 

The caption “life is more than the sum of its parts” suggests that the most important form of belonging is belonging to self. This suggests that if you do not maintain your sense of self-belonging you will not feel fulfilled even if you experience group belonging; conformity may allow you to be accepted into a group, but if the group is not able to accept the individual for who they are, this will have a negative impact on their experience of self-belonging (and of belonging in general). Thus, the TransAmerica film poster reveals that society’s expectations and rules can provide significant barriers to the individual’s ability to belong.

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Examine the TransAmerica film poster for yourself and try to apply the ideas it explores to your AOS prescribed text. This is a great related text for discussing group belonging, self belonging and the impact of conformity/non-conformity on the individual's experience of Belonging.