Gender Is Cultural Rather Than Natural—Jane Campion's The Piano

摘要

Sex and gender have been confusingly categorised by many scholars.Sex refers to biological characteristics;gender,can also be influenced by biology but does not determined by it.Unlike sex,which is determined by nature at birth,gender is a social construct specifying the culturally prescribed roles that men and women are to follow and represent.In order to argue that gender attaches to culture and that gender identity is shaped socially and culturally,this essay analyses Jane Campion’s The Piano from three perspectives.Firstly,the essay will examine the way people in the film represent their gender characters through three repeatedly demonstrated narrative motifs,clothing,the axe and the piano,to illustrate that gender is performative and that cultural gender identities advocate specific performances in terms of behaviour,speech,views,etc.(Butler,2011).Then,through an analysis of the different gazes of the characters in the film,the essay indicates that social and cultural interaction between the genders can go beyond and blur the boundaries of the stereotypical categories of male and female.In the third section,the essay will argue that social rules and discourse also play a prominent role in shaping people’s gender,by discussing how the characters represent and re-define their gender identity under the pressure of the patriarchal society they inhabit.