According to Brenda Cooper, the most fundamental understanding of heteronormativity is that gender is "natally assigned, natural, and unchangeable." The literature on gender identity initially defines two categories, masculine or feminine, and resists change. However, transgender identity problematizes this assumption in the response of popular culture and particularly cinema. With the conflicting ideas discussed in the films Boys Don't Cry and The Crying Game, gender identity is certainly a complex concept. This essay will explore how these texts conform to or deny transgender identity through a discussion of stereotypical masculine and feminine identities, transgender as a performance, the complex nature of sexuality, and biological sex disclosure. Identity, for many, is a concept that has allowed individuals to share mutual life experiences in order to share similar social positions such as sexuality, gender, and class. Thus, in Boys Don't Cry, Brandon, a female-to-male transgender, primarily recognizes heteronormativity through visual images and stereotypical mannerisms of masculinity. Cooper suggests that the dominant image in the text's narrative is the "self-realization" that Brandon is a man. The fact that Brandon is constantly referred to by the masculine pronoun "he" and that he admires himself as a man by looking in the mirror. Cooper suggests that his life as a man is not an "abnormal or deceptive act" and that the narrative "privileges" Brandon's personal identity over his biological genitalia. In order to further construct his masculinity, Brandon imitates the aggressive behavior of the two heterosexual characters John and Tom. Brando...... middle of paper ......eronormative ideas and in turn, deny transgender subjectivity. In Boys Don't Cry, there is a strong sense that Brandon recognizes stereotypical masculinity and that the narrative represses any form of transgenderism through Lana's denial of Brandon's biological sex. Similarly in The Crying Game, Dil conforms to heterosexual femininity and when her true biological sex is revealed, she continues to be female. On the other hand, both texts also challenge heteronormativity through the recognition of identities outside of gender and sexuality norms. Both Boys Don't Cry and The Crying Game provide the narrative with shocking scenes of revelation that force the viewer to accept these new forms of queer identities. In conclusion, texts can open up different approaches to gender identity, but it is never clear which approaches we should or should not recognize..