"Breakfast On Pluto"

Media Language: Stylised. Music includes '70s pop and rock music such as T-Rex creating the atmosphere for the time. Also features computer visuals, enhancing the real world with the fantasy world in Kitten's mind.

Institution:Director Neil Jordan known for films such as "The Crying Game" and "Interview With A Vampire". "The Crying Game" and "Breakfast On Pluto" both contain common theme of transgendered characters and also both concern The Troubles in Ireland. Golden Globe nominated. Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics which produces, acquires and distributes independent films from America and around the world. Films include "Layer Cake" (2004) and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000).

Genre:Elements of drama, romance and comedy: Hooker: Oi. You doing business, do it somewhere else, love. This pavement's got my name on it. Kitten: And what, pray, is your name? Concrete?

Representation: Young Patrick spends most of his time with a group of outcasts, including a boy with Down's Syndrome which shows an unique representation of a person with this disability. Patrick's alter ego Kitten is a representation of transvestism. We also see represented rock bands of the glam rock era and Irish terrorists from the IRA. Political matters such as the conflict between England and Ireland.

Audience:The film rating is 15 due to language, violence, sexuality and drug use. An older audience may be attracted to the soundtrack while Kitten's biography would appeal to a younger audience.

Values and Ideologies:Political issues such as The Troubles and the IRA. Also the representation of London compared to Ireland and the glamour of the glam rock era: sex, drugs and rock and roll. Transvestism is a key issue relating to the protagonist.

Narrative:Follows the life of Patrick "Kitten" Braden from being abandoned as a baby to his youth with a group of outcasts, his cross dressing and his move to London to find his mother.

My hypothesis for this Independent Study is that the portrayal of cross-dressing varies according to the genre. In comedy texts such as "Some Like It Hot" (1959) the audience can laugh at the characters because of their behaviour and the fact that, in this example, they retain male characteristics and are not convincing as women. Conversely a film such as "Breakfast On Pluto" takes a look at the serious side of a person's desire to dress as a member of the opposite sex. Cross-dressing in this case is more of an emotional desire to appear as a woman rather than to dress as a woman solely to entertain.

Cross-dressing can also be glamorised such as in the case of comedy "To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar" (1995) which features Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo as drag queens. Throughout the film they represent the glamour of New York, dress in amazing costumes and brighten the lives of the inhabitants of dull Snydersville. They also maintain the comedy element of cross-dressing due to the masculinity of the protagonists who are better known for films such as "Blade" (1998) and "Collateral Damage" (2002).

For my Independent Study I will be looking at the topic of cross-dressing and it's portrayal in film and television. I originally planned to focus on transvestism alone but decided that cross-dressing in general would be a more interesting topic as it includes a much wider range of genres and texts. For example characters in comedy programmes such as "Monty Python's Flying Circus" (1969-1974) and "The Two Ronnies" (1970-1987) are often seen cross-dressing, but this would not be considered as transvestism.

I will therefore be looking at a wide variety of texts from small screen to silver screen including films such as "Transamerica" (2005), Ed Wood (1994) and television programmes such as "Little Britain" (2003-).

The main focus for my Independent Study will be "Breakfast On Pluto", a 2005 film directed by Neil Jordan. Although it is a comedy it takes the cross-dressing of main character "Kitten" in a serious manner. This is relatively rare considering the comedy element of cross-dressing utilised in such texts such as "She's The Man" (2006) and "The League of Gentlemen" (1999-2002).

How is cross-dressing portrayed in modern cinema and television? With particular reference to "Breakfast on Pluto".

Breakfast On Pluto (2005)

Director: Neil Jordan

Genre: Comedy/drama

Plot outline: As foster kid Patrick "Kitten" Braden grows up, he leaves behind his small-town life in Ireland for London, where he is reborn as a transvestite cabaret singer in the 1960s and 70s. (Source: imdb.com)