The Danish Girl Movie : A Study of The Coming-Out-Process

Abstract

The developmental stages of the coming out process as established by Coleman was applied in this study as a tool to analyze The Danish Girl movie by Tom Hooper. The film was based on the actual incident of Einar Wegener, afterward known as Lili Elbe, who was the first person to undergo sex reassignment surgery from male to female in 1931. The purpose of this research are (1) to explore how the transgender character, Lili Elbe, ‘comes out’ and (2) to explicate what kinds of frame size help portray the coming-out process of the transgender character, Lili Elbe, in The Danish Girl. As Judith Butler’s gender performative (1990) helps understand the genders that Einar performs during the coming-out process, Lili was revealed to go through 4 stages: pre-coming out, coming out, exploration, and first relationship. However, Lili could not go to stage 5 (integration) since she could not establish a successful relationship in a new gender as transgender. Mercado’s frame size technique is employed to ensure that each scene conveys the meaning of the coming-out process. The following frame sizes were used in the film to help 

portray the coming-out process: medium close-up shot, medium-long shot, long shot, group shot, and two-shot techniques. Through this study, the stages of the coming-out process as well as the movie technique related to the coming-out process were investigated, which thus can be utilized to illuminate the understanding of coming-out process in LGBTQ+ people as represented in media.