Please watch this documentary and answer 4 questions.
How does what director David Thorpe calls “the gay voice” challenge the sex-gender binary?
Do you find it problematic that a few spoken syllables “reveal” so much about a person?
- The documentary considers themes like code-switching, misogyny, self-hatred, and the politics of speech communities. Which of these themes do you find most compelling, if any, and why? Are there others?
- Much like we all have a “social identity,” do you think we also have a “verbal identity?” If so, who creates it?
What is your relationship with your own voice (paralanguage)?
Have you ever been hyperconscious of your voice? Why or why not?
- The film was received well at film festivals (featured in Sundance Selects), but subsequent reviews and ratings are so-so. Many critiques conclude that the documentary is cliché, non-satisfying in its ability to answer technical questions posed at the beginning, and that the director’s overt focus on changing his voice may reinforce that the “gay voice” is a liability to be associated with shame. What critique(s), similar or otherwise, would you offer the documentary?
Here is the link to the documentary https://youtu.be/guMibvGvM7o
Sample Solution