Thursday, October 3, 2013

Boy Discussion Questions

1. Trauma plays a role in how Boy, Rocky, and Alamein function with the absence of the mother figure. How do they find proxies to fill this role? At the end the film, we see them reunite at the gravesite. As an ambiguous ending, how will the family move forward?

2. As much as this film is a coming-of-age story of Boy, how is this the same for Alamein? How does he negotiate his role as father or "hulk"?

3. When his grandmother leaves for a funeral, Boy must assume authority and takes care of this household. How does the appearance of Alamein undermine his role and challenge his notions of being a man? What is Boy's "potential"?

4. In Boy we see references to 80's pop culture. Two important figures in the film are Michael Jackson and the film E.T. Michael Jackson is the "King of Pop" and E.T. is an iconic coming of age story about a boy who befriends an alien. Why are these references important to our understanding of "Boy" and his relationship with his father?


5. Alamein (the elder) desires to name himself Shogun, and his gang the "Crazy Horses." As Alamein himself points out, he and his buddies are  "renegades." Is Alamein a true renegade? Why or why not? How do the real and imagined depictions of "Shogun" and the "Crazy Horses" add to the significance of Alamein's character (which is, at times, full of narcissism and self-delusion)?

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