Fund a Master's Thesis Film on Parental Influence

It’s September 2018 in Long Island. Hopes are high with the Jets new quarterback; Childish Gambino released This is America to critical and popular praise; and Kanye West visits president Donald Trump in the White House. But none of that really matters. For 16-year-old Holden, the only thing that really matter is that his junior year of high school has just started. As a young white teen living in a predominantly white town, the only thing Holden really needs to worry about are two things: Earning his father’s respect and pride as well as staying on his short-tempered friend Mason’s good side.

Holden’s friends have a brutal sense of humor. Making each other feel like shit and joking about one another's flaws is their everyday humor. Holden’s not a fan, and he's starting to get sick of Mason's jabs. Things are going to blow up, and Holden and Mason will fight. But not before the two of them contemplate what they’re doing and if they should really go through with it. After all, they’re supposed to be friends; is a little joke worth the drama? But the real question either of them care about, whether they realize it or not, is this: What’s going to make dad proud?

HOLDEN is a pushover. Often taken advantage of for the kindness his mother taught him, Holden finds it difficult to stand up for himself. Holden constantly allows himself to be walked over, but he’s starting to get tired of this…

MASON is an asshole. He is constantly putting others down as a way of solidifying his dominance over the other boys in his group, just as his father does to him. He knows he should be nicer, yet he finds himself incapable of being able to apologize.

HAROLD is Holden’s father. His no nonsense parenting style has caused his son to become a pushover. When gently pushing Holden in the direction he wants doesn’t work, he is quick to belittle his son. Harold doesn’t realize the true effect of his behavior; he doesn’t realize he’s the one causing his son to be timid.

ALAN is Mason's father. He’s mean to his son and wife. Unaware that the way he treats his son is causing him to lash out at his friends, although even if he cared he wouldn’t do anything to fix it. Douchebag bosses and lack of control in his work life leads him to seek control and dominance over his own family through insults and violence.

Our approach with the storytelling of “Sissy Boy” is meant to evoke a raw sense of high school nostalgia through the unfiltered behavior of our characters. By communicating the social hierarchical nature of groups like the one portrayed in the film, we intend to comment on the fashion in which they operate. The casual conversational aggression is meant to be delivered almost unnoticed, as the boys fail to realize the negative nature of their constant interaction. This normalized verbal negativity is not only a telling piece of the boys’ upbringing, but also the social landscape that allows for attitudes like theirs to thrive.

Mason and Holden look up to their fathers in one way or another and rely on them for guidance in their existence as young men. Their fathers spend so much time trying to guide them in a direction of high strength, resilience, and manliness that they lack the insight to push them to a heightened sense of empathy. The unintentional misguidance turns the friendship between the boys into an environment of conflict. Our intention is to direct this tone of consistent negative conflict in a way that is easy to understand, especially for viewers of our generation. The nostalgia of the setting is meant to be bittersweet; as we watch the nature of these monumental times in the boys’ lives.

A massive need for this film is to visually communicate a nostalgic situation, especially for viewers in the same generation as the lead characters. Almost as if they’re looking into the past and watching a teenage version of their self and their own town. Softer tones utilizing brighter washed-out colors could convey the changing of summer into fall, showing the beginning of the school year. The town is meant to be one that viewers from the suburbs can resonate with, one that everyone has grown up in. A pseudo-filmic look will be applied for the purposes of nostalgic realism and to trap the characters into the cycle of the world they’ve been placed in.

DIRECTOR'S NOTE

During my teenage years, my father and I rarely saw eye to eye, and many times we’d argue. The progression in our relationship avoided any truly destructive point, and since then, we’ve begun understanding each other on a deeper level. We now have an incredible relationship that wouldn’t be as strong as it is without having gone through that rough period. Something that I often think back on are the conversations and arguments my father and I exchanged, as well as whether he truly realizes how influential his words were over me. His words carried such massive weight that it is worth wondering where I’d be now, had our relationship been different. While this isn't an autobiographical account of what happened between us and the characters aren't a reflection of my father or myself, at its core Sissy Boy stems from this; the grasp that fathers hold over their sons, simply through the influence of their words, whether they’re aware of it or not.

This film serves as a thesis project for not only our master’s degrees, but also for other Quinnipiac students working on the film who can relate to the piece’s commentary. Its story is dedicated to the intricacies of emotional conflict that occur behind closed doors, and how they manifest in our relations with others. Rather than provide a piece of entertainment, we want to communicate a feeling of relatability for those who recognize the destructive qualities in our characters. With your donation you can help bring this project to fruition and help us end our college careers on a high note. This is a film I’ve been thinking of making for a long time, thank you for your support!