The boy in the dress

[Barleymower]

While watching the telly on Christmas Day and not wanting to watch Toy Story 4 (yawn) I found The Boy in The Dress:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04w7pgj
From the book by David Walliams.

Quick summary of the story:
Dennis, a boy from Woodley who plays football with his mates and lives with his dad and brother is frustrated by the boring grey world he inhabits.
Dennis creates a whole new persona and puts it to the ultimate test - can a boy wear a dress? the headmaster expells him from school. His dad and his friends on the football team all wear dresses and win the cup and he is eventually reinstated back in school when they find out the Head goes full fem at the weekends.

My Dad (knows about me) huffed a bit and went off and the rest of us watched it becuase I wanted too (yawn). It actually went down alright and when I was compared to the the Head, I said "I don't wear a wig, so there". Even my Dad watched it in the end and laughed a bit.

My only critism was that Dennis went back to trousers when the fun was all over....because as we all know, men don't wear skirts. I didn't voice this though and spoil a fun hour.

[SkirtsDad]

I knew about the book. I didn't realise it had been made into a film. Brilliant!!!

[Tazzmac]

I work at a District School .. Part of my job is vacuuming the Library every morning and last year during Book Week that was one of many books that the students could access and read .. I thought initially it would not be a book the staff would allow but after I read through a bit of it one day soon after that week I saw the message of it was to say it's okay to be different , out there even , a little rebellious so long as you respect others and best of all inclusion ..It's actually a great book ..
Does anybody recall in England a few years ago when a school banned boys from wearing shorts in the summer so using a loophole in the dress code they came to school in the approved skirts for a while...It was brilliant and think it might have sent a great message .. Probably changed to a few the stereotype that only girls can wear skirts too,,, Cheers..

[STEVIE]

My only critism was that Dennis went back to trousers when the fun was all over....because as we all know, men don't wear skirts. I didn't voice this though and spoil a fun hour.

BM,
We know that men wear skirts, everyone else "thinks" they know that men don't, and it is not only skirts.
If the ending had Dennis living happily ever after in a dress, really, that would have made it a Fairy Tale.
Steve

[Barleymower]

BM,
We know that men wear skirts, everyone else "thinks" they know that men don't, and it is not only skirts.
If the ending had Dennis living happily ever after in a dress, really, that would have made it a Fairy Tale.
Steve

A fairytale indeed because it would not have been true even fanciful. Had they done that though and Dennis had lived happily ever after in trousers and dresses as the mood took him; then everyone would have been able to try the principle on for size?

[rode_kater]

A fairytale indeed because it would not have been true even fanciful. Had they done that though and Dennis had lived happily ever after in trousers and dresses as the mood took him; then everyone would have been able to try the principle on for size?

The problem here is that the "happily ever after" is (probably) a 10 second scene tacked onto the end of the movie so nuances like "he wore whatever he wanted" just don't fit. Whichever choice the filmmakers made would have been misinterpreted so...

[Seb]

My wife reccomends this book in her english lessons to her middle school pupils, even got three of the boys to show up in dresses on a dress up day last semester.

I've not read it myself though.

[STEVIE]

Whichever choice the filmmakers made would have been misinterpreted so...

I haven't seen the movie but I have read the book RK.
It's an age thing, I associate fairy tales with books than movies, Han Christian Andersen more than Walt Disney.
I an also highly aware that many are based on very dark macabre folk tales and legends which probably wouldn't disturb young minds as much as some adults may wish to believe.
A bit of fun and not the start of a child psychology debate folks, Merry Christmas!
Steve.

[new2skirts]

I work at a District School .. Part of my job is vacuuming the Library every morning and last year during Book Week that was one of many books that the students could access and read .. I thought initially it would not be a book the staff would allow but after I read through a bit of it one day soon after that week I saw the message of it was to say it's okay to be different , out there even , a little rebellious so long as you respect others and best of all inclusion ..It's actually a great book ..
Does anybody recall in England a few years ago when a school banned boys from wearing shorts in the summer so using a loophole in the dress code they came to school in the approved skirts for a while...It was brilliant and think it might have sent a great message .. Probably changed to a few the stereotype that only girls can wear skirts too,,, Cheers..

Schoolboys in skirts is now a perennial headline most summers as things heat up, they are no longer the preserve of bus drivers and builders Most times it is to argue for shorts, but increasingly in the wild you may see a bloke substitute a denim skirt for denim shorts and few bat an eye.

I guess with more celebrities also wearing high end Dior or Thom Browne stuff to events, it's becoming a little bit more common. There's several posts on Instagram and Reddit daily as well

[r.m.anderson]

Reminds me of the movie "Dress Code" cover image:

The Dress Code.jpg

[skirted84]

I always despaired a little he became "Denise" to wear the dress. It may have fitted with the disguise and going back to school under the radar ("stealth") but its a world away from simply wearing a dress as a boy with no kind of ruse, as the title implies. This was probably filmed before transgenderism took off in children at least and would be seen quite differently nowadays.

[crfriend]

I always despaired a little he became "Denise" to wear the dress. It may have fitted with the disguise and going back to school under the radar ("stealth") but its a world away from simply wearing a dress as a boy with no kind of ruse, as the title implies.

And in redefining the lad as a lass "so he could wear the dress" the story reinforced the stereotype that boys/men/"guys" do not wear what's accepted as purely women's attire. In other words, if that's the actual thrust of the story -- which I have not read -- was just that -- to reinforce, not encourage.

This was probably filmed before transgenderism took off in children at least and would be seen quite differently nowadays.

The vast majority of children are perfectly "normal" in all aspects save, perhaps, intelligence, daring, and confidence. Ascribing trans-* to prepubescents is likely misguided at best. Probably what one is dealing with in these cases is mostly the intelligent and daring children who push the boundaries, mainly because nobody else has the guts to do so. (After all, "Somebody's got to do it!" -- and the child gets driven into the ground for daring to bring up such things.)

Thus the cycle continues. It's time for new thinking on the matter -- and it's time to properly challenge the intelligent and daring youngsters, for those are the ones that if everyone is lucky will shape the future. The dullards will never amount to anything.

[greenboots]

I always despaired a little he became "Denise" to wear the dress. It may have fitted with the disguise and going back to school under the radar ("stealth") but its a world away from simply wearing a dress as a boy with no kind of ruse, as the title implies. This was probably filmed before transgenderism took off in children at least and would be seen quite differently nowadays.

I think we are spending too much time analysing a book that was written to be fun and perhaps to get a conversation going. There is nothing in the book to suggest that Dennis is trans or even interested in being a girl. He is simply interested in fashion and his friend (whose name a forget) helps him to experience the full range of options. The day in school was seen as a bit of fun-I don’t recall anything suggesting an underlying message about gender identity. The football team simply donned skirts and dresses over their kit. To me, the whole story is about enjoying clothing choice and nothing more.

I don’t recall watching or reading any other David Walliams stories, but I suspect each simply highlights a stereotype to encourage children to think for themselves.