Major Analysis of "The Crying Game"

The Crying Game starts out with a unit of IRA soldiers kidnapping a British soldier, Jody. The IRA soldiers demand that the British release the other IRA members or they were going to execute Jody if their demands weren’t met within three days. A foot soldier, Fergus guards Jody during those three days and they quickly develop a bond. They share many stories and Jody tells him a particular story about a scorpion and a frog. The scorpion wanted to cross the stream and asked a frog to carry him to the other side. The frog then asked the frog “how do I know you wont sting me” and the scorpion tells him that if he does sting the frog it would mean both of them would drown. The frog agrees to take him across the stream and before they even reached the other side the scorpion stung the frog. The frog asked why he stung him, now they’re both going to drown. The scorpion replied “I can’t help it, it’s in my nature.” Jody also persuades Fergus to meet his girlfriend, Dil, after his execution. When time comes for Jody to be executed, Fergus takes him out in the woods but can’t follow through with the plan. Jody attempts to flee across the road and is accidentally run over by British armored personnel and dies instantly. Fergus feels terrible for Jody’s death and hides from his IRA companions and takes a job as a day laborer with the alias, Jimmy. While he is in London, Fergus meets, Dil, Jody’s very attractive girlfriend at a bar where she is singing “The Crying Game”. He pushes his guilt aside and continues to pursue Dil, and protects her from an obsessive suitor. Fergus gradually falls in love with Dil, but when he later is about to make love to her he discovers that she is a transwoman and has a penis. He rushes to the bathroom to throw up and accidently hits Dil in the face, leaving her on the floor with a bruise on her face.
Jude comes in Fergus’ apartment and tells him that they have to go follow an assassination and tells Fergus to forget about the girl and that she knows all about Fergus and Dil. Fergus can’t forget about Dil so he cuts her hair and gives her a male disguise. The night before the assassination Dil gets drunk and Fergus has to walk her home. Dil tells Fergus to stay and while he is there he admits to her that he had a hand in Jodys death. The next morning when Fergus wakes up he is tied up and at gunpoint by Dil. Dil then forces Fergus to tell her that he loves her and will never leave her to the tune of “The Crying Game”. Dil unties Fergus and Jude comes in the room looking to kill Fergus for missing the assassination. Dil kills Jude and Fergus takes the fall for it.
This film explored race, gender inequality, nationalism and sexuality. It was a very interesting movie to watch and sympathize with the characters of subcultures that are presented as very complex. It had a lot of thrill but also almost a forbidden romance. The main character deals with being attracted to a woman with a penis, but eventually overcomes it and sees the greater good in her.


"Summer Movie Guide." Movie Database. amazon, n.d. Web. 28 Apr 2010.

Summary of Major Works

Mona Lisa (1986)

This movies is about a man named George who struggles finding a job because his time in prison has reduced his stature in the criminal world. The only job he could find was being a driver for Simone, a beautiful high-priced call girl. At first he doesn’t get along with her but later develops real affection for her. Simone is playing a dangerous game and when George agrees to help her, they both end up in trouble with the local kingpin. Mona Lisa was nominated for Oscar, had 13 wins and 11 nominations.

The Crying Game (1992)

This movie is about a British soldier who is kidnapped by IRA terrorists. During the 3 day stay where he was captured he befriends one of his captors. The captor is then drawn into this soldier’s world. The Crying Game won Osca, had 18 wins and 17 nominations.

Michael Collins (1996)

After the defeat of Irish rebels by superior British forces during the Easter Week rebellion of 1916, Michael Collins develops new strategies for the independence of Ireland. His are now recognized as urban guerrilla tactics and organized assassinations of G-Men. By 1921 the British are willing to negotiate and Sinn Fein President Eamon de Valera sends a reluctant Collins to London to negotiate a settlement. When Collins returns with a compromise of a divided Ireland and an Irish Free State, not a Republic, he is vilified by de Valera. He is then repudiated by his good friend Harry Boland after Boland learns that his girlfriend Kitty is in love with Collins. Collins is now faced with civil war as he struggles against those who insist on complete freedom for all of Ireland. Michael Collins was nominated for 2 Oscars, had 4 wins and 8 nominations.

Butcher Boy (1997)

The pressures on Francie to grow up are immense. He has a violent alcoholic father, his mother is depressive and commits suicide, and his best friend, Joe goes off to a boarding school. After his father dies Francie sinks into paranoia directed towards his nasty neighbor, whom he blames for most of his bad fortunes, Mrs.Nugent. He ends up killing Mrs.Nugent and the authorities arrest and commit him to an asylum in an attempt to cure him. Butcher Boy has 7 wins and 8 nominations.

Ondina (2009)

Odina is a story of an Irish fisherman who discovers a woman in his fishing net. He believes that this woman, Odina, is a mermaid. Odina was nominated for 2 Oscarcs, had 4 wons and 8 other nominations.

"IMBd." Internet Movie Database. amazon, n.d. Web. 15 Apr 2010. .

Major Themes, Influences, and Artistic Style

Neil Jordan treats every one of his movies as a brand new project. There is no such thing as a typical Neil Jordan movie. Although there may not be a single type of Neil Jordan film, there is a Neil Jordan style and approach. Many of Jordan’s films have a gothic sensibility. There are the obvious symbols like vampires, ghosts, and haunted castles, but he also expresses his fascination with death and decay, no real boundaries between reality and fantasy, and out-of-bounds sexuality.
Another one of his themes is fragmentation of identity. Characters in Jordan’s films express this fragmentation by treating their identity as something that can be revised under different circumstances. His films are a lot like the modern world where familiar frameworks such as organized religion, nationalism, and gender roles are often perceived as untrustworthy and irrelevant.
Jordan approaches all of his movies with a similar artistic style. He takes the familiar and turns into something questionable. His films make us, the viewers; question our understanding of the world. All of his films revolve around this idea that reality is complex and not absolute.
Symbolism is also very important to Jordan. Mona Lisa has many images relating to childhood and innocence: the white rabbit, the dwarves, and the old woman’s shoe. In The Company of Wolves there are many symbolic images of procreation and sexuality.
He was influenced a lot by Ireland and what was going on at the time. "The world we grew up in wasn't bad -- it was fascinating -- it was just blighted by these [...] medieval eruptions of insanity. Ireland was a bit like that then. It wasn't quite politics, it wasn't religion. You didn't know what it was. But what it definitely was, was the intrusion of severe violence into the lives of innocent people." -- Neil Jordan.


Mapes, Marty. "Interview with Neil Jordan." Turner Classic Movies (2010): n. pag. Web. 9 Apr 2010.

Sragow, Michael. "Beautiful Dreamer." (1999): n. pag. Web. 24 Mar 2010.

Jordans Career

John Boorman (an English filmmaker) was filming Excalibur in Ireland, and recruited Neil Jordan as a script consultant. This eventually led to his first film that he wrote and directed himself, Angel, a stylish 1982 crime drama. His first success was the film Mona Lisa (1986), where he became recognized as an emerging talent in international cinema. Following Mona Lisa he directed two more films which turned out to be major disappointments, High Spirits (1988) and We’re No Angels (1989). He then returned to Ireland to direct The Miracle (1991), a drama about two Irish teens, and somewhat rebounded from his two last disappointments. He then directed The Crying Game, and received an Oscar and a New York Film Critics Circle award for his screenplay. After this major establishment of his reputation he returned to Hollywood and directed Interview with the Vampire (1994). Another success was Michael Collins (1996), which won him a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Jordan then won a Best Directors nod at the Berlin Film Festival for his movie The Butcher Boy (1997). He also earned the Venice Film Festival’s Silver Lion for handling of such difficult material. After a disappointing Hollywood outing, In Dreams (1999), he returned later that year with The End Of The Affair, which was based on a Graham Greene novel, which won a BAFTA Film Awards for Best Screenplay. Jordan received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the IFTA awards in 2003.

"The Internet Movie Data Base." Biography for Neil Jordan. amazon.com, 2010. Web. 26 Mar 2010. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001403/bio.

"Tribute Entertainment Media Group." Neil Jordan Bio. N.p., 26 mar 2010. Web. 26 Mar 2010. http://www.tribute.ca/people/Neil+Jordan/2233.

Jordans Biography

On February 25, 1950 Neil Jordan was born to parents Angela O'Brien, a painter, and Michael Jordan, a university professor, in Sligo County, Ireland. His parents were Catholics so they educated their son at St. Paul's College. Neil Jordan once said "I was brought up a Catholic and was quite religious at one stage of my life, when I was young. But it left me with no scars whatever; it just sort of vanished."[1] He is currently an atheist and stated that "God is the greatest imaginary being of all time. Along with Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, the invention of God is probably the greatest creation of human thought."[1]. Jordan later attended University College in Dublin and studied Irish history and English literature. Neil has 5 children, Anna and Sarah from his first marriage with Vivienne Shields; Dashiel and Daniel from his second and current marriage with Brenda Rawn; and Ben, a child from a former relationship with Mary Donohoe, an architect. Jordan once said "I'm fascinated by monsters [and] monstrous people and fascinated with illogic and irrationality"[1] and doesn’t understand why “so many Irish plays now have the structure of a dream and use the language of poetry? There is a lack of astringency about the whole thing which is vaguely irritating."[1]

[1] Sragow, Michael. "Beautiful Dreamer." (1999): n. pag. Web. 24 Mar 2010. http://www.salon.com/entertainment/col/srag/1999/12/09/jordan/index.html

"Neil Jordan Biography." NetIndustries (2009): n. pag. Web. 25 Mar 2010. http://www.filmreference.com/film/73/Neil-Jordan.html