In
Fishbelly White, a farm boy has become a teenager
but still retains his pet chicken, and his favorite trick
is to put the head of the chicken in his mouth for several
seconds. The boy puts the chicken in the basket of his bicycle
as he pedals around the countryside. Although he wants to
be accepted as one of the boys, he does not know how. He hangs
out with a handsome older teenager, who pushes him into the
local swimming hole, a jump of several feet. After the two
get out of the water, the older boy successfully tempts the
younger boy to provide sexual service under a bridge. The
rowdier boys make fun of the younger boy because of his pet
chicken and dare him to kill the chicken to prove his manhood.
As the film ends, the younger boy bites off the head of the
chicken and finally gains acceptance, a paradigm for the way
in which sensitive preteens become macho teens, for the way
in which a command performance of male violence is a rite
of passage among peers in violent, conformist America. The
film, directed by Michael Burke, is 22 minutes in duration
and was produced at New York University's Tisch School of
the Arts. MH
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