Jessica Somersall
Trigger Warning: Rape, Transphobia
Trans visibility in film history, and in mainstream media today, has a very complex past due to the lack of knowledge on the transgender community and prejudice ideals that keep them from thriving. The identity of trans bodies on camera has been suggested and displayed to demonstrate trans bodies as mentally ill, fictional, and a slapstick comedic point to strike. Speaking as an ally to the transgender community, there is a need in the media to see a representation of who you are or who is like us. While some communities are privileged to have great representation in mainstream media, the transgender community is not. The transgender community has historically been marginalized by film culture and media, thus leading to the Netflix documentary, Disclosure. Disclosure opens up with influential TV and film trans actors, such as actress Hunter Schafer from Euphoria, actress Jamie Clayton from Sense8, actress Laverne Cox of Orange is the New Black, and the appearance of actresses from the show Pose.
Actress Laverne Cox mentions her first time seeing a “trans persona” on a television show called the ‘FLIP Wilson Show,’ from a character called Geraldine. She was aware at a young age of how that comedic persona was portrayed on TV, providing insight on how the public viewed Trans-peoples. With the mention of serious trans issues in film, such as gender reassignment surgery, comedy would be used to mock it. The image portrayed of transwomen on television did not compare to the person Laverne knew she was, making her hate who she was because the representation did not align. The reality of trans representation in film comes from the depiction of cross-dressing as an early theme for moving pictures. Society thought it to be fascinating, and from the early age of cinema, cross-dressing was seen as silly and mocked at. Someone who crossed gender expectations was often harassed and arrested because it was illegal to live their truth. American cinema has traces of trans-identity there, such as the film Florida Enchantment directed by Sidney Drew, which illustrated transmasculine but in a gender-transgressive fantasy with an overload of racist expectation to follow.
Audiences have been conditioned by Hollywood to react to trans bodies on-screen in fear. Director Alfred Hitchcock used multiple images of “psychopaths dressing up as women” and going on to kill or rape cisgender women and cisgender men (Movie: The Alfred Hitchcock Hour). Also, the Silence of the Lambs character, Buffalo Bill, is an example of the problematic language used towards the community, since this character affirms the argument often used by Feminists that Transwomen are appropriating the female form. Disclosure also refers to the conditioning of trans body image. Films often take advantage of how trans bodies are taken for granted sexually through the lens of “fetish of curiosity and an assertive aggression of correcting” trans expression. Seen in the HBO show Euphoria, character Jules is fetishized by Mr. Jacobs in demonstration of dominance and aggression, while clearly seeing that his fetish of her made her uncomfortable.
Violent narratives of rape of transgender people in film culture have historically been mentioned and referenced in the spectacle of dominance and correcting the behaviour of the community. In the film Boys Don’t Cry, based on true events, trans male character (Brandon Teena) hit a nerve with some of the actors when mentioning a rape scene that the trans male character had endured. He talks about being humiliated and violated sexually to prove gender reality and the process of proving a dehumanizing spectacle.
In order to rectify the abuse of trans identity in film media, there is a need for holding production companies accountable for their actions. By holding these companies accountable, we set a standard for film and television that is acceptable. Trans presence is needed in the media because they are a community that brings their own cultural experiences that relate to other trans people. If you are looking for great representation of transwomen, transmen, and trans people in film, here are a few shows to watch: Euphoria, Sense8, Pose, and the movie: Saturday Church.
Sources:
Disclosure. Directed by Sam Feder, 2020.
Comments