depictions in entertainment

[Jailyn]

I have been noticing a lot lately the depictions of transgender people in entertainment. I wouldn't say they are positive. It is almost making fun of or tongue in cheek jokes. Is it just me? or they depict us as all flaming. We are like all other people and not all of us are flaming. So I find our depiction in entertainment not flattering and rather negatively. What do all of you think on this?

[Faith]

For me it depends on  the show/movie. I've seen plenty of over-the-top sterotypical representations of all walks of life. Context is everything.

[Jailyn]

For me it depends on  the show/movie. I've seen plenty of over-the-top sterotypical representations of all walks of life. Context is everything.

That is a fair point!!!!!!

[MelissaPink]

For me it depends on  the show/movie. I've seen plenty of over-the-top sterotypical representations of all walks of life. Context is everything.

Faith, I agree with you. Hollywood has a tendency to pigeon hole and stereotype everyone. It doesn't surprise me that a film or TV director would want to an actor to portray a M-F transgender as flamboyant.  Sometimes this works and other times not so much but there are exceptions.   I personally thought Walton Goggins portrayed transgender woman Venus Van Dam superbly in "Sons of Anarchy".

Melissa

[Julia1996]

Lately the transwomen I've seen in movies and TV have been a little better. Sophia on OITNB is actually a transwoman. So is the character in sense8.  I did watch a really awful movie called Ticked off trannies with knives. The "trannies" were played by drag queens. They looked and acted just like drag queens act. Flaming. I think another problem is that some transwomen admire drag queens and emulate their flaming behavior, drag make up and speech patterns. I've seen transwomen on YouTube that sounded exactly like gay men. Using gay slang and inflections when speaking.  Cis women don't act that way.

Before anyone accuses me of bashing a particular group let me say I am not bashing anyone.  I'm just pointing out one potential reason that cis people stereotype transwomen as screaming, flaming drag queens.

[Kylo]

I've seen the opposite as well as there's a move toward depicting seriously and sympathetically. I think flamboyant or comedic depictions were more common in the past to be honest.

[Bari Jo]

Yeah, it's definitely getting better.  No more crying game jokes like in ace Ventura.  It's more trans are people too.

BTW, im not sure any of you had a hard time watching any trans depiction in anything.  I did, up until recently I would politely excuse myself and go hide.  I havent seen the crying game, or that Eddie rename movie still.  Are there others worth watching?

Bari Jo

[Julia1996]

Yeah, it's definitely getting better.  No more crying game jokes like in ace Ventura.  It's more trans are people too.

BTW, im not sure any of you had a hard time watching any trans depiction in anything.  I did, up until recently I would politely excuse myself and go hide.  I havent seen the crying game, or that Eddie rename movie still.  Are there others worth watching?

Bari Jo

I'm not sure how old it is but TransAmerica was pretty good. But I don't know if the actress was really trans or not. But she did a great job in the role.

[Dena]

I'm not sure how old it is but TransAmerica was pretty good. But I don't know if the actress was really trans or not. But she did a great job in the role.

Clearly a CIS woman

[Allie24]

Felicity Hoffman was the actress in TransAmerica. She's cis. The put some makeup FX on her to make her look "more trans."

I actually did not like that depiction too much. Maybe because I couldn't relate. Her character seemed over-obsessed with femininity, which is also a common trope.

A great depiction would be a trans actor in the role of a person not scripted as trans, just being a normal person without the plot having to focus on their trans-ness. I'm pretty tired of every movie with a trans character having their trans-ness be the focal point.

[Laurie]

 I have started watching the series "Transparent" I've heard it is a good effort to portray the plight of a transgender older parent who is on her personal journey from her coming out to wherever she is at the moment. there are 4 seasons and I've only seen two episodes of the first season. The main character Maora is of a similar age to my own so I may be able to relate to a lot of here trials. Who knows it might even help.
  Anyway it is supposed to be very well done. I get it on amazon prime but I am sure it is available elsewhere.

[Devlyn]

  The tagline for Ticked-off Trannies With Knives was:

"It takes balls to get revenge"   

[DawnOday]

I know most of you do not know any of these people but men portraying women in film and tv has been around a long time. Like Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis, Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari, Milton Berle, Jonathan Winters, Tyler Perry, Flip Wilson, Arsenio, John Louigizamo, Patrick Swazey, Wesley Snipes and numerous others used for comic relief as if we are only here to be made fun of. It does not help that impersonators are the ones who get attention. It is only recently that we have been exposed as really existing and we are humans with rights also. 

[Roll]

I was thinking about some of the random appearances of transgender characters I've seen today, here are a few that come to mind that I liked and thought were good, even if two were heart breakingly sad:

1) Cold Case - Mediocre show at best, but this episode stuck with me even before I was out to myself. I loved it, though I have no idea if it was genuinely a good episode or I just loved it because I'm who I am. Unfortunately, given the nature of the show (looking into unsolved murders from decades before), the transgender character was deceased. Quick synopsis (spoilers, but I doubt anyone wants to watch through Cold Case ): Bloody clothes soaked with fatal amount of blood loss had been discovered in a dumpster decades before, but no case had ever developed. Looking into the case again, story was uncovered involving a transgender woman in the 70s who had an encounter with two guys, one a creep, the other sweet. When they found out she was trans, the creep reacted how you would expect. The sweet one came back to her later and despite the time and everything, they developed a relationship and fell in love. The boy's father found out, and basically caught them together and shamed and drug his son away. He then stood up to his father and went to return to her, but in her assumed rejection committed suicide before he reached her. He tried to save her, but was too late. I can't really remember why, I think because he knew she would never be given a decent funeral, he discarded the bloody clothes and buried her, and pretty much went on to never recover himself, always having loved her. (Before they knew it was a suicide, he in middle age in the present was the prime suspect.) I haven't seen it in god knows how many years so maybe misremembering some of it.

2) The Closer - There's an episode that has a great portrayal of a lesbian trans woman by Beau Bridges. This one has to be seen.

3) There is also an episode of either the Closer or its spin off Major Crimes where they investigate the murder of a very young (maybe 12?) transgender girl, that has some very poignant moments. (I hate bringing up two that involve death, but I watch a ton of crime dramas so that is sort of my major point of reference.  )

All three were overwhelmingly positive views of the trans people themselves (though The Closer/Major Crimes is like 75% LGBT staff I think so that may be expected ), even if not always a happy ending.

[Allie24]

I have started watching the series "Transparent" I've heard it is a good effort to portray the plight of a transgender older parent who is on her personal journey from her coming out to wherever she is at the moment. there are 4 seasons and I've only seen two episodes of the first season. The main character Maora is similar to my own so I may be able to relate to a lot of here trials. Who knows it might even help.
  Anyway it is supposed to be very well done. I get it on amazon prime but I am sure it is available elsewhere.

This is actually a wonderful show! So beautifully shot and with such engaging characters! I actually argue that cis actors should be allowed to play trans people because Jeffrey Tambor does such a splendid job! I actually forget that he's a man in real life! lol He plays Maura THAT well! I almost wish Maura was a real person.

Another film in which I thought a cis actor player a trans person extremely well was "Soldier's Girl." Lee Pace played the titular character, and I actually had to google whether or not the actor was trans! I was that convinced!

[EvaMarie]

Am I the only one who hates Transparent? It seems less and less about the trans character and more about her spoiled rotten adult children. Entire episodes where we "explore the sexuality of the children" and one has a lesbian relationship with a feminist. Cool, that's great, now show me the struggles of the trans person and let that be the focus. Too much filler, not enough things that fit the intended subject matter. Even in a program dedicated to a trans character, they take the back seat, they are somehow less important.

Personally, I think one of the best "shows" to watch is "Her Story." It's a series on youtube and it's really short. I'm not sure if they plan to make more but I hope they do. It actually feels like it understands trans people, which it should, because it is written, directed, and stars trans people. It feels more like what an average persons life would feel like.

[Roll]

Am I the only one who hates Transparent? It seems less and less about the trans character and more about her spoiled rotten adult children. Entire episodes where we "explore the sexuality of the children" and one has a lesbian relationship with a feminist. Cool, that's great, now show me the struggles of the trans person and let that be the focus. Too much filler, not enough things that fit the intended subject matter. Even in a program dedicated to a trans character, they take the back seat, they are somehow less important.

I admit, I don't really like it (and I'm a huge fan of Tambor) and one of the big reasons is the stuff with the children. It falls heavy into the "everyone is gay" trope, which always makes me feel like the entertainment industry is just pandering(while I don't like OITNB either, at least it makes more sense statistically because of the whole prison thing). I'm also not big on the whole "we're a comedy that is all drama and no jokes" genre that has developed lately.

Though to be fair, in general it's just not really my type of show. (I like straight up comedy (Kimmy Schmidt, Brooklyn 99), crime dramas, and sci-fi/horror. Pure character/life drama just isn't my thing.)

[kayla1618]

I have started watching the series "Transparent" I've heard it is a good effort to portray the plight of a transgender older parent who is on her personal journey from her coming out to wherever she is at the moment. there are 4 seasons and I've only seen two episodes of the first season. The main character Maora is of a similar age to my own so I may be able to relate to a lot of here trials. Who knows it might even help.
  Anyway it is supposed to be very well done. I get it on amazon prime but I am sure it is available elsewhere.

Transparent is awesome!  I devoured it all in 2 days lol
But I agree with others here.  It loses the focus on transition, and becomes more about drama/her kids. 
But honestly, it might have got boring if it was all about Moira/transition the whole time?

I thought it was the perfect amount of it actually, and great characters/stories that you actually care about.
Good music too.

[EvaMarie]

I admit, I don't really like it (and I'm a huge fan of Tambor) and one of the big reasons is the stuff with the children. It falls heavy into the "everyone is gay" trope, which always makes me feel like the entertainment industry is just pandering(while I don't like OITNB either, at least it makes more sense statistically because of the whole prison thing). I'm also not big on the whole "we're a comedy that is all drama and no jokes" genre that has developed lately.

Though to be fair, in general it's just not really my type of show. (I like straight up comedy (Kimmy Schmidt, Brooklyn 99), crime dramas, and sci-fi/horror. Pure character/life drama just isn't my thing.)

Exactly. Not everyone is gay, a lot of people aren't even a little gay. That's cool. But when movie/tv makers get something they run with it until it's disgusting. They just try to mash in everything they can because of course more is always better right? You can make up for a lack of a good script by just piling up the tropes. My girlfriend tried to get me to watch OITNB and was shocked when I didn't want to. "But there's a trans woman on it" she replied, as though that's my primary criteria for wanting to consume something. She tries really, REALLY hard, but sometimes falls short. It feels kind of like Transparent is the same way. "But it's about a trans person." Ya, and really poorly done too.

I don't tend to watch a lot of drama either. I love Kimmy Schmidt and New Girl but I watch a lot of things like Supernatural too. Mostly I just stream Magic the gathering players. Gotta step up my game.

[Allie24]

Am I the only one who hates Transparent? It seems less and less about the trans character and more about her spoiled rotten adult children. Entire episodes where we "explore the sexuality of the children" and one has a lesbian relationship with a feminist. Cool, that's great, now show me the struggles of the trans person and let that be the focus. Too much filler, not enough things that fit the intended subject matter. Even in a program dedicated to a trans character, they take the back seat, they are somehow less important.

Personally, I think one of the best "shows" to watch is "Her Story." It's a series on youtube and it's really short. I'm not sure if they plan to make more but I hope they do. It actually feels like it understands trans people, which it should, because it is written, directed, and stars trans people. It feels more like what an average persons life would feel like.

See that's what I like about Transparent, though. The problem with shows like Her Story is that they're a lot like Christian films which are all message and no story, so I end up not caring about any of the characters because the whole thing reeks of propaganda, which to me, regardless of the message and whether or not I agree with it, is not really art. Boy Meets Girl had the same problem. I did like the film, but ultimately it's tone is no different than a Christian film like Fireproof or God's Not Dead, which are just plain preachy.

And the writing/directing staff of Transparent is made up entirely of trans people. The show's creator, Jill Soloway, is non-binary. And I don't think that the show pushes the "everyone is gay" trope at all (I've never even heard of such a thing). For starters, Josh Pfefferman and Shelly Pfefferman are both straight, so is Sarah's ex-husband Len and Rabbi Raquel and Shea and Davina. The only gay characters are Maura, Sarah and Ali.

I don't really understand the desire for shows that focus solely on trans issues. After I a while I stop caring because it's just treading the same water over and over and doing nothing to address anything else about the character other than the fact that they're trans. Being trans is such a small part of my life, I think it's a bit sad that all Hollywood and TV land think that that is the entirety of my identity/existence. I long for a film with a trans actor who is never even said to be trans by any of the characters. Like they are living stealth. Now THAT is something I would pay to see, because then we get to know the character.

It's no different than movies made about black people and the black community that focus solely on racism and civil rights... there are so many of them at this point it's nice to see a movie in which a black character is not fighting for equality and just living their life and being a character like all the other white characters. THAT'S equality. Not to mention that films that are all about trans issues isolate cis audience members who would benefit from seeing a trans person being a normal person and doing normal things. This will allow them to relate better to the character and apply those same attitudes towards actual trans people that they encounter. Imagine if you watched a movie about someone who was in a wheelchair and all it was about was how hard it was for them being handicapped... you wouldn't be able to relate much to them if you yourself were not in a wheelchair. But if they didn't focus so much on the handicapped aspect and instead looked at them as a individual person, allowing you to relate to their struggles that weren't related to their being handicapped, then it would help you see past their disability and see the human being.