What movie helps you with being trans?

[Alyssa M.]

>_<



Please please please don't take anything you see in this movie seriously. It's not real. It's made up.

If you want to learn something about quantum mechanics without going through a formal course check out the Doug Robb Memorial Lectures by Richard Feynman. Or at least I think that's the video I've seen -- it doesn't matter anyway, because all the pop science I've read or seen by Feynman has actually taken the "science" part of "pop science" seriously, while actually being accessible. Nobody else has come close -- I guess Brian Greene's no idiot, but he definitely gets a wee bit batty in Elegant Universe.

Pop science is hard to do. But WTBDWK doesn't even try.

(Of course, as a drinking game it's okay: you drink any time someone says something wildly inaccurate. Just make sure to use light beer for this game, or it could get dangerous.)

[dawn]

If you want to learn something about quantum mechanics without going through a formal course check out the Doug Robb Memorial Lectures by Richard Feynman.

For anyone who is interested : http://www.vega.org.uk/video/subseries/8

[lady amarant]

If you want to learn something about quantum mechanics without going through a formal course check out the Doug Robb Memorial Lectures by Richard Feynman. Or at least I think that's the video I've seen -- it doesn't matter anyway, because all the pop science I've read or seen by Feynman has actually taken the "science" part of "pop science" seriously, while actually being accessible. Nobody else has come close -- I guess Brian Greene's no idiot, but he definitely gets a wee bit batty in Elegant Universe.

Pop science is hard to do. But WTBDWK doesn't even try.

(Of course, as a drinking game it's okay: you drink any time someone says something wildly inaccurate. Just make sure to use light beer for this game, or it could get dangerous.)

I quite enjoyed Elegant Universe - find his books much better a read though. What the bleep is nice to ask what-if questions with, but yeah, pinch of salt.

[funnygrl]

All of the movies and documentaries I've seen about being TS depress me as the TG girls in those are WAY better looking than me and I wish I could look just like them...but that being said...

when i'm needing enlightenment or motivation TS-wise I rather like the french film "Amelie". Don't know why, it just works.

[Rachael]

I dunno, the transwomen in most ->-bleeped-<- films make me cringe...
R >

[Chaunte]

Actually, I suggest The Bicentennial Man staring Robin Williams.

Robin plays an android whose positronic brain reaches self-awareness.  He on a quest to become human, altering his physical appearance and internal structure to be more human.

This is not an action film.  If anything, I would actually list this as a mildly science-fiction chick-flick.  It does make you question just what does it mean to be human.

And isn't this what we are all doing?  On a quest to transform our bodies to match who we know we are?

Chaunte

[debbiej]

I remember being very impressed with Bicentennial Man. For me it had religious meanings as they tried to define what being human was. Did Robin William's character have a soul? For me, he did when he had such a large impact on the lives around him. His soul lived on in the people that were impacted by his life and through the generations of people who's lives were changed because he "lived".

It all fits very well with this liberal Christian's theology. 

Debbie

[joannatsf]

I dunno, while I like a lot of movies with trans things in them, like Rocky Horror and Hedwig and the Angry Inch, I have yet to find any movie that actually helps me with being trans.

Even when a movie tries to be sensitive to trans issues, it's still probably going to have been made for cissexuals by cissexuals.

I have to agree on that. While movies like TransAmerica for example, may help to raise awareness (slightly) of and about us, I find them of little value personally. If I had to choose "trans" films that have really helped me, they'd be documentaries - HBO's Middle Sexes, and Sundance's Transgeneration the ones that 'spoke' to me most.

Personally, I loved TransAmerica.  I didn't see it as a story of transition, but a story about family.  Bree denied her family even existed at the beginning of the movie and was forced by the arrival of Toby in her life to resolve her feelings about them.  If you didn't notice, the climax of the movie was not her surgery but the violent departure of Toby from her parents home.  She grew from the experience of the road trip and her acceptance of her family and all it's pathos.  The return of Toby in the denouement ended the story with the hope of reconciliation between father and son.  Bree's transsexualism was a plot device to create dramatic tension, not the central theme of the film.

[Rachael]

As much as that may be the case.... They billed it as an insight into transsexuality....
Society saw it as such....
yet it was a barrow full of the same old horsecrap they have been putting out since before time...
R >

[debbiej]

Personally, I loved TransAmerica.  I didn't see it as a story of transition, but a story about family.

Thank you for your comment Claire. I too enjoyed Transamerica. As a story and as movie making it was quite good. As for how it presented Transgender... It was one interpretation. I, personally, don't have a reason to hate it.

Debbie

[Kate]

A movie (amoungst others, but I saw it while I was ripening) that helped me with NOT being trans was "V For Vendetta."

Evey is... well, my heroine. Watching her go from a timid, scared little girl afraid to say or do anything... to realizing she believed in something more important than even her life, AND acting on that faith... wow. I felt sick after watching it, knowing she was me, knowing I had been throwing away my one shot at doing what I ALWAYS knew I was meant to do in this life.

But it's sorta a zen thing. They say that when enlightenment is ripe, anything can spark it: tripping on a crack, accidentally kicking a pebble, a dog bark... anything.

But movies with trans characters? No, I really haven't been able to relate to them, including Trans America. I DID love "Orlando" very much, though she's not exactly a trans character. But I can relate to her, and her journey.

~Kate~

[louise000]

I remember enjoying Tootsie when it was doing the rounds, but luckily one thing my lady and I have in common is that we both enjoy luvvy-duvvy romantic comedies and also the Jane Austin adaptations such as Pride and Prejudice. I think that's when my beloved first began to realise I was not as other 'men'. Especially when I blubbed at the end of Watership Down.
L.

[Rachael]

Gladiator for me.... *drools at pre fat russel crowe*
Had everything, lost it all, but finds peace in the end....  works for me ...
R >

[shanetastic]

Gladiator for me.... *drools at pre fat russel crowe*
Had everything, lost it all, but finds peace in the end....  works for me ...
R >

lololol.  For some reason I really love that movie as well. 

[buttercup]

I haven't seen TransAmerica.  I've heard many mixed reviews, so not sure whether I will give it a try.

I love movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Gattaca.

The first, because trying to erase memories would be very tempting for me to do, but I realise it isn't that easy, and not necessarily a wise thing to do.

The second, I like the concept of overcoming adversity.  The odds were against him from the moment he was born and he bloody well showed them all!!!   

[Pica Pica]

orlando is a very odd film, because orlando doesn't seem to get that affected whatever happens to them

[joannatsf]

As much as that may be the case.... They billed it as an insight into transsexuality....
Society saw it as such....
yet it was a barrow full of the same old horsecrap they have been putting out since before time...
R >

You can't really blame the film makers or writers for the way it was marketed.  The distributor has a free hand in how they get asses in the seats.  I've seen several movies that were promoted as comedies that weren't funny at all!  The director never intended them to be.  The World According to Garp is one example.  Yes, their was humour ad lots of irony but the fate of the protagonist and those close to him kinda rules out the slapstick angle the marketers pursued.

[ambientdischord]

Breakfast on Pluto.  And yes, I think Cillian Murphy is extremely hot.  And the movie did bother me a little because for a while I felt like the main character was an airhead, but I eventually got that she was not.  I related so well to the film because of the process of her transition.  She didn't want to be a girl when she was young, and even as late as high school didn't really know.  It wasn't until her adulthood was well underway that she really came into her womanhood.  It turns my parent's theory that, since I didn't want to be a girl explicitly as a child, I must not be trans, on its head.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch, of course...

Interview with a Vampire.  Shh.  Don't tell.  I was goth in high school *ducks*.  Vampires have always intrigued me because regardless of whatever gender presentation they have they all seem to be androgynes.  I used to dream of becoming one just for the immortal beauty of the thing.  Ok, that should have gone on the confession board! I'm so embarrassed!

the Gundam Wing Series.  Listen!  It was high school, ok?  I promise it's all better now.  But I always wanted to be a female version of Duo.  I was in love with the idea of being that character.

Amelie, only because I wish I was her.

I'm sure there are more, so I'll post when I think of them.

[joannatsf]

Breakfast on Pluto is one of my favorites, too.  It was put  together so well with the various subplots seemingly independent of each other until they merge toward the end.

Interview with the Vampire is also one of my favorites.  Lestat's remark, "the gift is different for us all" I think applies to to trans folk as well as vampires.

The film that has inspired me most in my journey is American Beauty.  Lester Burnham in his middle years comes to the trap he has made for himself and makes his escape.  It's something I did myself though I hope I come to a better end than Lester did.

[tekla]

Whenever I feel like getting into a real relationship again I just watch Whose Afraid of Virgina Woofe, that ends it for a while.

As for helping me with who I am, Rocky Horror always reminds me that weird can make you rich and famous.