MovieChat Forums > Transamerica (2006) Discussion > Offensive to Trans Individuals?

Offensive to Trans Individuals?

posted 18 years ago by justin1286
43 replies | jump to latest

As an active advocate for the GLBTA community, I personally consider myself very sensitive to transgender issues. I saw Transamerica, and I really liked it and I thought it was a great way for the media to shed some light on trans-phobia and transgender-related issues. It wasn't very all-encompassing, but it had an intimate story and a great principle character.

One of my Transgender friends despised this movie, though. He called it "very offensive." I was wondering if anybody else -- especially other transgender, intersex, or genderqueer people -- shared this sentiment and why I shouldn't think this film is as revolutionary as I thought it was.

[–] shayna1980 17 years ago

I didn't find it offensive, and I thought Felicity Huffman played the part well. At first I felt that the role should have been played by a transsexual woman, but after seeing her performance, I'm not sure anyone else could have pulled it off quite the way she did.

I personally don't like the term 'genuine girl'.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] zeta1983-1 16 years ago

Personally I don't see this film as offensive. I think Bree was portrayed as sympathetic and just trying to transition and get on with her life until her son complicated things. I think the acting was all very good and convincing too and I don't think it makes a huge difference whether Bree was portrayed by an actor or actress so long as they did a convincing job which I feel FH did.

[–] elizabethveldon 16 years ago

I've never forgiven the film for having a Heterosexual Woman playing the part of a 'transgender woman (I would call myself GenderQueer and/ or GenderTrash but I do not wish to offend others.)

There are 'Transpeople' (forgive my quotation marks but allow me that concession) in the Acting Profession so why did they not use one of them instead? I suppose that wouldn't have sold to Straight people then...

I personally find the representation in Better Than Chocolate incredibly positive as it shows a proud, intelligent and sensitive Lesbian 'Transwoman' who can use her fists if she has to - my kid of Gal!

[–] surfrac 16 years ago

"I've never forgiven the film for having a Heterosexual Woman playing the part of a 'transgender woman."

I can understand your frustration and anger, but let me try to make you see this from another point of view.

Most people who don't understand gender issues and trans issues would perceive a MtF transsexual as nothing more than a man in drag. If a man was in Felicity's role, most people while watching the movie would never forget that they are seeing a man dressed as a woman. They probably would not ever view the main character as a woman. Sad, but true for most of the American population.

The strength of having a "genetic female" (I hope that is the right term, I'm still learning about these issues) play the part is that the audience will see a woman, which is exactly what they are meant to see. They will relate to her as a woman. They will sympathize with her as a woman.

It's a small psychological trick, but I think it helps audiences make a small step toward seeing transsexuals as the gender they identify with. I too would hope that more transsexuals will get work as actors playing transsexuals, but also NOT playing transsexuals. I think it would be a real step forward to have a transsexual simply play a role as their gender as they are with no mention of their transsexuality. I think THAT would be powerful. To be recognized as a woman or a man, not as a MTF or FTM.

But this is just my opinion, not to be confused with objective reality. ;)

Rae

[–] bliss_s 16 years ago

Good analysis Rae,
The person you responded to is someone I'd call a "gender warrior", they expect that the act of undergoing sex reassignment be either an affirmation or a renunciation of the social construct "gender".

For most transsexuals I've encountered, sex reassignment is simply the process of bringing their genital sex into congruence with their "brain sex". All the awkwardness we see in Bree in this movie is her contending with altering her gendered presentation. In the end people that have dealt with transsexualism gender in a variously masculine and feminine way that feels comfortable to them as individuals, just as we all do. And just as most people do post transition people primarily gender in a way that is socially consistent with their currently assigned sex.

Gender queer folks feel more comfortable gendering their lives in ways that make it difficult for others to make assumptions about their sex assignment.

I ride the tempest, tame the waves...I will not resign myself to the usual lot of women

[–] elizabethveldon 16 years ago

ofcorse but...

would you say the same thing if a White Man was 'Blacked Up' to play a Black Man?

Unbelievable?

Othello has been performed for a long time and the convention until rather recently was to have a white man 'black up' for the role.

Similarly we will see, in a few years, embarrassment about films like this that use non-Trans women to play Trans-women.

[–] surfrac 16 years ago

That's a very weak comparison. The struggles of Black civil right and Trans civil rights are very different. I find a lot of people compare any social struggle to the African-American struggle to try to make a straw man comparison that they can then be outraged about.

How about this for a non sequitur comparison? John Travolta played a woman in the movie Hairspray. Since the first Hairspray movie, this role has always been played by a man. In fact, the director and writer, John Waters, made several films casting Divine (a man) in female roles. Should women be outraged about this? Should John Waters feel embarrassed?

Or how about this? Cate Blanchett plays a representation of Bob Dylan named Jude in the movie I'm Not There. Should men everywhere cry out against the defamation of their gender?

What you are ignoring about your Othello argument is that the role was played by a white man entirely because of racism. Black men were assumed to be bad actors and were also not suppose to be seen as strong leading men. This is not the case in Transamerica. They did not set out to specifically not show any true trans people, in fact several were in the movie. Perhaps, there was some weakness in conviction to not have a trans actress as the lead, but it certainly was not the same blatant bigotry as your Othello example or the old custom of never allowing women on stage.

But it's obvious you just want to be angry about something, so I'll leave you to wallow in your moral outrage.

Rae

[–] elizabethveldon 16 years ago

please do not misunderstand me, i was not making a direct comparison between the Black Civil Rights movement and any other movement what i was making a point about was that, just as Black men where not considered worthy of being Othello and it was feared no one would want to see a Black man in the role, no one thinks a 'Transwoman' is capable of playing a 'Transwoman' and that no one would pay to see it either.

As to Hairspray: that's a role made famous by Divine a Drag Artist. It's a role for a Drag Artist and, to be honest, I had no desire to see John Trevolting make John Water's trash cinema into Family Fare (to quote from one of his films 'Family is another word for Censorship') so the comparison is invalid.

Men and Women are represented in Cinema all the time, 'Transpeople' are hardly ever represented outside of stereotypical roles. That is the difference.

[–] bliss_s 16 years ago

Just curious, what are "transpeople"?

It is my distinct impression that the character Bree considered herself to be
a woman. Perhaps that's what's offensive to "Trans Individuals".

Just to interject a bit of personal opinion--the folks I've known that call
themselves "trans-women" or "trans-men" always carry a bit of the gender warrior
about, driven by a belief they fall outside the socially constructed and accepted
gender binary. It's also my personal observation and opinion that folks who adopt
a "trans" identity tend to reify gendering in such a way that they more closely
associate it to sex assignment than the rest of us. Which may be one of the
reasons why a number of feminists react so negatively to people that claim an
innate gender identity so overpowering that they must change their bodies to live
it. Of course it's also my belief that transsexualism has much less to do with
the social construct "gender" than with a sense of brain/body congruence.

I ride the tempest, tame the waves...I will not resign myself to the usual lot of women

[–] elizabethveldon 16 years ago

it's also my belief that transsexualism has much less to do with
the social construct "gender" than with a sense of brain/body congruence.

you are allowed you beliefs and i am allowed to laugh at them.

'Transpeople' (with 'quotes' in place) are people who accept the Medicalization of their bodies and experiences. I use quotation marks because i disagree with the very idea of 'Gender', of 'Male' and 'Female' being distinct entities (or entities at all) but do not wish ti 'diss' other people's identities.

Now: as to your comments about 'Transpeople': another stereotype, another act of violence

[–] gallae 16 years ago

Any film that makes an impact is going to please some folk, and upset others. The problem with the IMDB is that regardless of the film, you are going to get comments that cluster towards opposite ends of the spectrum. That being the case I think you'll be lucky to get a representative picture of how the film was received by the trans community.

Judging from the general responses here, it's had a better reception than, say, There's Something About Miriam where the participants of that reality show are deliberately deceived by the producers to believe that Miriam is a non-trans woman. But there's the difference - deliberate deceit vs a more realistic reaction by people to someone who's different.

I mention the above because my reaction to the film was influenced by my experience in "coming out" as trans back in 1994. At that time it was really hard to find a way to gently "break the ice" on the subject. As it happened I took my mother to see a film The Sum of Us before I came out to her. The film shows a gay son who is "just a nice bloke" (played by Russell Crowe no less) who lives with his accepting father - he was different but OK. When I did come out, my mother though i was going to say that I was gay! The next year Priscilla came out and that But, if this film had been around, I would have taken her to see Transamerica instead.

When I started my transition I was deeply conservative and emotionally vulnerable, much like Bree. By the time I had my surgery (2000) a lot had changed and I was much less worried about "passing" or others opinions. That being the case, I saw a lot of myself in Bree and could identify with her. And because of that I liked the film, because by the end of it, Bree has grown emotionally and is in a much better place socially than before.

This is not because she's had "the op", but because now she's connection not only with a son she never knew she had, but with her family as well. Those connections aren't perfect, and neither is Bree, which I found realistic and reassuring. It makes her human, and that's a world of difference from how trans people have generally been portrayed in films, which in the past rather tends to be as freaks, curiosities or victims. Of course it's not the perfect film either, but two years ago when I visited my mother in Perth I took a copy with me and we watched it together. Some of the scenes (Bree urinating for example) upset her, but she enjoyed it all the same.

It seems to me that most common objections I've heard (non-trans actress in main role; main character is following conservative medical model) are more quibbles than major issues. While a trans actress could have been used, I wonder just which actress would have accepted the role and run the risk of being type-cast as a 'trans actress playing trans women'? Casting a non-trans woman (even though she seems to be made more plain by make-up and dress) defuses issues of identity for the non-trans viewer. And the conservative role that Bree plays is actually played up in the film, showing her "trying too hard" to be the person she knows herself to be. By the end of the film she's more relaxed and more casual.

Was I outraged by the film? No. Was I disappointed with it? No, as I had few expectations. I liked the film, even with its flaws. If film let others down, then what they should do is encourage other films that won't.

Laura S

[–] jbjjunk 15 years ago

I'm 25 and genderqueer. I wasn't offended by this movie at all. I didn't agree with everything Bree believed, but I wasn't offended.

I can only imagine two things that could offend people. 1, there were a dozen transwomen but only one transman which is way out of proportion. Transmen often get shunked. 2, Bree acts stereotypically feminine (her clothes, makeup, mannerisms, grammar, etc) where trans people should have a less conformist view of gender.