Netflix has just made available a documentary on the representation of trans people on the screen: Disclosure. In French, Trans identities: Beyond the image.
If at one time, transidentity was explored with reserve on small and large screens, it was present. What image did this send back to the community but also to the general public? To get a fair and authentic opinion, Netflix went to meet the people concerned in the documentary Trans identities: Beyond the image. Laverne Cox, Jamie Clayton and many other transgender personalities have decided to lift the veil and confide in their impressions of these films, shows and television series that try to represent them. Have small and large screens always been right? Even today, can we be satisfied with the image transmitted to the general public? Finally, the floor is given to those who have long sought characters who resemble them on the screen, trying to define themselves through what they saw since their childhood.
At the start, a reductionist representation of transidentity
What stands out the most from this documentary is the way in which everyone struggled to find themselves, to identify with transidentity on the screens. Transgender or cross-dressing people were seen as incredibly strange. They were often even ridiculed. However, there is likely a difference between laughing with someone and laughing at someone. For a transgender child, it becomes difficult to be tolerant of yourself. Then there is this archetype, which has long been very tenacious, according to which transidentity or even simple cross-dressing are indicative of mental illnesses. For example, in Alfred Hitchock's films, a transvestite man is necessarily a serial killer. Psychosis is undoubtedly one of the best known references since it reveals the character of Anthony Perkins wearing the clothes of his deceased mother and trying to kill the residents of Bates Motel.
This image, which is cold in the back, has only reinforced stereotypes that have endured over time. The problem is that 80% of American people do not know a trans person in their immediate circle. We then witness a distorted image of transidentity and cisgender individuals are drenched in received ideas through the prism of the small as well as the big screen. This scourge is to be taken at the source. There is also a lack of representation and hiring of screenwriters from the trans community in Hollywood. The subject is therefore not under control and we are witnessing a heterocentric and cisgender vision in our media. We write scenarios without thinking about those who will watch the adaptations on the screen. It is a blow to all trans people who, more than ever, dream of being told that transidentity can be trivialized.
Sexualization of trans women and invisibilization of trans men
In addition to the psychological deviance associated with transidentity, there is a difference in treatment between the image of trans men and that of trans women. Much to our despair, trans women are extremely sexualized. A GLAAD study found that, today, transgender people are more represented, certainly, but mainly in the roles of prostitutes. True, the reality is that many trans women are sex workers because of job discrimination. It is a social aspect that exists and it is terrible.
However, television is content to make a simple observation without explaining the situation of these female characters. And it is often seen as a major error in the eyes of the community. The transgender actresses find themselves locked in a role, struggling to explore their talents as actresses in different characters. For them, there are only two options: on the one hand, the police series reveal trans characters murdered because of their identity. On the other hand, medical series reveal that their hormones are killing them. Yet transgender women do not die from the alternatives that set them free. Are there really only two destinies for them in real life?
We are not just prostitutes
All of this is without counting the sexualization of these trans actresses. They seem easier to market in the media, for example. As for transgender men, they seem to be invisible. However, there are as many trans women as trans men. The documentary lifts the veil on a real problem: Would trans men be less recognizable? Collective thought think that they do not exist because we do not see them. If the representation of transidentity is therefore often skewed, it is also sometimes non-existent for part of the community.
Besides this invisibility, there is this feeling of unjust disgust that pop culture has made the general public feel in front of this community. If the film Ace Ventura rocked all the children of the 90s, we deplore the way in which the character of Jim Carrey reacts by learning the transidentity of the woman with whom he flirted. He brushes his teeth, takes a shower and burns any clothing that may have come into contact with her. It is as if cisgender people have the feeling of being duped in the face of such a discovery. His reaction is all the more shocking when, before an entire assembly of police officers, he reveals the young woman's transidentity. He undresses her and ends up showing, in front of everyone, that she hides her male sex in her panties. These scenes of humiliation show, today, a remark considerably transpobic.
Transgender people are not fairgrounds
Then there is this curiosity that stirs up cisgender people. On television, for example, during the 1990s, we witnessed interviews with transgender people. The presenters are not lacking in cheek by asking their guests. where they hide their gender for example: "How was the transition? Are your breasts the way you wanted? Where has your penis gone now?" Offensive and intrusive questions are multiplying. The message sent to transgender people and somewhat disturbing, even alarming: "We want to know everything, it's our right." The trans community, completely dehumanized, is reduced to this object status with incessant questions about transition and surgery.
However, transgender people are not fair beasts. They are not part of a cabinet of curiosity and they do not ask, in any case, to draw attention to what is related to their privacy. The documentary highlights how the shows that gave voice to the community also contributed to a malevolent look at their condition: "All of our lives, we've seen each other through the eyes of others" can we hear in the documentary with a tone full of regret. These reflections on the transgender community are identified in a context, an era reflecting the lack of information and knowledge on the subject.
All our lives, we saw each other through the eyes of others
Towards a fairer awareness of the general public?
So what about today? Can we see a real evolution? If the road is still long, we see that it changes positively. The representation of transgender people is much more positive, inclusive and caring. Most of the personalities of the documentary available on Netflix welcome the presence of characters such as Nomi in Sense 8. Embodied by Jamie Clayton, Nomi is not identified only through her transidentity. She is intelligent, independent and lives an inspiring love story. Series Pose, directed by Ryan Murphy, is also a game changer for the representation of transgender people. First of all, we see black transgender women on the screen and on a mainstream channel, an initiative that has so far been rare. Then, the sex scenes are trivialized and put forward with great accuracy.
Of course, the screen revolution is not over. We still deplore the choice of male and cisgender actors to embody transgender women for example. If the performances of Eddie Redmayne and Jared Leto have been critically acclaimed in The Danish Girl and Dallas Buyers Club, they reveal a lack of initiative. We must go further by hiring transgender women in order to fight against stereotypes: we must show that these women are not men disguised as women. They are just women. Changing a representation is not a goal, it is a means. The revolution is therefore not over, although the opportunities for transgender people are widening.
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