southdakoda

southdakoda

I am an M.A. student in Screen Studies at Oklahoma State University. I am interested in all things TV & film, LGBTQIA2 issues, and intersectional feminism.

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    Latest Topics

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    Trans* characters being played by cisgender people, nbd?

    This past weekend, Jeffrey Tambor won the Emmy for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series for playing a transgender woman in Amazon's show Transparent. Also, Eddie Redmayne will be playing a transgender woman in The Danish Girl in an upcoming film that looks like it's an Oscar vehicle. And think of how well Dallas Buyers Club did for Jared Leto. It seems that these roles are often portrayed in interviews and articles as "complex challenges" for cisgender actors to take on. Is this problematic? Should we be arguing for more trans* actors to play their own roles, or is it okay to continue casting cisgender actors?

    • If you want to add more references to this list, there's also been controversy surrounding Elle Fanning playing a transgender boy in "About Ray," along with the director of the movie spreading inaccurate information about trans* people with his statements. – pixiemina 9 years ago
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    • Thanks for the suggestion! I hadn't heard of About Ray. Reading about it now. – southdakoda 9 years ago
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    • Have a look at John Cameron Mitchell with Hedwig and the Angry Inch, that might help. Also think about Laverne Cox in Orange is the New Black who became the first openly transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in the acting category and the first to be nominated for an Emmy Award since composer/musician Angela Morley in 1990. – Rachel Elfassy Bitoun 9 years ago
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    • Wasn't aware of Angela Morley's work, either. Thanks for the ideas! It also might be interesting to explore how Laverne Cox's twin brother plays her in the flashbacks before she came out. I wonder if there are trans* actors who have had to play themselves in flashbacks in other films. Also, now I'm thinking about how trans female actress Erika Ervin actually auditioned as a male for the trans female role she had in AHS: Freakshow--very Victor/Victoria. I'm realizing there's so much to explore her, and many different angles one could take! – southdakoda 9 years ago
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    • Not sure if it quite fits, but Cillian Murphy has portrayed a nb character in the film Peacock, as well as portraying a trans woman in Breakfast on Pluto. I suspect he was cast because of his "feminine" features, but it's still exclusionary and highly problematic regardless. I adore this topic! I was just discussing it wrt The Danish Girl with my gender-nonconforming pal yesterday. – marlaina 9 years ago
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    • I think something that should also be taken into account when talking about movies with trans characters is the director. They speak the loudest when it comes to why they make the decision to cast cis actors. I mean Gaby Dellal is very clearly transphobic and her reason for casting a cis girl is because the part 'is a girl and she is a girl'. The directors choices are very important to this conversation – netafeta 9 years ago
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    • Jamie Clayton on Sense8 might be worth looking into as well. – ctaylorhen 9 years ago
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    Latest Comments

    southdakoda

    I am so glad someone took up this topic. As a fellow fan of the show, I always felt that Skyler was the strongest character. And more than just character-wise, I felt like she was often “out-acting” her male counterparts. For a long time, I wasn’t sure if her role as “the bitch” was genuine, that she really just happened to be a bitch, or if the creators of the show were just unable to write and depict a complex female character under pressure. I think it’s a mix of both, and I really enjoyed your exploration of the audience’s role in contributing to her being seen as “uptight” or “bitchy.”

    Refusal to Settle: Why I Love Skyler White
    southdakoda

    This is exactly what I was wondering when reading this article as well. I’m curious as to how Western beauty standards complicates this discussion of plastic surgery in Korea. I know that many of these advertisements also depict women with paler skin and advertise products for this, too. I wondered too if there was something to the fact that the plastic surgery seems to make the character in the movie more Western–for example, her name change from Han-na to Jenny. Just a thought.

    Great article, glad it was shared.

    200 Pounds Beauty: South Korea's Plastic Surgery Industry
    southdakoda

    What I haven’t noticed here in the comments yet is a discussion of revisionist histories that are damaging to a minority community (or maybe I just missed it! Sorry if I did)… I personally am okay with sacrificing some historical inaccuracies in most of the period films and TV that I consume–I think of Downton Abbey and its wonderful trainwreck of anachronisms. But it becomes majorly problematic when those revisions of history are erasing the stories of marginalized peoples. A recent example is the upcoming film Stonewall, which takes a story about a riot started by mostly trans* people of color and replaces the heroine with a young white gay male. Lady Mary incorrectly blurting out, “I’m just sayin’,” now seems trivial in comparison to the entire erasure of a minority community’s history.

    The Debatable Importance of Historical Accuracy in Period Films