Girls on Film: TGs in The Media

 Wether it's a Playboy spread of trannie model and Bond girl Tula, a nasty group of foul-mouthed queens shouting obscenities at everyone and flashing their breasts on Jerry Springer, or an Oscar-nominated performance by the likes of John Lithgow, Hillary Swank, or Felicity Huffman portraying the role of the tragic, yet endearing transsexual on the big-screen, changing one's gender is an attention-grabber in the popular media.

Unfortunately, TGs are all too often sensationalized, and used to shock audiences. Laughs are garnered at their expense. Stereotypes are perpetuated, and public attitudes polarized.

The overall social acceptance of any particular group by our culture is directly reflected by our media. This is evidenced by simply looking at films from the early to mid 20th Century.

People of colour existed only as wide-eyed, word slurring bumpkins who were servants(with pet-like qualities) to the white stars of the films they were in.  The relationships portrayed on-screen between blacks and whites was reflective of the social realities of the time. Even cartoons of day showed blacks as ignorant slaves.

Asians and native-americans were most often played by white actors, and similarly stereotyped. 

TO BE CONTINUED-UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Trannie Cinema: Movies that get it right!

The following list of films portrays transpeople with dignity and candor. They show the struggles, tragedy, joy and humor of our lives without demeaning or villifying the transperson.

Phillip Seymore Hoffman delivers a powerful perfomance opposite Robert De Niro as Rusty, in the comedy-drama, "Flawless".                                                                       Homophobe Walt Koontz (Robert De Niro) suffers a debilitating stroke and must take theraputic singing lessons (for his paralyzed larynx). But the guy doling out the lessons happens to be his next-door neighbor, Rusty Zimmerman (Philip Seymour Hoffman) -- a florid drag queen who despises biggoted straight people. With luck, maybe the two men will meet in the middle.

Teena Brandon (Hilary Swank) moves to a small Nebraska town in search of a new life. Preferring to cross-dress and taking the name Brandon Teena, she passes herself off as a boy, begins dating Lana (Chloe Sevigny) and makes friends among the town's redneck men ... until the truth is revealed. Swank's Oscar-winning portrayal of this real-life character illuminates one woman's voyage of self-discovery -- and the events that cut it short.

Different for Girls(1996) R Karl Foyle (Steven Mackintosh) and Paul Prentice (Rupert Graves) were boyhood friends back in the 1970s, but when they run into each other in present-day London, they learn that a lot has changed since then. Karl has become Kim and has no desire to go back to her past, while Paul is just an aging punk with a dead-end job. As they rekindle their friendship and romantic sparks begin to fly, their relationship becomes much deeper than they expected.

The World According to Garp(1982) R John Irving's best-selling novel about an oddball writer (Robin Williams) who grapples with the cruel world is heartwarming and tragic all at once. Born the bastard son of an unconventional mother (Glenn Close), T.S. Garp inhabits a strange universe filled with well-intentioned head-cases, a feminist icon, a transsexual football player (brilliantly played by John Lithgow), fanatics and lovers. George Roy Hill (Slaughterhouse Five) directs.

Transamerica(2005) R Bree (Felicity Huffman) gets the shock of her life when a week before her final sex change surgery she discovers a son she didn't know she had. After bailing him out of jail the two set out on a cross-country journey riddled with road bumps. Huffman won numerous awards (and an Oscar nomination) for her role as a man longing to be a woman. Elizabeth Pena, Burt Young, Kevin Zegers and Graham Greene co-star.

Normal(2003) NR Roy (Tom Wilkinson), a small-town Illinois man, wildly declares after blacking out on his 25th wedding anniversary that he's convinced he's a woman trapped inside a man's body. It's up to Roy's shell-shocked wife, Irma (Jessica Lange), his kids and the entire community to come to terms with this stunning revelation. It won't be easy. Based on a hit play by Jane Anderson.

The Adventures of Sebastian Cole(1998) R Restless 17-year-old Sebastian Cole (Adrian Grenier) is living in Dutchess County, New York, in 1983 when his stepfather, Hank (Clark Gregg), announces that he plans to live life as a woman named Henrietta. After Sebastian's mother takes the teen back to her native England for several months, Sebastian shows up on Henrietta's doorstep looking for much-needed stability in his life and hoping to expand his worldview while finishing high school.