Representation
After the examination of these films and how they depict trans people in main cast roles in pop culture movies, I have developed a generic criticism of trans representation. For those who do not know what generic criticism is; generic criticism is the rhetorical practice of looking at a genre (which is the genre that is known by the common discourse but is a grouping of the same themes, stories, and characters.) and determine the common through lines of the genre what is considered good and bad what makes it a good thing and bad thing. For this I have in my past posts clearly laid out the groupings in the genre of trans representation. In the current media landscape, there are three groupings: negative, positive, and positive sub-textual. I make a difference between sub-textual positive and positive because sub-textual representation is an indicator of bad representation. To better explain, I must explain negative representation.
The common through lines of negative representation are that they depict an unspecified identity that could be easily related to trans identity. It depicts identities of nonbinary conformity as alien and toxic, and it will usually place them in an antagonistic role. What I’ve noticed with both my examples of bad representation is that they both propel the false narrative of men using female identities to attack or harm women, which is a current harmful narrative that is being pushed to ostracize and justify harm to trans and non-binary people. These films do not blatantly say this, but it is shown in the heavy implication that these people who embrace feminity are vile and human. The scene where Buffalo Bill is cross-dressing is meant to be unsettling and put the audience off, but if the audience did not know the context of them being serial killers, it is just a masculine-appearing person having fun with a makeover. They don’t do anything vile in the scene, but it is meant to unsettle. I want to say negative representation is not having a trans or non-binary person be the villain. There can be good representation of those identities with them in villain roles but it is when their transness is a sign of their evilness that is the issue.
Subtextual representation is close to negative representation because it also does not claim a character as trans or non-binary but leaves it up to the audience to determine. These stories, however, do not depict the transness of the implied character as evil, unnatural, or subversive. It depicts their plights as humans, something approachable. These stories also can cleanly map onto trans stories and experiences. As a result, these stories also tend to be anti-establishment since the character needs to have an internal rebellion against something that is not necessarily a physical antagonist. In The Matrix, Neo just knows that he is being suppressed and must rebel. The system he must rebel against is the matrix. In Into the Spider-verse, the analogy doesn’t exactly fit, but that is because it is not a complete story yet. we see that she is being held back and controlled throughout the story. There are people in power keeping her from acting and doing the things she knows are right. These stories are directly attempting to tell trans narratives to not trans audiences, and the makers choose to or are forced to remove trans people from their own stories to market them to these audiences.
Positive Representation as it is now, these depictions will be upfront with the audience that the character is trans or non-binary. Their identity as trans people is not treated as subversive or unnatural. The film is set in a modern setting and oftentimes will not skirt the reality of transphobia in the real world. These characters can be set in a variety of stories and narratives. They are treated humanely and without mocking them for being trans.
It's a good thing that we have good representation now, but there is still room for it to go. A fact that is not lost on me is the fact that all the examples of positive representation that I was able to find were trans masc is not lost on me. I think that this might be because the idea of tran-masc is more appealing to an audience from a patriarchal society that values masculinity over femininity than the idea of masculinizing is far more appealing than feminizing. I am not saying that trans-masc people are more accepted or have it easier. The fact is that the feminine identity is not idealized in our society, and thus, rejecting masculinity is not viewed as acceptable. We can see this in how femininity is usually treated in film as vain and weak and something that needs to be put aside. I think that the simple answer to what we need is a more representative approach with understanding and care for them. There was an uncomfortable lack of non-binary identities, and I’ve already said my two bits about how trans femmes are treated in media. There is also the fact that most of my examples have all been white, and one needs to understand the intersectionality of these groups. So yeah, just more is the best answer I have.
For the upcoming posts, I will be writing a larger range of subjects, but I will return to my observation of media through a trans lens. I will approach all these topics with compassion and understanding.