CURRENTLY WATCHING Sailor Moon R
CURRENTLY READING
The Beauty Myth
So as you may have heard, “About Ray” is a movie about a teenage trans boy named Ray going through his transition and the problems that trans men face.
Problem is: he will be played by a cis girl (Elle Fanning)
By casting a trans boy as a cis girl, it’s saying that trans men can be equated to women and that there is no difference between the two. Erasure of trans people is not representation. End of story.
The trailer also has transphobic lines in it as “born in a girl’s body” to name one in particular. The two main writers are both cis as well, so it is very unlikely that a transgender person worked on the script. (Additional sources are welcome)
This has nothing to do with the skills of the actress chosen nor the previous works of the writers. This is about actual trans people being swept under the rug for cis people to feel proud of themselves for being an ally as well as the continued erasure of trans people from their own experiences (ie the Stonewall movie).
Boycott this movie. Trans people should be recognized for what they go through and accomplish, and NOT pushed aside for an “inspiring” story to please cis audiences.
Okay, but consider this alternative:
What if we supported and encouraged representation, and didn’t treat it as a zero-sum game where we can only ever support one movie involving or related to trans people, but instead could support more than one?
I don’t at all see how you get from “two main writers are cis” to “very unlikely that a trans person worked on the script”. I mean, yes, Hollywood is crazy, but people do consult on things like this a lot?
And… I think there’s a real problem when you start picking things that many trans adults say about themselves, and believe to be the best way for them to relate to their experiences, and call those things “transphobic”. Lots of people say things like “born in a girl’s body”, and that’s actually pretty much totally fine by me. You get to decide how you relate to your body. If someone feels that “born in a girl’s body” is the best description for them, that’s up to them, and what I’d think is “transphobic” is telling them they can’t say or think that because it’s wrong.
But… The really big thing that bugs me is claiming that casting a cis actress to play a trans dude is “saying that trans men can be equated to women and that there is no difference between the two”. That testifies to some kind of very fundamental failure to understand what “acting” is. Actors don’t play people they are, they play people they look like. And by and large, cis girls and untransitioned trans dudes look like each other, as categories. So this is not, at all, “erasure”.
I mean, yeah, I think it might be better to cast a trans guy, but there are a lot of medical issues and actor mental health issues you’re gonna have if you try to make a guy who just finally got rid of those damn boobs put them on again for a movie, or whatever. So maybe they tried and failed. Maybe they didn’t think of it. Maybe they put out a casting call and got zero responses. Who knows?
But on the whole, if the movie is successful and people watch it and get some kind of idea that trans people are real and are not evil, I and many of my friends will be safer, and I care a lot more about this than I do about yelling at people for not doing everything perfectly.
Yeah… I watched the trailer, looked great! Actually seemed like trans people would be well represented for once! But...