Okay from time to time when I feel its appropriate to
address an issue I will be adding special reports and opinion based pieces.
This is not February’s discussion but a discussion on an important issue none
the less. So onto the subject at hand.
While sitting back and doing some research as my laundry was
running in the background I came across this news article from the UK.
Basically the article asks the question why Hollywood doesn’t
hire trans actors for trans roles. For this I have a few things to say that doesn’t
quite fit in the comments box so I am bringing the discussion over here.
When one looks at the collection of trans characters in film
we often see one of two ways Hollywood attacks them. Ether you have a male actor
play out the role with latex and padding to play the role in a dress (or
binding of female actors in the case of trans men) to present a buyable
transformation or they go with a female actor playing a trans woman, or a male
actor playing a trans man. There are many reasons for and even a few that
people don’t look at when discussing this issue. But the idea that trans actors don’t play
trans characters isn’t true. Given its rare in its occurrence Candis Cayne
being probably the best to fit this role in a serious tone. While there are
several Trans people in Hollywood she is likely the only solid actress / actor
that has come out as trans that has had somewhat steady work and played roles
like her roles in the tv show Dirty Sexy Money as a trans character.
Candis Cayne
When we seriously look at the issue the main problem is the
numbers. If you take 1000 people and claim that within that collection that 10%
will become actors dropping the choice to 100 people then out of that 10% of
them would likely be successful giving us now 10 people the chances of those 10
people being just gay is 1/10 being trans is 1/30 so the chance is such a smaller
fragment. Of having a successful trans actor/ actress is small (note I will not
declare reality tv stars as actors as they are not. They are just people wanting
to become famous by exposing their lives in form of humiliation.) So given our
small fraction we need to add in the factor that people just aren’t discovered that
easily and revered for their work. In a world where there are over 3000
television channels on our cable boxes and with it a dwindling fan based of
television in general with the continued decreasing numbers of viewers that
rather would watch stuff through online content and at their own time, along
with it dwindling box office numbers creates a need for stability in Hollywood
to look at talent that they know is solid over talent that they question or
risk with. Meaning the chance of roles are so rare for trans actors to break
through it’s not likely to change in the current path of Hollywood.
Lana Wachowski
Chaz Bono
Alexis Arquette
Now we need to look at the issue in another way. The
question really should be reworded. Why do we not have a good example of a
transgender person in general. There are
few well know trans gender people that tv and new sources run to when dealing
with trans people. Often these days the face has been put on people such as
Chaz Bono (the child of Sonny Bono and Cher) and Alexis Arquette (the true
black sheep of the Arquette family, bet you thought it was David) , Lana
Wachowski (of the Wachowski Brothers [oddly still called that]). These people
are held up as the main stream of trans genders but I have to say what have
these and others really done to help push transgender people into being
successful in the world. Well since coming out Chaz has been a reality Tv star
mainly cause of the transition (yet his call to fame is that he is transgender)
Has he done much to help others out and lift others up. Nope not really. Alexis
is pretty much the same but has mainly gotten her stardom through the fame of
her family and played in small roles since. The last Lana is and while she was
a big director before the transition (Director/creator of the Matrix series)
she hasn’t found much success in her films since her coming out. She carries on
her life much in the same way as before.
So what we need to more focus on is who in the trans
community is willing to do more for the cause then themselves. Where
is the trans gender Gandhi , Martian Luther King or Harvey Milk. No I am not
asking that we search for a martyr but what we need is an example of a person
that gains respect and admiration of the public while standing for the rights
and supporting the lives of transgender people. In many ways we blind ourselves
in thinking that Hollywood is the place to provide this answer in our world.
But in fact really it shouldn’t. In many ways earlier years of trans characters
and actors in some ways hurt the transgender cause. While I am a fan of, Dr. Frankenfurter
from Rocky Horror, or the actor Divine’s work in John Waters films its these
images along with images of Ed Woods Glenn or Glennda that manipulate the
public view of transgender people. We distort the public mind set and hurt the
cause in many ways with these great moments. In many ways we need to repair the image that
Hollywood helped destroy a few years ago. This repair will take time and in the
mean time we need to find and hold up those that are trans that do positive things
in the world not just for other trans people, not just for themselves but for
the world in whole. It’s a concept that I try to carry in my own life to be a
better person not for just myself but how the image I leave behind of myself be
it world changing or just change a few people down the line that makes a
difference not
because I need to but because I want to.
We shouldn’t look at fame as a reason to like people cause
generally with fame come ego. What we need is fame built on Humility.
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