Who could play a trans role in a movie better than a trans? Well according to some directors there are a fair few. For starters, there’s Elle Fanning, Eddie Redmayne, Jeffrey Tambor and Jared Leto. These actors and actresses have been lead to believe that what they’re doing is alright because they’re getting the message across to people and they feel passionate about it, though wouldn’t that be the same for a trans person?
Society is trying to show that they are accepting towards transgender people yet when it comes to them being portrayed in the media any and every excuse is brought up so they can book the talented, well known cis actor/actress opposed to a talented trans actor or actress. The actors and actresses will depend on whether they are casting a trans boy or trans girl, if they’re casting for the role of a trans girl/women they’ll cast a cis male and if they are casting for the role of a trans boy/man they’ll cast a cis female. By this happening society is saying that trans people aren’t real and that they’re really not the gender they identify as.
These directors are looking at trans stories and seeing them as their ticket for an Oscar. Nothing but dollar signs. They’re seeing trans people and their lives and stories and they think, wow that’ll make a great movie, it’s a really hot topic right now so it’s bound to make me some good cash. By these directors choosing cis people to act trans roles they are stripping trans history and trans people’s lives away and portraying it as nothing but a facade. They’re saying that trans people don’t exist and that they’re nothing but cis people in a costume. Gaby Dellal the director of About Ray said in an interview with i-D magazine “I would never discriminate against a trans kid or actor coming up to audition, but in this day and age in cinema, where it’s almost impossible to raise the financing, unfortunately, we have to have some people that mean a certain amount of money.”
About Ray, The Danish girl, Transparent, The Dallas Buyers Club, Trans-America, Glee. All of these modern movies and tv shows include a trans character which would be nice to hear if they had used trans actors/actresses but sadly they didn’t and it seems as though they were feeling the same way as Gaby Dellal. They chose actors for more funding and because people know them and enjoy watching things they appear on.
In May of 2014, the band Arcade Fire released their music video for their song ‘We Exist’. The video told a story of a trans girl finding peace dancing to the song. Yet again the trans character is not being played by a trans actress but instead being played by Andrew Garfield. Yes that’s right, they thought that Spiderman would be able to do a better job. I’m sure his ‘spidey senses’ help in many ways, but I doubt they are going to give him insight into this roll.
The shocking thing is that the song is talking about how no one deserves to be discriminated against or rejected as a person because of who they are. For a message like that to be portrayed in a song is a really good thing. But when that is your message and you then want it to show through the video, you may want to choose someone who does actually identify as trans opposed to a white heterosexual cis male, just a thought. They needed to practice what they were preaching and show how it’s done, not conform to what every other entertainment industry project reverts to. The director David Wilson told The Advocate that he considered casting a trans person for the video, but chose Garfield because of his passion for the project.
When there’s such little representation of trans people in the media you would hope that when a trans role does come up the people casting would consider none other than someone who identifies as trans. Especially when trans people are never even thought of when a cis role is being played. Society needs to see trans people for more than just a meal ticket to the Oscars and as actual people who deserve to have the opportunity to be cast as someone they can relate to other than a sex worker or a character whose purpose is strictly comical. Trans people exist just as much as cis people do and deserve to be recognized. Trans people have had enough taken from them and in 2016 people should not have to watch their identities be stolen.
By Honey Brown
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