film or fiction?

[gagirl1]

so, i've been watching every possible show i could find about transgender people (mtf and ftm alike). i've noticed that the shows focus mostly on the surgery aspect. is there a show, movie, or series that give some credence to the actual transition? i've noticed most shows project our transition into womanhood as a flashback, and just leading up to the surgery.

i feel the lack of understanding of a transition has given the world a false idea of what it is like to be transgender. I understand how big of a deal SRS can be, and the profound effect it has on transgender people, but I feel the years (and sometimes decades) leading up to the surgery can be far more important. Not only that, but shows and movies focused solely on the surgery represent a very small portion of the transgender community. Not everyone is looking to go under the knife, me included.

So, is there a show or movie, or whatever media that represents us fairly, that does not focus on the blade? I think everyone here knows there is a hell of a lot more to transitioning than just the surgery.

What is bothering me is that all the media i've encountered just gives a half-assed back story and then magically after a few hours of sped-up footage, a man becomes a woman. It's nice to have nondiscriminatory coverage, but at what cost?

The only film I've seen that comes close is "Red Without Blue." And that is only because it shows the family aspects of her story. However, that was a blatant exploitation of a dysfunctional family which bore a gay son and transgender daughter.

Are we being portrayed as elective plastic surgery nuts? The way I see the shows, we are no different than any celebrity that gets botox or a boob job. We might as well be people going into surgery just because we want to look more attractive. That is hardly the point of transitioning. Does anyone else feel that the humanity of transitioning is being completely overlooked?


Am i the only one here that thinks this? It's been bothering me lately.

[prissy101]

On sex tv on sattelite i remember there is a transgender that comes on there quite often and she explains a lot about her life, including the operations but also goes into other things like relationships, I'm sorry but i forget the name of the actual show unless someone else remembers it,.....

prissy101

[gagirl1]

sex tv? don't think we have that here. what is it?

[StaceyJane]

There is an HBO movie from a few years ago called "Normal". It focused on a man's relationship with his family as he can out and transitioned. The movie ends the night before he has SRS.
It stared Tom Wilkerson, Jessica Lange and a young Hayden Panetiere (the cheerleader from Heroes).

It's a very good movie.

[gagirl1]

thank you, Stacey. I will check it out. Sounds worth watching.

[Miss Tessa]

There's a great movie called 'Transamerica"

It has much more about the transition.It focuses on a middle aged Transwoman who has to meet her delinquent son on request of her therapist before the therapist agrees to make the final signature for her SRS, and they travel across America back to her house on a road trip. It shows the therapist/standards of care obviously happing in the film, and mentions hormones, and is a cute drama movie.

And I agree with you.

The mainstream media makes us look like elective plastic surgery nuts. TS is the same as CD's, TV's and DQ's and that the struggle that TS's have happening to us is as simply put as "A woman trapped in a man's body"....An expression I personally hate and find too short for proper understanding of what we face as TG people.


I used to LOVE South Park, but after Mr.Garrison got a Sex Change and became a "woman" with no mention of hormones and kept speaking in his same voice with no feminine mannerisms adopted, it turned me off and thus I turned the TV off and never watched South Park ever again.

I hate how the mainstream mass media uses the old word 'Sex Change' instead of even trying to learn the new term Sexual Reassignment Surgery, which is becoming obsolete itself because many TS's are in favor of Gender Confirmation Surgery. Doesn't that sound sweeter and more accurate? Haha.

And I also hate how the mainstream media says "transvestite"....That word too, is becoming obsolete.

It really means a CD'er who CD's for sexual/fetish reasons. But they use it to mean CD, TS, and DQ's in general.

Screw the Zionist mainstream mass media and it's brainwashing!

[gagirl1]

a few months ago i was getting on a plane in DC, and overheard a woman talking about a cross dresser she saw. she started throwing out the word transvestite like it covered all bases. he friend, a male, corrected her on her terminology and explained to her the difference and why that word wasn't appropriate. you know what she said? this is a quote: "Why can't they all just be transvestites?" i was walking behind them when this happened, and knowing i'd have to spend at least 2 hours on the plane with them, i bit my tongue. it just goes to show how the media is completely screwing things up.

[Lisa Golightly]

Ma Vie En Rose was the only film which expressed how I felt way back then... Before the chemistry, the science, and the politics. Life from the kid's point of view... When I was a little girl.

If you want to be depressed I guess Normal is as bad as it gets...

[Kimberley]

There are plenty of movies but really, every transition is different. No two are the same. In the end it is up to you and how you choose to deal with your environment that becomes your transition.

Too many people think transition is physical. That is part of it but the bigger part is emotional, psychological and social. Those are what really make or break a transition.

So watch a movie and enjoy it. Then get on with YOUR transition.

:hugs:
Kimmie

[gagirl1]

I just finished watching Boys Don't Cry. It was by far one of the better thans-focused movies i've seen. I can't put it all into words right now, but if you haven't seen it, rent it, pirate it, whatever. It's worth watching. Just make sure you have a box of tissues handy, it's a cryer.

[Valeria]

The mini-series "TransGenerations" is one of the better things out there. It's a documentary featuring two transitioning trans girls and two transitioning trans guys in a year of college. There are a few cringeworthy scenes (and I relate better to the trans guys and one of the trans girls' best friends than either trans girl), but it's probably the most balanced and realistic detailed look at daily life.

[Miss Tessa]

Gagirl I understand what you mean about the woman on your flight and her miseducation.

In this day in age people should be aware of things like this.People in Holland and Sweden don't have that problem, they know Drag Queens, a Crossdressers,and Transsexuals and why they are different
There is no excuse no matter how profound or pathetic.

The media ridicules us TG ppl and makes us seem absurd, and I absolutely despise how all these so called straight men on Television and movies who make rude comments about NOT being attracted to TS woman and meeting them in bars for example thinking they are GG's and then they read the Transgirl and then the male actor acts like he got scared off.

Skits like that are detrimental to our favorability in society and make us look like freaks that nobody is attracted to.

Only straight guys and lesbians but also bisexual guys and girls like TS, CD, and TV's

[jill s]

I checked out Breakfast on Pluto at the library not long ago. It shows the personnel a social reactions to being trans.

[Leo Lane]

I second the recommendations of Ma Vie en Rose and Transamerica, and agree with you on Boys Don't Cry. You could also take a look at My Life as a Dog; though that's not really about transgender as much as about tomboyishness, it shows a lot about how I felt as a kid.

[Miss Tessa]

Yeah boys don't cry is good drama too it's based on the true story of Brandon Teena, a FTM transman and his senseless rape and murder.

[melimelo]

Even though I live in the US, I'm still able to watch TV shows from Quebec. They have a local show (like a telenovela but in French) called "Destinees", centered on a beauty clinic. One of the regular customers is a middle-aged lawyer. We see him at one point, dressed as a woman, drinking alone at a bar and then being approached by one of his male friends who does not know about him yet. Then 2 episodes ago, he came out to his closest friends, explaining without excessive drama that he's always felt like a woman inside, and that he finally decide to start his transition.

I'm really thrilled that a French Canadian TV show has the courage to introduce such a character and the intelligence to not depict it as a freak. I'm pretty sure they did some amount of research because it feels just right.

Cheers,

[gagirl1]

Yeah boys don't cry is good drama too it's based on the true story of Brandon Teena, a FTM transman and his senseless rape and murder.

yeah, i cried. i was preparing myself for the murder (i just got that vibe from the movie). i had a feeling that was going to happen, but the rape i was not ready for. that, and the line, "i don't want it in my house" really got to me. i really felt for him, and putting myself in that position, i could help but break down.

melimelo, i'll have to check out Destinees. sounds good. i can't believe she was approached by one of her friends aiming to hit on her. that must have been a disaster for their relationship.