By : Victoria Hincapie Gomez Date: February 28 of 2022
Since the 70's it was become common to see trans characters played by cisgender actors in movies , but I am going to tackle three roles played by Felicity Huffman , Hilary Swank and Eddie Redmayne.
Let's start with Felicity Huffman in her role as Sabrina Osbourne in Transamerica. The plot of the 2005 movie revolves around Sabrina's upcoming sex change and the discovery that she has a 17 year old son name Toby that happens to be arrested for consumption of drugs and prostitution.
The movie ultimately ends up relating some of the obstacles trans woman face with family and gender dysphoria as well as the ups and downs that Sabrina endures with her son.
The problem doesn't come from the plot and how the character is portrayed, the problem itself is why cast a cisgender woman to interpret a transgender woman role at a time when the lack of representation of trans woman was pretty visible in Hollywood more than now ?
Is funny to me how the movie tries to bring awareness and to convey the challenges trans woman go through , but the director didn't thought of including a trans actress as the main role.
Lets move on to Hilary Swank and her role as Brandon Tenna in Boys don't cry. This 1999 movie is based on a true story about a transgender boy that was killed in 1993 in Humboldt, Nebraska and suffered rape by two men when the word got out about Brandon being transgender.
In general the movie is both emotive and endearing , as it shows both a love story and tough real events that happen in reality. Is also one of the first movies that shifts the narrative on trans individuals, because instead of portraying the trans character either as a bad guy or a crazy person as in past movies it shows the character's vulnerability and his yearn to live a normal life.
The moral of the story was utterly incredible , because it encourages whoever watches the movie to be more empathic of what trans people have to endure using Brendon Tenna as an example.
A great movie , but looking in retrospective it would have been better to choose a trans actor , one that happens to be part of the marginalized community like Brandon's character.
Finally there is Eddie Redmayne and his role in The danish girl. The 2015 movie was based on Lili Elbe the first trans woman to undergo a sex change operation in Germany , and the relationship she had with painter Gerda Wegener.
Throughout the movie lili finds herself and becomes aware of her true identity , while struggling with the relationship that she has with her wive that eventually ceases. The movie delves the overall trans theme of the plot by still being true to the time span and era where the story situates.
The movie tackles to perfection the multiple mental and psychical challenges that this trailblazer historical character goes through. But, committed the same mistakes as movies from one or two decades ago by not taking in consideration how perception changes over the years and , that things that went unnoticed in the past don't necessarily do now.
Actors playing roles that don't quite fit their background is not the problem. The problem is that until there is not an even play field in which trans actors and actresses have equal chances of getting an acting role as cisgender people ,those scarce roles that resemble trans life experiences shouldn't go to cisgender actors.
Nowadays there are directors that have understood this need and have casted trans actors to play trans roles like Laverne Cox in her role as Sofia in Orange is the new black and Daniela Vega in her role as Marina in A fantastic woman.
This is what Hollywood truly needs, directors that are not afraid to go against today's climate. Directors that see the bigger picture.
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