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trans-rep-polls

Leon Shermer from Dog Day Afternoon

Is Leon good trans representation?

Yes

Nuance

No

RESULTS

Voting ended onJun 13

Please only answer if you are familiar with the source material! Vote based on how good of a trans character they are, not how much you like them!

telephonepolebit

as a Dog Day Afternoon professional I am going to argue HEAVY on behalf of Leon Shermer being good trans rep first of all I am biased bc I love her but beyond my bias I do think she is good trans representation because she is treated with the exact same amount of respect as every other character in the movie. She is never the butt of the joke, her gender is never the butt of the joke nor is it painted as something Laughable, her gender is only ever mocked BY THE ANTAGONISTS OF THE FILM aka The Police AKA CHARACTERS WE ARE SUPPOSED TO NOT ROOT FOR! The main character also has like a very nuanced I guess you could say take on her gender, but their relationship and their past is treated Seriously and with Respect to who they are as people and also WE ARE TECHNICALLY ALSO NOT SUPPOSED TO ROOT FOR THE MAIN CHARACTER so him misunderstanding her gender is never like seen as something that is Okay by the movie because the movie is intentionally showing how he is a bad person SPECIFICALLY how he was an abusive partner to her

Leon is also like. Endearing and funny and we as the audience are encouraged to be on her side, the movie lets her have her say and chew out her abusive partner and let her be CONFIDENT in the fact she's a trans woman, like when the main character asks if she still wants to have her operation she goes "yeah, yeah!" With total confidence, when a cop laughs at her for saying she's a woman in a man's body she side eyes the fuck out of him, like she's slay as hell

From my understanding one of the biggest reasons people think Leon is bad rep is because she is played by a cisgender man which is an entirely understandable and valid reason, ideally and obviously Leon should've been played by someone who matches who she is, however there's no denying that Chris Sarandon played her with the UPMOST RESPECT and Leon was written and portrayed in general with the upmost respect. Sarandon was casted because he was the only person who auditioned who wasn't playing Leon as flamboyant or as a drag queen, he was IN HIS OWN WORDS playing her as a WOMAN which is what she is! And director Sidney Lumet also saw that and also made sure she was played that way, one of his notes for Sarandon was to play her as a "Queens Housewife." While in interviews and in stuff relating to DDA they do misgender her, they clearly understood and put a lot of care into this character they were portraying. Here is a awesomesauce excerpt from an interview with Chris Sarandon from 1976 where he talks about playing Leon:

Like I think Leon is good trans representation NOW but ESPECIALLY in 1975, like it's actually insane how nuanced, careful and respectful this portrayal of a trans person was for FIFTY YEARS AGO! and we've only moved backwards because the dog day afternoon play shat on her BUT ANYWAYYY that's why I think Leon is good rep bc in my mind shes undeniably revolutionary

#dog day afternoon #textpost

heterogendermannerism

30 years old acting like middle schoolers btw

#tf2 #art

real-odark

sketch was lowkey before and before . Oops

#assassins #art

elbowstuff

I may be the worlds biggest dr horrible fan ever but the reason i never draw any dr horrible fan art is because every time i do i explode and die and get brain damage and it makes me crazy

#dr horrible #art