Discover Top Posts Tagged with #trans roles

Popular Recent

This Scarlett Johansson casting got me fired up so I spat out this video real quick. Apologies if it's a little more rough around the edges and inarticulate ...

I’ve actually seen this video for a long time now, but I still consider it important. Months (years?) ago, the actress Scarlet Johansson (you may know her as the Black Widow of Marvel) had accepted to portray a trans man on a movie from the director of Ghost in the Shell. She wouldn’t be the first cisgender actress doing that, not even the first being criticized - however, thankfully, this time she did something she hasn’t done with Ghost in the shell, despite the similar critics (only the theme, gender and race, were different): she learned with the criticism, and declined the role. That made me happy, because she is already the second person doing that, and maybe more actors start to learn there are things they shouldn’t represent. Why? The video explains probably all the reasons I know, but in summary:

On one hand, transgender actors/actresses are usually only allowed to portray trans characters (and let’s be honest, there aren’t many of those roles available) on screen so, if cisgender people take those roles, there will be even fewer opportunities for trans talents

On the other hand, for the same reason a cisgender man wouldn’t represent a cisgender woman, a cisgender man shouldn’t represent a transgender woman, and vice-versa: gender is just not a role or personality trait to be represented by someone that is not from that gender. When a cis man represents a trans woman, that’s because our society doesn’t see that as someone playing another gender, but as a trans woman actually being a man and therefore as the actor correctly portraying his gender. And that’s invalidating, misgendering and dysphoria-inducing.

#video rec #article rec #lgbt+#lgbt #analysis #cinema #acting #roles #trans #transgender #cis #cisgender #gender #trans roles #representation #gender identity #scarlet johansson #ghost in the shell #jackson bird

In case y’all wanted to know, it’s totally cool to stan Hikki.

#utada hikaru #utada #jpop #kingdom hearts #pop #trans rights #trans roles #trans actors #lgbt #lgbtq

ScarJo has announced she's bowing out of "Rub & Tug"

“Scarlett Johansson has officially ducked and run from Rub & Tug. When it was announced on July 2nd that ScarJo would be playing the role of Dante “Tex” Gill, a transgender man and the center of the film, backlash was swift. Today, Johansson thanked the transgender community for raising the conversation and bowed out of the project.

"In light of recent ethical questions raised surrounding my casting as Dante Tex Gill, I have decided to respectfully withdraw my participation in the project," Johansson said in a statement to OUT Magazine.

Rub & Tug is based on the life of Gill, who ran a string of Pittsburgh massage parlors in the '70s, and by modern definitions lived their life as a transgender man, as recounted by their own obituary.

"Our cultural understanding of transgender people continues to advance, and I’ve learned a lot from the community since making my first statement about my casting and realize it was insensitive,” the statement went on. “I have great admiration and love for the trans community and am grateful that the conversation regarding inclusivity in Hollywood continues."

This is an about-face from her previous statement when pressed about taking the roll. Back then, Bustlereported that Johansson’s rep had said that critics could “be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman’s reps for comment.” All of these cisgender actors have previously played trans people.

Read the full piece here

Looks like SOMEBODY doesn’t want the casting controversy to interfere with the buzz for her just announced solo Black Widow movie.

GREAT JOB EVERYONE WHO PROTESTED!!!

#trans #transgender #rub and tug #trans casting #trans actor #trans actors #transgender actor #transgender actors #trans role #trans roles #transgender role #transgender roles #scarjo #scarlett johansson #rub & tug

Cis actors playing trans roles...

So I see a lot of trans people in the community who are annoyed and upset with the fact that cis actors play trans roles for a variety of reasons. The main points being that we can misinterpreted and that the person does not understand our struggle.

Can I just say that in my opinion I do not really care. I’ve seen very limited amounts of movies where cis people play trans roles and the most notable one was American Horror Story, Liz Taylor. I think the actor did an amazing job at representing the struggle of trans people as well as representing trans females who do not surgically transition or take hormones and as I am a trans man I cannot fully say whether he misrepresented trans people but he represented the struggle very well and made it quite believable.

Personally I’d prefer that trans actors are given more roles in television whether its as cis or trans role and not because of their gender but because trans people are discriminated against and if this is a persons sole way of making money then they should be reviewed for roles regardless.

#trans #transgende #transexual #cis #actors #trans roles #media #lgbt #tv

In a last-minute casting change, Mosaic Theater Company gave the lead role in "Charm" to a less experienced, trans actor.

That sparked conversations within the Mosaic Theater Company, which is producing the play, and the rest of “Charm’s” cast and crew. The question of who has the right to represent whom onstage is a knotty one, but a consensus began to emerge, says Mosaic founding director Ari Roth.

KenYatta Rogers was originally cast for the role of Mama.

“After we cast the show, we kept learning things — not only about the transgender community, but also about ourselves and how we wanted more alignment between our mission and our values,” he says. “Plus, people were not excited about a cisgender actor in this role.”

That’s why, just a month before the play’s official premiere Sunday, Onoda Power recruited Duquesne to play the lead role of Mama, and Rogers stepped into a behind-the-scenes role as the play’s associate director.

“Was I disappointed? Yes,” Rogers says. “But I came into this process as an ally first and an actor second.”

Introspection

Eddie Redmayne is nothing if not thoughtful about his career choices, + they can’t be easily reduced to accurate sound bites, headlines or 140-character social media posts without destroying the context or reeking of clickbait.

In this interview with Pete Hammond of Deadline, Eddie re-examines his role in The Danish Girl from the perspective of a changing industry + world. Because his comments on the role have been misquoted or taken out of context so frequently in the past, I’ve transcribed that section of the interview (which starts at 13:20). The rest of the interview focuses on The Good Nurse, the Oscar, and other career matters.

PH: That [The Danish Girl] was so brilliantly done…there was so much care that went into telling that story, the transgender side of it, as well. Do you think it could be done now? I mean, the way the business is changing and the way people are talking about now that some actors need to be that person in some ways to play it. It seems like the business is changing.

ER: Yeah, I think that it has changed, and I think that you could make The Danish Girl now, but it would be a trans actor playing the part. I think it’s such an interesting discussion and one that about who plays what now. On one hand I believe in freedom of artistic expression and that actors should be able to play everything and anything. On the other hand, there are communities — marginalized communities — that have not had a seat at the table in our industry for a long time, and I feel like until there is more of an equilibrium there, there are certain parts I shouldn’t be playing. What those parts are is a question I kind of wrestle with if a script comes, on and one-to-one basis. It’s an interesting and important moment, but I don’t have sort of set rules about what you can or can’t do. What some of the trans people who criticized the movie said is when the trans community are so misunderstood and you, as a cisgender actor, are playing then a trans woman — and trans women are women — and then I arrive on a red carpet as Eddie, a cis male, for those people that don’t know any trans people that reaffirms what can be a dangerous idea that trans women are actually men who get dressed up as women. Which is just absolutely not the case. And so I understand that argument, and I think it’s really — it’s right.

PH: Wasn’t your first professional job playing Viola in Twelfth Night?

ER It was…opposite Mark Rylance playing Olivia in Twelfth Night. I was at an all-boys’ school, so I did start playing lots of women. But the point I go back to, and lots of my trans friends, actor friends, would not want to be restricted to playing trans characters either. But the point that’s important is until there’s more of a level playing field — it’s the same in journalism, there’s a big discussion about trans people now but it’s very rare that you see a trans journalist talking about it or trans people interviewed about it…So it’s a complicated moment.