Transamerica
Feb. 20th, 2006 07:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
plumtreeblossomI got to see Transamerica last night. The person I was with picked it, and a good thing, too. I was aware of the film but wouldn't have made a specific point of seeing it. I'm very glad I did, and I recommend you do, too.
The story features a spectacular and heart-pulling portrayal by Felicity Huffman of a male-to-female transgendered person in the last days before final surgury that will complete her transformation to full womanhood. Without giving spoilers, the story chronicles her struggle with denial over truths that need to be faced before her new life can begin.
The theme is far less about the transgender experience as it is what comes of building a web of lies, to oneself and to others, that will inevitably fall to shreds in the life of anyone masking something they believe to a "deep dark secret," when actually those who genuinely care about them would care just as much, or even more, for being given the gift of the truth.
I've been acquainted with 6 transgendered people (that I know of, so there are probably more that I don't know about). Almost all of them were open to me and others who they knew well enough to feel comfortable trusting, and they enjoyed the love and support of many friends. I have deepest admiration and respect for anyone bravely undertaking a life change so enormous, and I'm very proud of each of them for having the courage to become the gender on the outside that they are on the inside.
There was one who wasn't honest, a female-to-male in gender transition who fabricated a tangled knot of lies beyond comprehension in its elaborateness, all to mask a perfectly honorable choice that he should have been proud of. The lies were so many layers thick that I do think he had begun believing them himself, including an entire exotic childhood that didn't exist, a major childhood disease fabricated, and ceaseless support-lies that contradicted each other often enough that many people saw through the holes and either got the facts or had them all along, and just watched sadly as this person lied himself into a cocoon of delusional ideation. It becomes a deep sickness, really. Seeing this movie, and the resulting growth for the protagonist when she overcomes her own lies, reminded my of that.
What I hope is that this movie gets a broader showing than it seems to be receiving. I was told that it's not being screened in many Bible Belt areas. Well, the DVD will come, but I think this film is more important than people might know, because it shows not only the honor in taking a bold step towards happiness, but that cultural attitudes about gender transformation need to change. It should receive acceptance and respect, no differently than, say, a person having major reconstructive surgery after an accident. That accident victim isn't expected to simply accept his/her disfiguration if something can be done to correct it. Why should a person be made to feel shame for the correction of accidentally being born into the wrong gendered body?
It should be given the human respect it deserves.
Anyway, see the movie if you can.
The story features a spectacular and heart-pulling portrayal by Felicity Huffman of a male-to-female transgendered person in the last days before final surgury that will complete her transformation to full womanhood. Without giving spoilers, the story chronicles her struggle with denial over truths that need to be faced before her new life can begin.
The theme is far less about the transgender experience as it is what comes of building a web of lies, to oneself and to others, that will inevitably fall to shreds in the life of anyone masking something they believe to a "deep dark secret," when actually those who genuinely care about them would care just as much, or even more, for being given the gift of the truth.
I've been acquainted with 6 transgendered people (that I know of, so there are probably more that I don't know about). Almost all of them were open to me and others who they knew well enough to feel comfortable trusting, and they enjoyed the love and support of many friends. I have deepest admiration and respect for anyone bravely undertaking a life change so enormous, and I'm very proud of each of them for having the courage to become the gender on the outside that they are on the inside.
There was one who wasn't honest, a female-to-male in gender transition who fabricated a tangled knot of lies beyond comprehension in its elaborateness, all to mask a perfectly honorable choice that he should have been proud of. The lies were so many layers thick that I do think he had begun believing them himself, including an entire exotic childhood that didn't exist, a major childhood disease fabricated, and ceaseless support-lies that contradicted each other often enough that many people saw through the holes and either got the facts or had them all along, and just watched sadly as this person lied himself into a cocoon of delusional ideation. It becomes a deep sickness, really. Seeing this movie, and the resulting growth for the protagonist when she overcomes her own lies, reminded my of that.
What I hope is that this movie gets a broader showing than it seems to be receiving. I was told that it's not being screened in many Bible Belt areas. Well, the DVD will come, but I think this film is more important than people might know, because it shows not only the honor in taking a bold step towards happiness, but that cultural attitudes about gender transformation need to change. It should receive acceptance and respect, no differently than, say, a person having major reconstructive surgery after an accident. That accident victim isn't expected to simply accept his/her disfiguration if something can be done to correct it. Why should a person be made to feel shame for the correction of accidentally being born into the wrong gendered body?
It should be given the human respect it deserves.
Anyway, see the movie if you can.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-21 02:34 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-21 09:41 am (UTC)Tangential question
Date: 2006-02-21 05:09 pm (UTC)Re: Tangential question
Date: 2006-02-22 05:31 pm (UTC)I tried to very subtly call it a few times, and it was not welcome. In this case, a lot of us knew his former name as a woman, though he tried to claim that the woman with that name was his cousin, who of course lived overseas. It was sad, and you would be staggered by how elaborate a matrix of lies he told to close friends and strangers alike, to cover up something that I personally think is entirely honorable.