Trans in Film & Video 5/1/23
Morgan Davies
Have we reached the goal that trans actors strive for; to be cast in a role that makes no mention of their gender identity? Evil Dead Rise just might be what trans actors have been looking for. The aspiring teen male DJ who lets demonic forces loose in his house is played by trans male actor Morgan Davies. No mention is made of the character’s gender identity and in publicity for the film no mention has been made of the actor’s gender identity. Sadly this breakthrough happens to feature the character being a bonehead, not a heroic character at all. Learn more from PinkNews.
The good news is that Marvel is adding a transgender character to the series Ironheart which debuts near the end of this year. The bad news is that since it’s a Marvel production actors have to agree to not say anything about their roles. Zoe Terakes is now a star of Ironheart and that’s almost all we know. The show follows Riri Williams, a brilliant teenage inventor who makes her own Ironman suit and debuted in the MCU in Wakanda Forever. If we pierce the veil of secrecy and learn more about Terakes’s role we’ll let you know.
Sort Of is a show currently running on HBO Max. It follows the character Sabi Mehboob, a Pakistani nonbinary person navigating their identity, family, and relationships. Sabi uses they/them pronouns, and has to deal with prejudice and scorn, something the show’s co-creator, Bilal Baig experienced as a Muslim trans femme person. There are two seasons already available and a third season has been given the green light. Check out the trailer here.
Passing laws to oppress transgender folks is not new. Conservatives have been doing it for decades. Government officials passed laws against crossdressing in Los Angeles in the 19th century and mid-20th century. Many of those laws still remain on the books and are not enforced. One of the areas where the laws were not enforced was the motion picture industry. Early films, the silent era and the early talkies, featured male actors dressing up, either as women or as a disguise for one reason or another. To learn more about what activity would get a place raided while other venues were allowed to let the show go on check out this article in The Hollywood Reporter.
Topher Malone
On March 19 Green Light Cinema in St. Petersburg, Fla. held the Tampa Bay Transgender Film Festival and screened the documentary film You’re Loved. The filmmaker is Carys Mullins, a Florida teen, who sought to capture how it feels to be young and transgender in these strange days when conservatives seek to take away transgender people’s rights. One of the students who participated in the film was Topher Malone. She testified about how it feels to be young, Black and trans to the Texas House committee hearing on a bill that would restrict gender affirming care. She told the legislators that being part of the film meant, “I could share my story, and, you know, those opportunities don’t come often, especially for Black trans youth.” Get more about the film from Associated Press.
The Transgender Film Center (TFC), a nonprofit working to bring more transgender-led stories to the world, announced the launch of the first Career Development Lab at TFC this spring – a 12-week intensive aimed at accelerating the careers of some of the most promising transgender and nonbinary creators in film and television. Get more specifics from TFC.
Juliana Joel
In 2022 Juliana Joel became the first openly trans actor added to the cast of the Disney Channel show Raven’s Home. On an episode of Christy Carlson Romano’s Vulnerable podcast, Joel shared how much backlash she faced after her casting was announced. People were threatening to cancel the Disney Channel and accusing Joel of “grooming”. Joel said, “What do you think I am going to do on the show? Do you think I am going to get up there and teach kids how to inject hormones? No!” Here’s the podcast.
Liv Bryant
The April 18 episode of the ABC detective/crime series Will Trent featured a trans femme actor in a trans role. Liv Bryant played a social media vlogger who lives downstairs from a drug kingpin. The kingpin orders detective Will Trent, undercover as parolee Bill Black, to kill the trans woman —Taylor —because she knows too much, and to test “Bill Black’s” loyalty. The episode, titled Bill Black, is available for streaming on Hulu. Congratulations to Liv Bryant for booking the role portraying a transgender character in a positive, realistic light. Kudos to ABC for having a realistic trans character in the show. This is the first trans character in the series but Will Trent also features a nonbinary recurring character named Nico.
Category: Transgender Fun & Entertainment
