need some feedback yall

[Xander maddoX]

so i was thinking today about some potential projects (films) that i would like to work on, and i got the idea to have one of the woman charters in a film to be played by trans female, not as a gimick or anything, but quite simply as an actress playing a part and that actress just so happens to be transgenderd. in the film i dont want her transexuality to ever be an issue, the film will not revolve around that issue in any way shape or form.

my goal in this is to 1st: raise public awareness that transexuals are not sex objects, nor are they "jokes" and that they infact are people above all else.

2ndly provide a platform for an actress to display her talents, and help ter down some barriers in society.

so i guess what i want to know is how yall feel and think about such an issue

[Wynter Skye]

I think its a noble idea, but unfortunately in this society we live in I don't think it's very realistic to believe that it would work. If you had someone who was extremely passable in all aspects most importantly the fluxuations of voice... you could do it, however with the knowledge that the actress is tg it would detract much too much from the film and the acting within.

Also, while I truly understand the desire to break barriers in the name of equality and equal rights etc. There are a number of people who would be offended by such a project. Not just the closed minded idiots; but many women and transgendered girls would be offended as well. There are a lot of women who feel that a tgirl can't come close to equating a woman and that's what they would take you as saying through your film. Not only that, its an insult; similar to when directors have gotten white people to play light skinned black people capable of passing in films (i.e. Imitation of Life and The Human Stain). I know I was extremely offended as a black man who happens to be light skinned.

Then you have members of the tg community who would also be offended. I am not a transgendered individual so I can only make this statement from countless conversations I've had with transgendered individuals. While a number of tgirls believe they were born to be women and have sex changes the whole nine... there are many many others who are proud to be tg. They are not trying to be women and may feel that such a film would suggest otherwise.

I do wish people would make more films however with transgendered people portraying themselves.. not just the comic relief "fag" in the hair salon. People do need to realize that transgendered people are people and you as a filmmaker have the power to do just that.

Hope it helps

[Scott]

The desired end result is truly great. I've actually talked about a similar idea with a couple of friends of mine from here. I just think that making the film that way will not get the end result you want.
Just from observing how the majority of the public is I think people would be upset because they will feel as if they have been misled and that could cause even harder times for people to be more accepting. To me what needs to be done is to make a film with transgendered people as transgendered people. Placed in a realistic light and not as novelty character.
True, a lot of people may not be want to see films like that but there are the people that will be curious enough to see it. From there you may not touch everyone that watches it but chances are the message will get through to some. That, my friend, will be the breeding point of true education in my opinion.

Scott

[kalina]

so i was thinking today about some potential projects (films) that i would like to work on, and i got the idea to have one of the woman charters in a film to be played by trans female, not as a gimick or anything, but quite simply as an actress playing a part and that actress just so happens to be transgenderd. in the film i dont want her transexuality to ever be an issue, the film will not revolve around that issue in any way shape or form.

my goal in this is to 1st: raise public awareness that transexuals are not sex objects, nor are they "jokes" and that they infact are people above all else.

2ndly provide a platform for an actress to display her talents, and help ter down some barriers in society.

so i guess what i want to know is how yall feel and think about such an issue

This would be really cool, and it would be really cool if a producer casted a trans female in all of his or her films in this way. You'd really need to gently introduce the audience to the concept. Maybe place the tgirl in a kind of unglamorous role (such as my job... systems administrator). In the next film, introduce another tgirl character with a slightly more prominent occupation (bank clerk), etc. (Not to say that a sysadmin is better or worse than a bank clerk... but one is usually more in the public eye than the other). Then the next movie... tgirl lawyer (maybe that's a huge leap, but you get the idea).

I'm tired of seeing tgirl hookers, hairdressers, and dancers in movies. Methinks an FtM ts would be easier to incorporate into a movie.

[kalina]

... you could have a ts professor! Like, say, Lynn Conway without actually saying it's Lynn Conway. That would be so cool and I would immediately get that reference.

[Xander maddoX]

i see what youre saying and i really appreacite the feedback, its hard to see thinks from another point of view when youre so passionate about something, so what if the charter is introduced as being transgenderd but then we dont make a deal out of it , like for instance if it were a vampire movie and she was part of a team of vampire killers (please dont ask why vampires are on my mind 1st thing in the morning)

[Xander maddoX]

maybe a vampire movie wasnt the best choice if were trying to go for realisem, but maybe its a start? maybe we could start with a fantasy movie (space, vampires, ect..) but portray the film in a more realistic fashion (think unbreakable) is that just getting stupider and creating more problems? or do you think it would make "acceptence" eaiser

or should we do a love story (even though its been done to death, although so far ive like all of them) has anyone seen solders girl, greatest love story ever, i still cry like a baby when i watch it.

[kalina]

maybe a vampire movie wasnt the best choice if were trying to go for realisem, but maybe its a start? maybe we could start with a fantasy movie (space, vampires, ect..) but portray the film in a more realistic fashion (think unbreakable) is that just getting stupider and creating more problems? or do you think it would make "acceptence" eaiser

or should we do a love story (even though its been done to death, although so far ive like all of them) has anyone seen solders girl, greatest love story ever, i still cry like a baby when i watch it.

It is a great movie, but don't do another love story because then everyone will compare your movie to Soldier's Girl. Until we get enough movies with a tgirl theme across all genres, we can't have too many movies focused on one particular area.

That was such a tragedy. I want to see a movie where the tgirl lives happily ever after.

[Wynter Skye]

while sci fi is not my personal cup of tea, i'm sure that any film portraying a transgendered person as a transgendered person in a non exploitative capacity would be refreshing. Good Luck!

[Ecstatic]

Great concept, Xander. Actually, though the truth was not revealed until later, Tula achieved this some 20 years ago, appearing as a Bond girl with no one knowing that she was a transsexual. The revelation caused quite a ruckus as I recall. But the difference here is that you're talking a major role in the movie, and that it would be known the actress was a ts, right?

Go for it.

[Mustard_Plug]

I guess it would all boil down into the enviornment and role she would play in the movie. If she was a side character not much character development would be needed to flesh out the character. If she was to play a more of a major role in the film, I would think the enviornment and other characters around her would have to be slightly more over the top to make her seem normal. Such as you can cast the transgendered character to be an actual normal everyday working girl, and the friends around her to be somewhat jaded and more angst than she is, just to show a dual side of the coin. Just a thought.

[Xander maddoX]

thanks for the feedback yall, its really giving me a lot to think about. and to answer you question, Ecstatic, yes it would be known that a transgenderd person was playing the role but i dont want to make a big deal out of it. i just think if a straight man can play a gay man or even a woman, (hell im guilty of it too, in my last show i won an award for my role as a british crossdresser/dressmaker in "run for your Wife) or a gay woman to play a straight woman, why cant a trans female play an "evryday" female its not fair to me and i wanna help change that. also do you know which move she was a bond girl in and/or whar her charter name was?

i hope my terms do not offend, it is not my intent and i apologise forehand if they do.

[Ecstatic]

1981's For Your Eyes Only, the fifth Roger Moore Bond flick. Actually, the resulting tumult was something of a disaster for Tula (Carline Cossey, born Barry Cossey, who had undergone her SRS in 1974). She was embarking on a successful career as an actress and model when the News of the World (that elite publication which John Lennon referenced in "Polythene Pam") broke the story in 1982, sending her career on the skids. The legend grew out of proportion, so that people thought that Moore and Tula had a hot love scene and that she was a bonafide Bond Girl, whereas in truth she had but a brief appearance and was credited along with 10 other actresses as "girl at the pool". Playboy had included her photo in its regular Girls of Bond feature, and after the truth came out featured Tula in a special pictorial where she did a striptease, and for which Playboy caught a lot of heat (but one good thing about Playboy: for all their macho appeal and hetero emphasis, they have always championed gay, lesbian, and transgender rights).

If you want more about her, visit http://www.universalexports.net/00Tula.shtml