Cis people acting in trans roles

I don't feel strongly either way. Depends on the movie I guess.

 

The experience is, ultimately, what counts. Whichever actor can do that best, is probably who will and should get the role.

I don't get upset that Danny Glover hasn't really killed a Predator. He's an actor, in a role. Pretty simple.

In theory, I don't have a problem with a cisgender individual playing a trans role. About the only time it can become problematic is if, well, it isn't handled appropriately. There's a difference between providing humor and mocking, for example.

 

I think it depends on how respectful the protrayal is. We recently had Tangerine, which actually started two trans actresses playing trans characters.

About Ray did annoy me. But it wasn't so much the fact they cast Elle Fanning. I've heard Fanning is very respectful in the role. The director was quoted as referring to the character, Ray, a trans man starting his transition, as a "girl". While I'm sure she didn't mean to offend and she was probably referring to the fact that the character was pre-transition, that is pretty offensive to me and a lot of people as pre-HRT, pre-surgery types. If someone identifies as trans, it doesn't matter what their surgery status is or whether they've been on hormones or not. You respect their gender identify and preferred pronouns. Just because a trans man doesn't have facial hair and still has a large chest doesn't make him a "girl".

But the movie itself does not refer to Elle Fanning's character as female (from what I've heard) and respects Ray's gender identity. I'm hoping to see it for myself soon.

 

I don't really mind it. I mean, it's acting, it's sort of the point that the actor is different from the character. As long as it's respectful, I really don't care. I've seen people say that it just reinforces the stereotype that we're just crossdressing cis people, but I'm pretty sure most people understand the concept of acting. Anyone who really believes that probably isn't going to change their mind because of a movie.

 

Both perspectives, to a certain degree, have a point.

The thing about not having pre-transition actors could be a problem. It is true that it's hard to find an actor that would be pre-transition and willing to do scenes that could be potentially triggering. I'd say that having cis actors play trans characters isn't wrong 100% of the time, it's more like they're problematic 98% of the time. (Not exact or accurate, but you get the point) There's some movies I might excuse having a cis actor play a trans character. First one that comes to mind is Boys Don't Cry. In my personal opinion, there are scenes I'd just rather not put a trans actor through. Transparent could be one. (Ok I never saw either of those, but I read the summary ok?)
The thing with About Ray is the fact that the director or producer whatever said something REALLY transphobic. I'm sure you can find it somewhere. I saw it on tumblr. Just boycott this movie already, don't give the transphobes your money. I have little hope for this movie, but the again, I've read trans fics with transphobic summaries that turned out alright. I'm still not excusing this movie though.
The whole "you have to see it or they won't make any more movies like this" crowd in my opinion have a serious case of internalized transphobia. This isn't meant to put them down, internalized oppression is a byproduct of living in an oppressive society. I just want these people to rethink what their opinion really means. It seems to me the people in this group seem to think that they should just take whatever representation they got and everyone in the trans community should just bite their tongues at misrepresentation. No representation is better than bad representation. That's why I'm not too excited with the idea of more representation with trans guys. It's just more opportunities to mess things up and make it worse. The world has messed up most representation of trans women, so I don't really expect anything good.
Then again, this is just my two cents.

 

It really depends, but i think people get too hung up over it. For example, About Ray. The problem is not that he's played by a cis girl, but that the director misgendered the protagonist. Still don't support the boycott, but its problematic and people are blaming the wrong part

 

The problem is that transgender actors are nearly never allowed to audition for these roles. We as a society need to stop encouraging and playing into this belief that the film and media industry is a meritocracy because that couldn't be further from the truth.

There is a reason why even the leading actors in the industry are constantly losing and gaining weight for their next role. They aren't doing it because they love drastically changing their bodies in mere months. When production companies cast for roles, it is not a free for all. The executive producer(s) releases very detail lists of criteria for interested actors to meet. Supporting roles might only include stipulations in regards to age and gender; however, lead and main supporting roles often include expectations when it comes to the age, gender, weight, height, race, identity, etc. If you do not meet the established criteria, you cannot audition.

For example, Suzanne Collins explicitly told the general public that the characters in her futuristic Hunger Games world were various shades of tan and brown as a result of the mixing of races and climate. However, the audition for the lead role of restricted to Caucasian female actors.

Discrimination laws do not apply to film and television performers. The entertainment industry has never been a meritocracy. Auditions are not filled with a bunch of diverse group of people who battle it out for the role. It is not who performed the best out of all interested actors. Auditions consistent of people who meet the ethnic and physical criteria and rarely does that criteria include plus sized actors, people of color, or gender minorities.

 

I'm so glad to see a lot of people here really thinking about this instead of just jumping to conclusions or on bandwagons.

I agree with pretty much everyone in that casting actors that aren't trans for potentially triggering roles (i.e.: non-passing, pre-HRT/surgeries, etc.) is fine. I have no problem with either About Ray or The Danish Girl's castings. I think both actors are great, have approached the role with respect, and done it justice. On the other hand, if a show like Orange is the New Black had choosen an actor that was cis over trans, I think that would've been a problem.

I feel generally the same about writing. I think a writer that is cis and writing a trans character is fine, as long as they do it respectfully and put in the work to make it 'real' and accurate. I mean, J.K. Rowling isn't a boy wizard and she wrote Harry pretty well.

About boycotting movies, my friends and I were talking about it very briefly this weekend and one of them said something great. We were talking about that issue of 'if we in the MOGAI community don't go see a MOGAI movie they won't make more' and my friend said something along the lines of "don't settle for less than we deserve". I agree. If a movie comes out and it's about some MOGAI character or issue or history, and we as a community find legitimate fault with it I don't think we should support that. Not when we know there are good writers, good directors, good actors, etc. out there!

 

Additionally, members of the trans community are not behind the product of these films; however, the argument that these roles are too triggering arises? When we have members of the trans community speak out about how they would have no issue playing this roles, cisgender executives get to require that the lead actor be cisgender because a trans actor would have too much difficultly playing a role that they have lived for decades. It is an excuse without an ounce of validity. You don't get to ban victims of child abuse or rape from auditioning for roles which deal with those topics because they might not have the emotional capacity to handle it. "It might be too triggering." Trans experiences are the only experiences where actors are assumed to be to vulnerable to play roles that they would know better than anyone.

You don't have to be upset with the idea of cisgender actors playing trans roles. It is the fact that trans performers are not even given the chance to compete for the roles of the members of their own community and history. They were not beaten for the role. Gender therapists did not claim that these roles would be to psychologically strenuous. They were not even given a chance. The opportunity was never on the table. Cisgender actors were chosen without open auditions or even a second thought.

And there is no degree of optimism or looking on the bright side that is going to change that fact.

 

I think it's very true that only cis actors being casted for trans roles is a part of a much bigger problem with diversity. To a certain degree, though, I think cis people playing trans roles is more like having a white person playing a person of color than an actor playing someone that has an unfamiliar occupation. But then again, there's no such thing as a perfect comparison for anything in the world really.
Btw I like that this discussion actually has people thinking, keep up the good work.

 

I agree with this 100%. The issue isn't in the genders of the people playing the roles; it's that it's so hard for trans actors and actresses to get roles as anything other than trans characters, and directors aren't even giving them the opportunity to play trans characters. If trans people were prioritized in the audition, but it was found that the pool of pre-T trans men that would be willing to play the role was too small, and that none of the trans guys who auditioned were as good as some of the cis women who auditioned, I would not mind them choosing a cis woman to play the role. It's when trans people aren't being given a fair chance to play these roles in the first place that it becomes problematic.

 

If it's respectful then I don't have a problem.

 

It's a difficult call when you have to portray someone changing throughout their transition. But allow me to speak briefly from the perspective of a professional performer.

As an actor, I know that I will sometimes be asked to do things that make me uncomfortable. That is just part of the job. I'm not attracted to straight cis men. In fact, straight cis men kind of terrify me. But I've had to act in some pretty sexy scenes with straight cis guys, and you know what? I just did my job. It made me uncomfortable, and I had some feelings to process when the scene was over, but I just did it and got it over with, and I did it well, and that was that.

It's important to practice accurate casting. A cis person has no way of ever understanding what a trans person experiences, and so they can never really connect with the character. In this sense, casting cis people as trans people is a disservice to the story, but also to the performer, who is being held up to an impossible expectation.

In important historical roles, consider this: You would never cast a white woman to plat Harriet Tubman.

As for the concept that there is a shortage of trans actors, that is a huge misconception. There are tons of trans actors, we just don't know about a lot of them because popular media doesn't care about them. Google trans actors and you'll end up with a wikipedia page full of names and bios. Lots of really talented people. There are also a lot of really talented, passionate trans theatre actors who would probably love to break into television or film, and there are trans porn actors who are doing porn because they really want to act professionally, but no one will cast them. Because everyone is casting cis people. Think about it: accurate casting could get trans people out of the porn industry, which is often dangerous and degrading (due to fantasies of brutalization and the profuse use of slurs). It could actually save trans people's lives. So yes, there are PLENTY of trans actors who are willing and able.

It's worth noting that France does a wonderful job with accurate casting when making films about trans people. I watched a beautiful, touching, honestly human French film about a transwoman sex worker in a loving polyamorous relationship. It was just real. It was humble and simple and real. If anyone is interested in watching it, it's called "Wild Side." The main actress, Stephanie, is in fact trans, and she is a brilliant and moving actress (who looks great naked). I will warn you that there's lots of nudity. But it's really pretty, really honest nudity that doesn't hide body flaws. It's just a great film.