Trans Representation

By: Serena Payne '20

           

            Matt Bomer in Anything, Jeffrey Tambor in Transparent, Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl, Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club. These cis actors have all played trans characters for TV and Film and many of them went on to win critical acclaim and prestigious awards for said roles. Before we get ahead of ourselves let's define some terms; cis, short for cisgender, means someone whose gender identity matches with the gender they were assigned at birth and trans, short for transgender, means someone whose gender identity does not match with the gender they were assigned at birth. Trans representation in Hollywood has been pushed into the limelight again following the casting decision of Scarlett Johansson to play the role of a trans man named Dante Tex Gill in a biopic about his life and while she has since backed out of the film following backlash, the casting has led to a national conversation around cis actors playing trans roles. Is it okay? Is it a “woke” thing to do? And while many of the conversations have been happening between cis people, the opinions or feelings of trans people are rarely considered or consulted, the conclusions that are reached are often mixed and can lead to some very “fun” family dinner debates that everyone dreads. However, I, as a trans woman who is also an actor, would like to offer my hot take on this hot button issue that is affecting us at this time.

NO.

As long as trans actors are not allowed the same freedom to openly play cis roles, then cis actors should not be playing trans roles. “But playing something you’re not is the definition of acting!” I hear you yell, and while yes that is true it’s important to note why cis actors have traditionally been offered trans roles; transphobia. In the list I offered at the beginning, they were all cis men playing trans women, this deliberate casting of a man to play a trans woman is just perpetuating the idea that trans women are really just “men in dresses”, and the same goes for casting women to play trans men, whether that is the actor’s intention or the director’s intention is irrelevant because that is what they are putting out into the world. Another argument against the “actors are supposed to act” defense is the simple fact that a cis person will not be able to portray a trans character as accurately and realistically as a trans person could. Sure not all trans people are the same, and the cis actor could tons of research and meet with tons of trans people, and they may even give a decent performance in the final cut, but at the end of the day a cis actor will not be able to provide the mental and emotional depth it takes to portray the character they have been cast as.

Going back to my original statement this idea of “actors being meant to act” only seems to come up when talking about cis people playing trans characters. Instead, it is common for that same group to become upset when a woman is offered a traditionally male role. When the all-female Ghostbusters reboot was coming out, there were outcries that feminism was taking over and that the movie was going to be bad simply because women were playing once male fictional characters but when Scarlett Johansson is set to play a trans man who actually existed, suddenly actors are supposed to act. At the end of the day, a cis woman playing a man or a cis man playing a woman is done for one of two reasons; Comedy or Performative “Representation”. It’s funny because it’s a man in a dress, because he’s pretending, because it’s a joke. Or he’s so brave to be playing a woman, especially a trans woman, because he’s showcasing the underrepresented minority group on the big screen, and so we better give him an Oscar!

To end, until trans people other than Laverne Cox are being cast regularly for both cis and trans roles, cis actors should not be playing trans characters and any real cis allies should not even consider the action. But something tells me we haven’t seen the last of Scarlett Johansson, who knows she’ll probably be cast as Rosa Parks by this time next year at this rate.