Friday, May 24, 2013

It's been 8 Years and It Still Pisses Me Off

A promotion poster featuring the transgendered lead character conflicted about what bathroom to use. Let's just be grateful they didn't throw in a gag about Asian people being short.


Transamerica is the most antigay movie of the 21st century. I know you’re all thinking this is completely incorrect. How can a movie showcasing the challenges of transgendered individuals attack the gay community? Please follow me on this journey of exploration and discovery and you will learn how director Duncan Tucker attempts to separate the “T” from of LGBT.

Duncan Tucker trying to channel his inner Aang Lee.


The film tells the story of Bree, a pre-op transsexual (Felicity Huffman), who discovers she fathered a son with a woman she dated before embracing her true womanhood. This wonderful surprise is discovered when her long-lost son Toby (Kevin Zegers) gets arrested in New York City and he seeks out Stanley Schupak (Bree's birth name) to bail him out. Bree’s very human reaction is to ignore it and hope it all goes away. Her shrink (Elizabeth Peña) forces Bree to confront the issue and she flies to NY. A bunch of lackluster exposition follows where Bree doesn’t take the opportunity to explain to Toby she’s his father and then off they go to travel America in the hopes of setting Toby up with a safe life somewhere else.

Throughout the movie a clear line is drawn between the difference of homosexual and transgendered people. A transgendered person was born with the wrong human parts. Tucker makes the accusations that homosexuals are confused, lost individuals with histories of sexual abuse. Bree clearly doesn’t fit this category because her only goal is to achieve her vaginoplasty. She is burdened with an overbearing mother who never understood her. As if moms are the ones that would have issues with the gender switch while her dad Murray (Burt Young, better known as Paulie from those Rocky movies) is more understanding about the situation.

Toby on the other hand was arrested for male prostitution, hooks up with an underage girl, was molested by his step dad, wants to be a straight porn star (but understands he needs to pay his dues as a gay porn star), hits on his transgendered travel companion (prior to the big reveal she’s really his dad). Basically every psychological issue Tucker could place on the story’s young gay/bisexual character, he did, all in an effort to show how superior and self-actualized a transgendered person is when compared to a homosexual.

If Christ was running around preaching about the awesomeness of Samaritans, (FYI Samaritans were a bunch of people hated in that area of the world back is JC's day) why do all these Christin folks think he would hate on gay people or condemn them to hell? I guess everyone needs something to hate just as much as they need something to love.


All Bree wants through the story is her operation, after her operation she’s a bit bummed her son punched her in the face after telling her she’s his dad. Let’s keep in mind he did just try to sleep with her moments before. As soon as Bree achieves postop status she’s complete in life. She’s also more accepting of her son’s chosen profession as opposed to her mother’s disappointment in changing from a man to a woman.

It is very possible to accept the villainies of a traditional American family not coming to grips with their children’s switch in genders. I doubt there are many families that have reacted well to such holiday news. Tucker makes the vicious decision to sacrifice its gay character with every ailment it can, to show there is a difference between gay and transgendered people. It is my opinion Tucker’s film is showing he doesn’t believe the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender cause should be grouped into the same category. It’s a cruel bash against the gay community in the hopes of showing the transgendered community as a standalone entity that falls under the category of normalcy.

A brave man setting the record straight.  As a gay man I can tell you it's the best sex I ever experienced.



Written by
Steven Rogers
Writer
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®