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Recently TG portrayals

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  • Girls,
    Just a short time back there was a forum thread about how the TG community was portrayed in the media, films, etc.

    Last Harry Potter film: Neville confronted his fear of Snape by putting him in women's clothing

    Mulan: Okay, I teach Asian history a lot, so I find this cartoon interesting. It's quite good. Not only does Mulan pose as a man, but towards the end she dresses up soldiers as concubines

    Roberts: Robin Williams' character loses his bottom portion. He puts on another, which then turns into a skirt. He hops away saying "This is so wrong, this is so wrong." There in the theatre I said "No it's not," to which my wife replied quietly "Yes it is."

    Just a few comments.
    You can get anything you want at Alice's restaurant.
      April 8, 2005 1:51 PM BST
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  • DID I SAY ROBERTS?!?!?!?!?

    I MEANT ROBOTS!!!!!!!!!

    Oh, dear, I am not paying attention.
    You can get anything you want at Alice's restaurant.
      April 8, 2005 6:17 PM BST
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  • Shan, I agree with you completely. That's why my comments were just descriptions of what happened in the films and nothing else - no judgment calls, no offense, etc.

    In ROBOTS (not Roberts, as I previously wrote. What the hell was I thinking?), I do think it's because the character was male and did not want to be perceived as anything else. In fact, early in the film Williams' character lets Ewen McGregor's (Did I spell that right?) stay in his room, saying "Not that I want to get the gossip mill going." So in that movie there was a bit of a statement.

    "Mulan" is an excellent Disney carton taken from Chinese history and legend. It tells how a young lady disguised herself as a man to fight against the Mongols. Her father, while not "old," was not physically up to the task, hence her decision. And as for dressing soldiers as concubines, it was done as a way to get into the palace to rescue the emperor.

    Again, these were just general observations and no opinions attached.
    You can get anything you want at Alice's restaurant.
      April 8, 2005 6:23 PM BST
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  • An article from THE BOSTON GLOBE 3/11/2001 called CROSSING OVER was about TG issues on televison and in movies.
    http://www.innvestments.o[...]01.html
    It discusses the increase in TG persons showing up in fiction.

    My favorite portrayal was Cindy on ALLY MCBEAL. A TS MtF played, by a great actress, presented a very believable TS in a very human light with the comedy being related to the real-life issues that people have about TS folk. I saw it BW (Before Wendy) and it made me very sympathetic and even empathic toward TS persons. In fact I understood how someone could be attracted to and love a TS, even myself, as I saw MtF TS as women and not men for the first time after that show. I'm very grateful for this as it helped me quickly accept Wendy when I discovered her lurking in "the attic" in my head. For me, the transition from hetero male, to hetero male understanding TS MtF as real people, to wanting to become a gender therapist, to being TG myself and then discovering that I had a strong feminine side and was perhaps "bisexual" was a blessing that allowed me to accept myself quickly. The right presentation can make a different world. Media is a powerful creator of images and emotion. If, just once, someone feels for a TG person as a real person, it has to change them. It is hard to hate what you understand and all too easy to hate what you do not understand. Some would say my acceptance and understanding of TS were due to being inherently TG myself,all the time, but if I can learn to pick up a spider in the bathtub and gently move it to safety, as I would a kitten, people can learn to accept other people.
    "A live lived in fear is a life half-lived." - Native American proverb. "Inside every man is a woman who was drowned in testosterone before birth". - Wendy Jeanette Larsen "It is better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you're not." - Andre Gide (French writer)
      April 8, 2005 9:13 PM BST
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  • well put shan. there is probably a lot i could add if my brain was in thinking mode, but since it isn't, one film springs to mind - Different For Girls, i really enjoyed it. it's about a post-op ts who meets an old schoolfriend and well i won't tell you the rest. the guy who played the ts was very good.
    xx
      April 9, 2005 12:46 AM BST
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