Bitch Flicks’ Weekly Picks

Check out what we’ve been reading this week – and let us know what you’ve been reading/writing in the comments!

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What have you been reading/writing this week? Tell us in the comments!

Bitch Flicks’ Weekly Picks

Check out what we’ve been reading this week–and let us know what you’ve been reading/writing in the comments!

recommended-red-714x300-1

 

 

Shit People Say to Women Directors and Other Women in Film on tumblr

Amy Schumer Is Making Genius Feminist Comedy (Video) by Kali Holloway at AlterNet

Cecily Strong’s top 10 jokes of the 2015 White House Correspondents’ Dinner b

The Best & Worst Depictions Of Abortion In TV & Film by Dionne Scott at Refinery 29

Can Kathleen Kennedy use ‘Star Wars’ to change Hollywood? by Alyssa Rosenberg at The Washington Post

Meryl Streep Boosts Over-40 Women Screenwriters by Maria Giese at Ms. blog

Every High School (Public & Private) in the USA Will Receive a Copy of ‘Selma’ on DVD Free of Charge by Tambay A. Obenson at Shadow and Act

Laura Bispuri’s Transgender Odyssey ‘Sworn Virgin’ Wins Tribeca Film Fest’s Nora Ephron Prize by Inkoo Kang at Women and Hollywood

‘Fun Home,’ the Musical, Takes Alison Bechdel’s Life to Broadway by Michael Paulson at The New York Times

Native Actors Walk Off the Set of the New Adam Sandler Movie by Kira Garcia at Bitch Media

GLAAD Studio Responsibility Index Reveals Queer Women Basically Don’t Exist In Movies by Heather Hogan at Autostraddle

Women speak out about pulling off the “radical act” of filmmaking in the male-dominated movie business by Alice Robb at The New York Times

Study: Female Directors Face Strong Bias in Landing Studio Films by Cynthia Littleton at Variety

Carey Mulligan, Rose Byrne, and Geena Davis Are All Sick Of Hollywood’s Sexist Crap This Week by Sam Maggs at The Mary Sue

What have you been reading/writing this week? Tell us in the comments!

Trans* Women and the Horror of Misrepresentation

While women (especially women of color) are constantly misrepresented, the trans* woman is without a doubt the most misrepresented minority group in existence. The horror genre frequently comes under fire for its formulaic uses of tropes and characters, and the “mentally ill trans* woman/psycho killer” is one we should really stop using.

Felissa Rose as Angela Baker in Sleepaway Camp
Felissa Rose as Angela Baker in Sleepaway Camp

 

This guest post by BJ Colangelo previously appeared at her blog Day of the Woman and is cross-posted with permission.

While women (especially women of color) are constantly misrepresented, the trans* woman is without a doubt the most misrepresented minority group in existence.  The horror genre frequently comes under fire for its formulaic uses of tropes and characters, and the “mentally ill trans* woman/psycho killer” is one we should really stop using. (NOTE: The asterisk at the end of “trans” is an umbrella term to encompass all non-cisgender gender identities including: transgender, transsexual, transvestite, genderqueer, genderfluid, non-binary, genderfuck, genderless, agender, non-gendered, third gender, two-spirit, bigender, and trans man and trans woman.)

The first thing that needs to be addressed is the depressing use of trans* women or cross dressers in horror and the fact filmmakers are treating the two like they’re interchangeable.  For example: Norman Bates in Psycho may lose his cool and dress like his mother when he kills someone, but that doesn’t make him a trans* woman. However, Angela Baker in Sleepaway Camp is revealed as having male anatomy but then returns years later in the sequels happily living and identifying as a woman. I’d make the argument that Angela Baker is a trans* woman. Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs wanted to be a woman, I’d consider him a trans* woman, while The Bride in Black from Insidious and Insidious 2 may have been struggling from an identity crisis caused by the years of abuse inflicted on him by his mother.  It’s difficult to tell whether The Bride in Black wanted to castrate himself because he truly wanted to be a woman, or if it meant his mother would finally love him.  That’s a complex issue and one that could easily constitute its own article.

Origin of The Black Bride in Insidious 2 (see: boy in a dress)
Origin of The Black Bride in Insidious 2 (see: boy in a dress)

 

Mey Valdivia Rude is a trans* woman and contributing editor/author to Autostraddle who recently covered this very topic with an incredible article titled “Who’s Afraid Of The Big, Bad Trans* Woman? On Horror and Transfemininity.”  Her article is highly informative, but it is her experiences as a trans* person and a horror fan that are truly telling of the impact film has on its audiences.  In describing her theatrical experience watching Insidious 2 she states:

As the movie was ending, I sank down into my seat, hoping that no one would notice that I was trans*. I was afraid that if someone realized I was trans*, they might make the connection between me and the serial-killer-turned-ghost in the movie. After all, if you don’t know me, you might see me and (incorrectly) think that I’m just some man who is dressed up like a woman. According to the filmmakers behind Insidious Chapter 2, that makes me creepy, insane and dangerous.

When I think of women in horror films that I can identify with, I can respond with characters like the bodacious and brash Elvira, Mary from Hocus Pocus, and a handful of other sassy, independent women.  For trans* women, they have motel owning serial killers, kidnapping lepidopterists, malicious ghosts, and slashers. Considering horror films are predominately made by men and the fact Western society heavily values men over women, it’s somewhat predictable that we’d have all of these “mentally ill” male characters dressing like women. Why would a man want to live as a woman? That’s just insane! Henry Lee Lucas was forced to dress like a girl when he was a kid, and look how he turned out! Mey Rude goes on in her article to say, “The same insanity that causes them to be transgender is the thing that causes them to become serial killers, and causes them to be seen as frightening.” It’s very difficult for the average cis-gendered male to understand what it feels like to misidentify with the gender their anatomy and society tells them they’re “supposed” to be. Film representation is very, very important. Think of it this way–if Jaws made people scared of the ocean and IT made people afraid of clowns, what sort of idea are we perpetuating about trans* women if they’re frequently shown as psychotic, violent, or perverted?

Buffalo Bill putting on lip makeup in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
Buffalo Bill putting on lip makeup in The Silence of the Lambs

 

A recent study showcased that trans* people across the U.S. experience three times as much police violence as non-transgender individuals. Even more terrifying, when trans* gender people were the victims of hate crimes, 48 percent reported receiving mistreatment from the police when they went for help. These statistics are the true horrors. Mey Rude sums it up perfectly:

When people look to pop culture and see trans* women portrayed as dangerous impostors that they should be afraid of, they cease to see trans* women as people and start seeing them as monsters. In the fictional world of movies it may be the trans* women who are frightening and menacing killers, but in real life, those trans* women are far, far more likely to be the victims of horrific and violent murders.

To my knowledge, there is really only one horror movie that showcases trans* women in a positive light, and even then the film showcases drag queens…not trans* women. (Pro-tip, not all drag queens are trans* women and not all trans* women are drag queens.) Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives is a tongue-in-cheek rape revenge film meant to be an entertaining film of empowerment a la I Spit on Your Grave.  GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) protested the film at its original Tribeca screening, but opinions on the film are extremely polarized.  Considering the somewhat cartoonish film is the only real positive representation trans* women have in horror, I can sympathize with the anger from the trans* community. At the end of the day, I can’t hate the player but I will hate the game. Hollywood (horror in particular) needs a makeover on its portrayal of trans* women, and fast.

Just picture Jamie Clayton as a Final Girl real quick. THAT is a film I want to see.
Just picture Jamie Clayton as a Final Girl real quick. THAT is a film I want to see.

 

If horror were to take a page from the books of dramatic films like Dog Day Afternoon, Dallas Buyers Club, or even the smash hit TV series Orange Is the New Black, we can start showcasing trans* women as actual people with feelings and complex thoughts and not just an easy way to tell an audience “this guy is supposed to be a weirdo, so we put him in a dress.”  There are amazing trans* women actresses, and they would be amazing additions to the female horror cannon as much more than a punch line or a quick villain. Laverne Cox, Harmony Santana, Jamie Clayton, and Candis Cayne are just a few working actresses that would completely dominate in the horror world. Trans* women deserve proper representation in horror, and it’s about time someone does something about it.

 


BJ Colangelo is the woman behind the keyboard for “Day of the Woman: A blog for the feminine side of fear” and a contributing writer for Icons of Fright. She’s been published in books, magazines, numerous online publications, all while frantically applying for day jobs. She’s a recovering former child beauty queen and a die-hard horror fanatic. You can follow her on Twitter at @BJColangelo.

 

Bitch Flicks’ Weekly Picks

Check out what we’ve been reading this week–and let us know what you’ve been reading/writing in the comments!

recommended-red-714x300-1

Playing ‘Crazy Eyes’ Taught Actress ‘It’s OK To Be Just You’ at NPR

The Greatest Documentaries of All Time at Sight & Sound

Carrie Brownstein Spills the Beans on Fred, Feminism, and Fear by Lisa Butterworth at BUST

Blackstar Film Fest Review: ‘Dreams Are Colder Than Death’ Is a Haunting Exploration of the Contours of Present-day Blackness by Nijla Mumin at Shadow and Act

GLAAD Report: Hollywood Doing More Harm Than Good With LGBT Representations (Especially Paramount and Warner Brothers) at /bent

Village Voice Writer Calls Out Commenters For Gendered Insults Against Their Guardians of the Galaxy Reviewer by Victoria McNally at The Mary Sue

Does Comic-Con Condone Rape Culture? by Natalie Wilson at Ms. blog

Clear Your Thursday Nights for Shonda Rhimes by Melissa Silverstein and Inkoo Kang at Women and Hollywood

Katy Perry on Cultural Appropriation: ‘I Guess I’ll Stick to Baseball and Hot Dogs’ by Jamilah King at Colorlines

Marvel Studios President Addresses Lack of Female-Led Movies by Graeme McMillan at The Hollywood Reporter

IFP’s “Fresh Faces” Highlights So Many Rad Female Indie Filmmakers by Mari Brighe at Autostraddle

 

What have you been reading/writing this week? Tell us in the comments!