By Gwendolyn Ann Smith
In May of 2014, "Orange is the New Black" star, Laverne Cox, adorned the cover of Time magazine. Next to her was the phrase "The Transgender Tipping Point." The cover itself is likely the most important media representation of a transgender person since the New York Daily News pushed coverage of the H-bomb off their cover to present Christine Jorgensen's 1952 transition story under the headline "Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty."
The choice of Cox for this cover, too, was important: Cox's role as Sophia Burset on "Orange is the New Black" is a groundbreaking one. It marks the first time an out transgender person has acted as a transgender person on the small screen.
After a turn on "I Want to Work for Diddy" and a handful of characters in other films and television shows, Cox hosted on the show "TRANSform Me" before talking her place on "Orange is the New Black." While still a recurring character, she is also taking on other roles, including that of Dr. Frank-N-Further in a made for television reboot of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." And through her turn on "OITNB," she has won a Screen Actors Guild award and been nominated for a Primetime Emmy.
If anything, she is indeed emblematic of huge change from what came before. Trans stories have long been a fodder for both the big and small screen. In 1975, actor Robert Reed played a transwoman on "Medical Center," while Archie Bunker gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a female impersonator. Two years later, the short-lived show "All That Glitters" took to the air with Linda Gray as a transsexual — the first recurring transgender character on television — while Billy Crystal played Jodie Dallas, a transsexual, then gay, then straight character on "Soap." This, of course, is discounting the cross-dressed antics of comedians such as Milton Berle.
Transgender representation took a step back in the next couple decades, focusing on cross-dressed serial killers and "wacky" films and television shows liberally ripping off the plotline of "Some Like It Hot."
Yet if we look beyond Laverne Cox, we still see a world where transgender stories remain poorly told, a land of stereotypes and poorly developed characters.
Consider "Transparent," featuring Jeffrey Tambor as Maura Pfefferman, a transwoman dealing with the coming out process. I personally have loved Tambor in many other projects, most notably as George Bluth Sr. in "Arrested Development."
Still, I find myself wondering why a transgender woman could not have played this role. Is it because, as many have surmised, that Hollywood prefers their transwomen to appear mannish and "unconvincing," providing some sort of safe distance for non-transgender audiences to feel comfortable?
Indeed, I would contend that they choose actors who fit what they think a transperson should be — not what we actually are. We who are trans are not the caricature they picture when they think of transgender people.
Beyond this, your pickings become very slim indeed. There are always reality programs such as "I Am Jazz" and "I Am Cait," or independent fair like the excellent "Her Story." And yes, I'll discount the recent horrible example of trans representation on the rebooted "The X-Files." This transgender tipping seems a lot more limited than Time might have let on in 2014.
Movies have fared worse than television, too. Aside from the whitewashed portrayal of transgender involvement in the eponymous "Stonewall" directed by Roland Emmerich, you end with the recently released "The Danish Girl" featuring Eddie Redmayne as Lili Elbe.
The movie, veering from the actual story of Elbe's life in the 1933 book "Man Into Woman," tries to paint Elbe as a character who becomes feminized due to the actions of her wife and a fetish for her feminine self.
Once again, we see a male actor playing a transwoman in "The Danish Girl." Redmayne's public comments about the role have to an extent echoed those of Jared Leto's portrayal of a transwoman named Rayon in "Dallas Buyer's Club." Leto received an Academy Award for the role, and many have suggested Redmayne will have a strong chance for an Oscar this year.
I can't help but recall calls about the Oscars favoring non-disabled actors in disabled roles in the past, and treating them as "brave" for pretending to be so on the screen. The roles of Rayon and Elbe could potentially have been played by a transwoman, and that I would consider far braver than anything Leto or Redmayne could muster.
I should also mention that "Tangerine," a movie that also featured a transgender character — two in fact — was anticipated to be in the running this year. Unlike "The Danish Girl," too, it featured transgender actresses, Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez. The lack of the film on the running this year is also another example of the 2015 Academy Awards passing over a film that spoke to the black experience.
By the way, Laverne Cox lobbied on behalf of the film, urging Academy members to consider Rodriguez or Taylor for an Oscar.
So here we are, two years past that tipping point that Time magazine proclaimed, and not much seems to have changed in Hollywood. Transgender roles are still largely going to non-transgender actors, typically white males — and while there are still strong independent productions like "Her Story" and "Tangerine," they're not getting near the recognition or backing of others.
I'd like to see Hollywood take us at face value. Laverne Cox is brilliant, but is not the only transgender person who can act. Many others are able and willing to take roles. Let's make this tipping point a real and lasting thing, Hollywood.
