Film

Two Big Films About LGBT Issues Are Coming Out, And Lots Of LGBT People Have Issues With Both Of Them

Are 'About Ray' and 'Stonewall' giving more exposure to LGBT stories, or are they corrupting them?

by Meg Watson  10 August 2015

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Between the celebrated legalisation of marriage equality in many developed nations around the world and increasing awareness of trans issues through high-profile women like Caitlyn Jenner and Laverne Cox, it’s no surprise that we’re now getting an influx of films centred on LGBT experiences. In the past week we’ve seen the first trailers for About Ray and Stonewall — two much-hyped titles to be released in the US next month. And, though there’s been no shortage of these kind of films in the past, their increasing presence in mainstream cinema is pretty exciting.

This isn’t just confined to the big screen either. Just a few days ago — despite ongoing criticism over its lack of a female Doctor in more than 50 years on air — Doctor Who has hired its first transgender actor. I Am Cait seems to be injecting new worth into the tired reality TV formula, and in the past year streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon have championed original content which gives equal representation to LGBT characters, like Sense8, Orange Is The New Black, and Transparent. 

Even House of Cards had its moments.

But the reaction of many LGBT people, to these upcoming film releases in particular, suggests exposure isn’t the only thing to be worried about. In their rush to be on the right side of history, are Hollywood just getting it wrong?

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We Need To Talk About Ray

With the first trailer released this week, About Ray tells the story of a transgender teenager transitioning from female to male. Focussing on the character’s journey in a similar way as Jill Soloway’s Transparent, the film explores the difficulties he faces with his family, school and quest for a medical transition. Ray’s mother is played by Naomi Watts, his dad is Jimmy from The OC (don’t pretend you know him as anything else), his grandmother is Susan Sarandon, and Ray himself is played by Elle Fanning: Maleficient star, younger sister of Dakota, and 17-year-old cisgender woman.

With the trailer presented exclusively by Vanity Fair — the same publication responsible for Caitlyn Jenner’s now-iconic media debut earlier this year — it’s received a lot of praise. Though it’s both written and directed by other cis women (like Transparent), it looks to be a tender and affecting portrayal of an important story yet to be given such blockbuster prominence.

But, for many, there’s a persisting question: why wasn’t Fanning’s role given to a trans actor?

This isn’t a new issue. Jared Leto’s Oscar-winning portrayal of a trans woman in Dallas Buyer’s Club in particular saw this debate come to the fore, with many arguing he had no right to reprise the role as a straight cis man, or that his portrayal of the character was patronising and ultimately counter-productive to the larger fight for trans representation.

It’s an issue which is often compared to the ongoing struggles facing people of colour.

More broadly, even widely-celebrated works such as Transparent have come under criticism for being led by cis male actor Jeffrey Tambor. Despite the story being based on Soloway’s own experiences as the daughter of a trans woman, and the supporting cast and crew being stacked with trans people, some claim it’s essentially crude mimicry. Trans writer Eliora Avraham recently deemed it a kind of “ventriloquism” in Overland — boldly asserting that “everything you’ve seen about transgender women is bullshit”.

This also leads to the argument that actual trans actors are being deprived of work and recognition when less authentic actors are chosen in their place. Laverne Cox famously almost quit acting out of financial necessity before landing her major role on OITNB.

Late last year, when Elle Fanning was first announced in this upcoming role, The Atlantic assessed the idea with long-time trans actor (and star of the upcoming TV show about a trans woman Myrna) Marlo Bernier. Not so convinced by those protesting, she asserted it was more likely a problem with the industry at large. “People seem to think there are hundreds of authentic trans actors standing around the corner,” she said. “Are there people of trans experience and histories who act? Yes. Are they right for the part simply by the fact that they are authentically trans? No, they’re not.”

When pressed for alternate young trans actors who could have taken the role in Fanning’s place, she couldn’t name one.

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Then, There’s Stonewall…

The 1969 riots at the Stonewall Inn — one of New York’s few openly gay bars at the time — are widely regarded as a pivotal moment in the fight for US LGBT rights. After the police raided the establishment to enforce the standing laws against homosexuality and cross-dressing, patrons erupted in violent protest that would act as a catalyst to the ongoing fight for equality in decades to come.

Importantly, the Stonewall Inn was known for its broad mix of genderqueer people from diverse ethnicities, and the instigators of the movement are thought to be African American drag queen Marsha P. Johnson and Peurto Rican trans woman Sylvia Rivera. The lead character in Roland Emmerich’s film about the historic moment is a fictional white cis man.

After the release of the film’s first trailer last week, the outrage was almost instantaneous. The YouTube comments are almost universally negative, social media was full of condemnation labelling it “whitewashed”, and there’s also a petition asking audiences to boycott the film which has clocked up more than 21,000 signatures. “Do not throw money at the capitalistic industry that fails to recognise true s/heros,” it reads. “Do not support a film that erases our history. Do not watch Stonewall.”

“History classes throughout our nation have built a reputation of instructing young generations that white, straight, cis folks are the saviours and founders of this land. Wrong. We were taught that light-skinned people are the goal; the goal to assimilate to. Wrong. We were also rarely taught about queer history, but when we were, it probably revolved around white cis gay men. Wrong.”

Pat Cordova-Goff, the trans woman who started the petition, also uploaded a video explaining her reasons for the boycott:

Since then, the issue has been going back and forth in the media. Amidst the growing list of op-eds on the matter, The Huffington Post‘s Ernest Owens suggested this was “the wrong community and time to attempt such buffoonery”.

“As intersectionality becomes a more discussed realm within our current LGBT movement, we have no time to fantasise a reality in which white cis-dominance erases queer representation of colour,” he wrote. “Neither do we have the luxury to insert a deliberate distortion of our history for the rest of the world to see at a time when they’re more open to embracing it.”

Using Gus Van Sant’s 2008 Oscar-winning biopic of Harvey Milk (Milk) as a comparable example, Owen suggests there’s some bias in presenting similar stories from people of colour: “This capitalises off of the current landmark LGBT victories that these transwomen of colour helped pave the way for without giving them proper respects. This has yet again led me to question the racism within our LGBT community.”

The film’s director has now responded to these concerns on Facebook and assured audiences the full feature will be better than it looks.

“I understand that following the release of our trailer there have been initial concerns about how this character’s involvement is portrayed,” he said. “But when this film — which is truly a labor of love for me — finally comes to theaters, audiences will see that it deeply honors the real-life activists who were there … We are all the same in our struggle for acceptance.”

Audiences don’t seem so convinced:

Neither About Ray nor Stonewall have Australian release dates yet, but both are premiering in the US late next month. This conversation definitely isn’t over yet.