In 2014, Time magazine published a story titled The Transgender Tipping Point. It argued that trans representation in contemporary media had become so plentiful that it was helping western culture to evolve in its views of gender.
There have indeed been many well-intentioned fiction films in recent years which have represented characters in the process of gender transition, including The Danish Girl (2015) and A Fantastic Woman (2017). While these films have attempted to challenge earlier stereotypes of trans people as bathroom predators and psychopaths, many of them have inadvertently reinforced other prejudices held about trans people.
Such films have utilised narrative motifs such as the “trans reveal” (where the character’s revelation of their trans-ness is a shock in the narrative), the “trapped in the wrong body” lament (in which gender-confirmation surgery is their ultimate goal) and the “isolated exhibit” trope (where they are alone and abandoned by friends and family, treated not unlike a freak show exhibit). In doing so, I believe many of these recent films have furthered contemporary misunderstandings – and even heightened transphobia.
