Transamerica

It's been a busy week so far - I officially accepted my place at Uni for the Autumn and went to a fun International Women's Day celebration with LJ's mum last night. It was great to meet more activist women in Calgary and also to celebrate the day with my future MIL. She is really an amazing lady and though I've struggled with getting used to the whole having family close by again thing, I think we have established a mutual respect and affection. Anyway, I hope everyone had a great International Women's Day. LJ even took my advice and brought chocolates into his office for all the women he works with.
On Tuesday night I went to my favourite cinema in Calgary, the Uptown, to see Transamerica. A week or so before, I read piny's really interesting comments on the movie over at Feministe.

First of all, a transwoman in Southern California as desperate for surgery as Bree was would have been able to find a surgeon to perform it. Second, even had said desperate transwoman decided to go the standard route, it’s really unlikely that her therapist would have refused a referral to a transwoman who had transitioned socially and legally, started hormones, and undergone surgery. Third, had her therapist had any doubts about Bree, resolving those doubts would not have involved Bree going on a roadtrip days prior to surgery to track down the son she’s never met.

I really enjoyed the film, and thought the performances and dialogue were excellent, but I was grateful to piny for his criticism of the movie and insights in to the realities of the trans-experience. It helped me to watch the film without buying too heavily into its story of transsexuality and to look at how else 'Transamerica' might be read - the journey Bree and Toby make across America as well as the transition from child to parent and communication between generations. I also thought about how films that engage with characters and subject matter that are marginalised, are often looked to as points of reference for the 'real world', that they have responsibilities that other films do not have. I have mixed feelings about this - on one hand I really do think that films can educate and inform us and that this is good, but on the other I worry about tethering films (and literature, and all art for that matter) too tightly to 'truth' especially when this does not apply across the board. So, while I value piny's criticisms, and especially value the dialogue that they create and contribute to (read all the comments on his post), I also value the experience of enjoying a story for what it is.
I do think that Felicity Huffman did a great job, and I do look forward to the day when there are many more transwomen and transmen characters on our screens and many more transwomen and transmen acting on them too.
Nice to see an Irish connection with the wonderful Fionnula Flannagan as Bree's mother.