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What Do We Want From The Media?

By Stef Matthews
TGF Assistant Editor



I recently read JoAnn Roberts' Chatsubo item about the Ford commercial that featured a "guy in a dress" and all of the uproar that it caused in our community. JoAnn thought it wasn't that bad and didn't really reflect upon us. I too had written an article last December that griped about how advertisers use the "guy in a dress" gimmick to attract attention and even suggested we boycott (shouldn't that be a gender-neutral word?) their products until they wake up. I received many supportive emails as a result, and to date, I still haven't purchased any of the advertiser's products. But, it occurred to me, after reading JoAnn's article, that I couldn't define what would be a good representation of a transgendered person in an advertisement or a television show. Consider the '97-'98 television season and review the abundance of transgendered references and characters, both in regular-series and commercials. We had:

"Ask Harriet" was doomed from the start. Even if the actor had the look, walked the walk, he never talked the talk. This show had "GONG" written all over it. We didn't like it, probably, because it wasn't realistic to our way of life.

"Ally McBeal" had an episode with a transgender character "Stephanie" who had been arrested for prostitution. Ally helps her in so many ways only to finally loose in the end. This character again, had the look, walked the walk, and this time, even talked the talk. She spoke of many feelings that many of us could echo. But, we objected (probably rightly so) that a transgendered person was lowered again to the level of a street prostitute.

"Working" had an episode where a woman cross dressed as a man to get a job. Fred Savage, as the star of the show, dons the dress to teach the boss a lesson. Neither character claimed to be transgendered and the whole point of the show seemed to be to get ratings by showing a beautiful woman convincingly disguised as a man (at least in the sitcom world) and to show the star in drag. No TG brownie points for this show.

"Suddenly Susan" brought back what might be the very first man we ever saw dressing as a woman. Tony Curtis did a reprisal of his "Some Like It Hot" dressing days. This time as a serious cross dresser. This was good because it did show a cross dresser in real-life situations. Though Tony probably wished he looked more like his daughter, Jamie Lee, it was a pretty decent reflection of how some of us feel. Of course, he was a bit over the top, but again remember we're in sitcom world here.

"The Drew Carey Show" brought us another "Stephanie" in the form of Drew's older brother Steve, who is forced to move to Cincinnati and start over as his fiancée dumped him. Soon Steve wrangles a job at the department store where Drew works, in the cosmetics department no less. Drew shows up to see how Steve is doing on his first day and discovers Stephanie. Stephanie then "comes out" to his brother as a cross dresser. This was good because, at least this part, was realistic. Throughout the season there were a couple of other appearances of Steve/Stephanie, but these were mostly played for the laughs.

Plus there were various other shows and handfuls of commercials that, in one way or another, used transgendered people to get attention. Some good, some not. So, I started thinking today, if we could make our own show or commercial, what would we do? What would we put in it?

Let's start with a commercial. Assume you were going to feature a TG person. Further assume that you hired a beautiful TS or CD to star. If you let it be known that the star wasn't what they appeared to be, then the "community" would have a problem. If you didn't let it be known, then what's the point? Assume now that you hired a "garden variety cross dresser" then, we'd get all over them for the attention getting aspect.

Now, if you had a series to produce and the subject of transgenderism was going to be prominent, what would you do. First decide are we talking drama, sitcom, or other? A drama would almost have to be about something else, with possibly the main character being transgendered. But, if your life is anything like mine, it's not interesting enough to make a drama out of. So, could we have an "E.R." or "The Practice" where one of the nurses/clerks or, better yet, doctors/lawyers were transgendered? Probably, but I wonder if that would fly in downtown America? Would we be renewed for next season? It seems that the show wouldn't be sustainable just on the TG-theme alone. After all, it is supposed to be a drama, and in a critical light, much of what we go through tends to be comical in nature at times. So, maybe we should opt for a sitcom...

So, where do we go from here? Do we head for the zany like "3rd Rock From The Sun" or for the more comic-slash-dramatic like an "Ally McBeal"? Anytime you introduce drama into a series on a regular basis, the show becomes about drama, not about transgenderism. There are shows that I watch for the drama (a.k.a. the stories) and there are shows I watch for their mindless entertainment value. Very few can straddle. A zany show would quickly run out of material. Sure we all have done some zany things, but not enough to do 26 episodes a year. Let alone one or two!

So, what if we went for more of a "Seinfeld" or "Friends" type comedy? This seems to make sense. This fictional show would have many key characters, one of whom happens to be one of us. A show about nothing but the interaction between people in day-to-day situations. That seems to make sense. Every show or two the group meets at the Coffee House/Diner and "our" character happens to be living/dressed as the other gender and his/her friends accept that as normal. Wow! What a concept. But, eventually this character would have to do something comedic. After all, we do have 26 comedy episodes a year to write. That one episode would (no doubt) air during the "sweeps" and we wouldn't all be happy with it. You can't please all of the people all of the time!

Maybe we should settle for this, at this stage in our "evolution", and allow the frequent abuses that we suffer at the hand of today's media. Sure, we'll get sucker-punched with a "hooker" or a "fat guy with a moustache in a dress" once in a while. But, we'll also sneak in a character or two that isn't that different from our real-world. That way, slowly, people will begin to see the everyday us. There aren't enough of us to contact everyone in the world and change their attitude. Maybe someday we'll end up with a "classic" episode. Remember Lucy stomping grapes or trying to keep up with the conveyor line of candy? What if in 20 or 30 years somebody says, "Remember that series with that cross dresser and she locked herself out of her apartment?" (Which might go a long way to explain why I don't write television!)

If you'd like to take a shot at outlining a potential series, I'd love to hear your ideas! Send me an eMail here at TG Forum with the word "media" in the subject and I'll compile them for a future story! Maybe we have a budding screenwriter in our readership?

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