Trans Representation in Film in the era of Emilia Pérez
By: Beth Petrunak
With a record-breaking 13 Oscar nominations as well as a robust For Your Consideration campaign, Emilia Pérez became many people’s introduction to trans identity in film. However, what could have been a historic moment for transvisibility ended up falling into dangerous and harmful stereotypes.
I first heard about Emilia Pérez from a co-worker in November. She’s a cinephile, so I can always count on her to recommend the latest and greatest as soon as they premiere. I remember being intrigued by the fact that it was a trans-led film, but the short summary she gave me didn’t spark my interest. Two months later, Emilia Pérez is on billboards all over Los Angeles, touting 13 Oscar nominations, the most for any film that year and the most for any non-English language film of all time. Again, to anyone who hadn’t seen the film, this would appear to be a major win for the trans community, Spanish language films, and Mexicans. But when you read the fine print, you’ll find that there were no trans people or Mexicans involved in making this film, and it shows on screen.
Harmful Stereotypes in Emilia Pérez
When I try to explain the premise of Emilia Pérez, I summarize it as such: A movie musical in which a trans cartel leader kidnaps a lawyer and forces her to help fake her death and medically transition in order to live her truth. Years later, she seeks the lawyer’s help again in order to put on a Mrs. Doubtfire-esque plot. It seems insane, and perhaps even camp.
However, none of that comes across in the final product. Before getting into the harmful depictions of trans women, my biggest critique is that this movie is so lukewarm. Its absurd plot and strange visuals could lend itself to becoming a cult classic like Rocky Horror, but it lacks self-awareness and backs away from the bizarre, which makes a lot of scenes awkward and uncomfortable to watch.
Diving into the meat of this story, though, this film portrays Emilia’s transition as a blank slate, as if her transition to womanhood absolves her completely of the person she was before. As the cartel boss Manitas, she committed numerous murders and other atrocities. After her transition, she becomes an activist for missing and murdered people across Mexico. This stark contrast appears to show Manitas and Emilia as two different people, and effectively takes a trans medicalist position that to be trans, one must get surgeries to alter their physical appearance (cue everyone’s favorite song “La Vaginoplastia”). Neither her transition nor her trans identity should absolve her of the things she did in her life prior to the start of the film. Trans people exist on a full spectrum of identities, moralities, and emotions. If you want a trans villain, commit to the theatrics and the camp of it all (see Jinkx Monsoon as Maestro in the Doctor Who episode, “The Devil’s Chord”)!
Who Should Be Telling Trans Stories?
When you tell a cis white person that perhaps they should not create from the experience of an oppressed, or otherwise minority group, the general response is to get defensive. And the key word here is should not, not cannot. You can do anything you want, write about anything you please, but if you want to write a good story that is genuine and comes from a place of authenticity, then you need to confront and acknowledge your own blind spots and prejudices.
In the case of Emilia Pérez, a white French man chose to tell the story of a Mexican trans woman’s life, but has spoken little about how the trans community is important to him and why this is a story he needed to tell. There are certainly ways for white cis people to tell these stories, but it involves work. It means doing the research, going out into these communities, and trying to understand their experience and hardships.
It means looking in the mirror and asking yourself why you want to tell this story and why you are best equipped to do so. It means inviting people in from the community to work on the project with you, to add valuable insight from their lived experiences. I speak in generalities here because this does not apply to the trans community alone. BIPOC creators have been having this conversation in the context of race for years. All that said, a white man can write a story outside his own experience if he does this work.
Sean Baker’s Tangerine
Baker’s name seems to be everywhere now with the success of his film Anora. This film captured the hearts of many in theaters, but became national news when it swept at the Oscars with five wins, including Best Original Screenplay and the coveted Best Picture.
Before his Cinderella story Anora, he wrote and directed Tangerine, a low-budget film (shot entirely on iPhone I might add) that follows two trans sex workers Sin-Dee and Alexandra, as the former tries to find her cheating Pimp and his new lover. Baker was quick to admit his lack of knowledge on the subject of sex-workers, and went into the community to introduce himself and learn more about their first-hand experiences. This eventually led him to the LGBTQ+ Center, where he met the two leads who graciously allowed him to use their own stories as inspiration for the film.
Tangerine is a slice of life of sorts, showing Los Angeles in a new light from the perspective of trans sex workers. The film is charming not only because of its charismatic leads, but because of the range and depth of emotion explored. Neither Sin-Dee nor Alexandra are pigeonholed into tragic women in need of saving, but they show their own agency in feeling everything life throws at them. There are moments of anger and embarrassment, joy and humor, friendship and love. Sean Baker in collaboration with the trans community, made a film that celebrated all aspects of the trans experience.
I Saw the TV Glow by Jane Schoenbrun
You know who the best people to tell trans stories are? Trans people! Jane Schoenbrun is the writer and director of I Saw the TV Glow, an A24 film released in 2024 that broke into the mainstream. You may not find this film on lists of trans stories; in fact, the film doesn’t utter the word gay or trans once.
Schoenbrun identifies as nonbinary, but even without this context, the film speaks directly to trans individuals experiencing gender dysphoria. Part of what makes this film so impactful is that it doesn’t need to name the feeling to express it. Schoenbrun uses allegory, nostalgia, and horror devices to express an uneasiness with one’s identity. While this is a universal theme that affects all genders and sexualities, Schoebrun expertly weaves together two stories, blending characters and genders across the TV screen. This subtle and layered storytelling is something that can only be achieved by these complex and complicated feelings.
The Future of Trans Cinema
The state of trans films at the moment seems rather bleak. In a time when it's still not guaranteed that a trans actor will be cast to play trans characters, maybe we should be thankful for what visibility Emilia Pérez achieved. In a country where trans rights are under threat and the next four years look grim, is there anything Hollywood can do to combat these attacks?
We’ve already come a long way since Sean Baker’s Tangerine in 2015. Karla Sofía Gascón was nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars, the first openly trans actor to be nominated. In recent years we have also seen trans actors gain widespread success and popularity, like Hunter Schafer (Euphoria, The Hunter Games) and Bella Ramsey (The Last of Us, Catherine Called Birdy). Actor Elliot Page came out as transgender at the end of 2020 and the creators of The Umbrella Academy transitioned his character Vanya to Viktor to align with Page’s identity.
It is hard to celebrate these wins when the reality is that over 90% of trans and gender-nonconforming victims of violence are people of color, and over two thirds are Black transgender women. When films like Emilia Pérez depict trans people as deceiving others, that puts real trans lives at risk. We need more trans led films to break through to the mainstream in order to change public perspective and humanize their experiences. Films like I Saw the TV Glow and Tangerine show that the emotions and hardships that trans people experience are simultaneously unique to them and yet not so different from the feelings of any cis person. It is essential to come together now more than ever, and we can do so by showing support wherever possible. You don’t have to go to rallies and donate large sums to charities to show solidarity. It can be as simple as supporting trans films, books, and creators online, and speaking up when there is harm being done.
