How has trans-female rep­re­sen­ta­tion in film changed in the last 45 years?

A recent pan­el dis­cus­sion on John Dexter’s 1972 film I Want What I Want at London’s BFI South­bank pre­sent­ed an oppor­tu­ni­ty to reflect on the devel­op­ment of trans women’s rep­re­sen­ta­tion in film. The film stars Anne Hey­wood who begins a jour­ney of self-dis­cov­ery as Wendy. It is one of a num­ber of 1970s films to cham­pi­on lib­er­a­tion and diver­si­ty, along with 1971’s Women in Revolt and 1978’s In a Year of 13 Moons.

One of the pan­el­lists at the screen­ing was writer and black trans activist Kuchen­ga. We asked her to pro­vide a response to I Want What I Want from a mod­ern per­spec­tive, how she feels about trans women’s por­tray­al in film today and what she believes will help ensure greater rep­re­sen­ta­tion in the future.

“The 1970s was a time when off the back of the women’s lib­er­a­tion move­ment and the gay lib­er­a­tion move­ment, there was a lot hap­pen­ing in terms of sex, sex­u­al­i­ty and gen­der. In I Want What I Want you can see the con­se­quences of these move­ments. There are notes of sad­ness and tragedy that are still so famil­iar to the mod­ern lives of trans women. We are not the anthro­pol­o­gist look­ing at these things for the first time. A lot of these films are going to be viewed by the esca­lat­ing num­ber of young trans women who are des­per­ate to see them­selves. Films like I Want What I Want are still vital for such women who need to learn about them­selves, so the more atten­tion that is brought to their exis­tence, the better.

“Although we now have a wider range of films por­tray­ing trans women, it’s hard to say that a par­tic­u­lar por­tray­al is accu­rate, because a sto­ry won’t be ​‘right on the mon­ey’ for all of us. I think you have to tell indi­vid­ual trans sto­ries, and where there has been a con­ver­sa­tion with trans view­ers – where there are peo­ple with an under­stand­ing of queer pol­i­tics behind the cam­era – there tends to be more suc­cess in show­ing the emo­tion­al real­i­ties of trans life.

“There’s some­thing about the inter­ac­tion between the father and Wendy in I Want What I Want that real­ly hits on the exis­ten­tial aspect of gen­der. He says some­thing like, ​‘Why can’t you just be a man?’ That real­ly struck me – if we are look­ing at gen­der assump­tion as a bio­log­i­cal­ly deter­min­ist con­cept, then isn’t it just about one’s gen­i­talia? The exis­tence of inter­sex and trans­gen­der peo­ple is so dis­rup­tive to that under­stand­ing. Exis­ten­tial­ly speak­ing, what does it mean to be a man or a woman? Is it about what’s in your under­wear or is it about one’s expe­ri­ence and one’s sense of self?

“Con­tem­po­rary trans­fem­i­nist cam­paign­er Julia Ser­a­no, wrote a man­i­festo on trans misog­y­ny in which she explores the links between trans­pho­bia and sex­ism. The father’s reac­tion to Wendy’s tran­si­tion in I Want What I Want sup­ports Serano’s the­sis. His hor­ror sug­gests that any­one who would choose to exist as a woman must be men­tal­ly unhinged or dan­ger­ous. There are peo­ple in this world that believe that to be a woman is an extra­or­di­nary endeav­our – not some­thing that is lone­ly, not some­thing that you have to hide or apol­o­gise for, some­thing that should be cel­e­brat­ed on a dai­ly basis… that wom­an­hood is revolutionary.

“The women’s lib­er­a­tion move­ment start­ed a few years pri­or to the mak­ing of this film. More than 40 years on we are still try­ing to wres­tle with our under­stand­ing of wom­an­hood not being some­thing that is inher­ent­ly infe­ri­or and we still have to strug­gle to see fem­i­nine strength as some­thing that isn’t inher­ent­ly dan­ger­ous. I see that in myself – the need for me to think about how I can cel­e­brate my fem­i­nin­i­ty and wom­an­hood and to not give in to patri­ar­chal notions that I need to be sub­servient to a man in order to feel valid. I like that in the film Wendy is most­ly alone, and even though it’s an iso­lat­ing expe­ri­ence, most of her sense of self is con­struct­ed on her own terms. That’s real­ly liberating.”

“It’s impor­tant to con­tin­ue invest­ing in the cre­ation and expo­sure of these films, but we also need to use this plat­form to reach out to those who are still fright­ened of the self-realised mod­ern woman.”

Fol­low Kuchen­ga @kuchengcheng and on kuchen​ga​.com