So after posting on Angela's blog about how certain tv shows appeal to specific demographics and appear dumb to other people, I went on a Wikipedia binge for
Sabrina the Teenage Witch (a show that I loved, but I'm sure older people thought was lame). Anyways, if any of you remember Aunt Zelda, she was played by Beth Broderick, who had a relationship with director, Brian De Palma. SO- after reading the premise to one of his movies
, Dressed to Kill, I decided to watch it. (Michael Caine is in it!) There's a plot twist and its really really suspenseful, so I recommend it to anyone who likes the suspense/horror genre. Anyways, the point about this movie is that a key part to the story is a transgendered individual who is battling him/herself. There are also discussions about who is transgendered, and whether men turning into women are 'traditionally' masculine to begin with. The transgendered person is depicted pretty negatively.... [thats all I can say without spoiling it!] There's also a helpless housewife and prostitute in the film. Some transgender/gay communities were critical of the film because they felt the film indulged in transphobia. Don't Wikipedia it though! Or if you do, don't look at the plot.
After watching this film, I decided to catch up with Kubrick's
A Clockwork Orange. This is less connected, but I was still surprised at how far-reaching gender issues really go. The composer for the music score was originally credited as Walter Carlos (who also did
Tron and
The Shining), but later went through sex reassignment surgery and is now known as Wendy Carlos. Wendy said that she always liked long hair and dresses even as a little boy. As far as I know, Wendy is still living well as a female.
Two interesting examples of transgendered individuals, two different outcomes.
On a completely random note, a character named Julian in
A Clockwork Orange actually played the body of Darth Vader in
Star Wars.
Is that comment about older people referring to me, missy?? Haha juuuust kidding. Definitely have to check out this movie now!
ReplyDeleteGender issues really intersect with everything, though, haha. I took this gender studies class for a GE years ago, and it was one of the most fascinating things I have ever looked into. A bit off topic, but at one point we discussed it in terms of the porn industry. It's interesting that women have really gained a sort of stronghold on the industry in terms of unions and contracts, whereas male porn stars still have yet to make the same in heterosexual porn.