STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
Filmmaker Sam Feder presents an insightful documentary on the history of trans culture throughout the history of Hollywood, and the overwhelmingly negative and inaccurate depictions that have become attached to them. A collection of trans personalities in the entertainment industry offer their perspectives on their experiences throughout their lives on screen, and aim to disspell many of the myths, preconceptions and prejudices that many associate with their lives.
Netflix have got on board with popular culture, and so we have Disclosure, the first of their Black Lives Matter collection that I have given a watch (what trans issues have to do with being black I don't know, but it gets a bit of an explanation in the film.) Director Sam Feder leaves no stone unturned, going back to the very earliest days of film, to the earliest shades of the distant past, in the sixties and seventies, where the overarching portrayal of trans people was as the butt of jokes, and something to be laughed at.
When the most obvious burden of being joke figures has been examined, the film moves in to broader and more darker territory, such as their unfortunate association with psychopaths, most notably by Alfred Hitchcock in his films, through to the point of one contributor being asked if they were 'like Buffalo Bill' when they came out as trans, as well as lifting the lids on the frequent trans depiction as sex workers, and the real life socio economic explanation that may lie behind this preconception.
A lot of film favourites from over the years come under scrutiny (as contributor Laverne Cox notes 'when you, as a trans person, see trans characters depicted on screen, you have a critical lens for how true they feel') and you may come away seeing them in a different light, and while some feel a bit excessive (Mrs. Doubtfire???), this is still quite an eye opening and revelatory piece, that shines a light on a most marginalized community. ****
