On the 19th of June, Netflix released a new documentary, The disclosure, which examines 100 years of transgender representations in film and television. With Laverne Cox (The orange Is the New Black) as executive producer and Sam Feder as a director, the documentary shows the connections between the trans representation on screen, society’s beliefs, and the reality of the lives that reveals “how Hollywood reflects and manufactures our deepest concerns about the gender.”
The disclosure trace the history of transgender representation through films like A Charm Of Florida (1914), Dog Day Afternoon, The Crying Gameand The boys don’t Cryand with programs like The Jeffersons, The L-Wordand Pose. Through a series of powerful interviews, the documentary explores how trans people have been represented in ways that are dehumanizing, but also in ways that are ever-changing, complex, and sometimes humorous. The documentary comes out during Pride Month, which has joined with the Black Lives Matter protest movement for equality in the united States.
During the past week, there have been numerous demonstrations in support of the Black trans community. Sunday, June 14, thousands of protesters gathered outside the Brooklyn Museum in New York City to demand justice for the deaths and the disproportionate violence Black trans people face every day. The next day, the 15th of June, the u.s. Supreme Court ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace — includes LGBTQ+ employees. It is a step in the right direction, but there is still a hell of a lot of work to do, and more representation in the screens is a crucial step in the right direction.
“I think that the way that trans people have been portrayed on the screen have suggested that we are not real, have suggested that we are mentally ill, that we don’t exist,” says Cox in the documentary trailer. “And yet, here I am. However, here we are, and we have always been here.” You can see The disclosure on Netflix right now.
The Disclosure Of Trailer
