As any lover of movies or television will tell you, representation is incredibly important. Seeing your story on the big (or small) screen helps you connect with the fictional characters you’re following. Whether it’s your race, gender, religion, or however you identify on an essential level, it’s helpful for writers and studios to let their viewers see their experiences reflected—not just for themselves, but also for others to see what it’s like to walk in their shoes.
However, there is a bit of an issue when a community’s representation is completely lacking or relegated to one or two projects. For example, a recent study revealed that one movie accounted for the majority of trans representation in the top 100 films released in 2022.
A queer film held the majority of trans representation in 2022
Bros, a queer romantic comedy written and starring comedian Billy Eichner, was released in September 2022. The film follows Bobby Lieber, a podcast host who prides himself on being single. When he meets a handsome man named Aaron, Bobby’s walls begin to come down and he realizes that, while he doesn’t need a relationship to be happy, it’s important to put yourself out there—you never know where you could find love.
In Bros, Bobby accepts a position as a curator for a LGBTQ+ history museum, working alongside several queer people. Bobby’s circle of friends also consists of mostly queer people and couples. In total, there are four trans actors in the cast: Ts Madison, Eve Lindley, D’Lo, and Becca Blackwell.
According to the annual report from USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, because of those four characters, Bros accounted for 80% of the transgender characters in the 100 top-grossing movies of 2022. Per this year’s report, “Just 87 of 4,169 speaking or named characters (2.1%) in 2022 movies were LGBTQ+. Of that number, five characters identified as transgender and four of them appeared in Bros.” The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative also reported that the fifth trans character appeared in the Tom Hanks film A Man Named Otto.
Now, I don’t think I should have to elaborate on why these numbers are completely depressing, but I will because some people don’t think diversity in media is important as it’s “too woke” or some other B.S.
To have just five trans characters in 100 movies, with four in the same one, is almost laughable. Sure, trans people as a whole make up about 1.6% of the U.S. population, but it still feels incredibly weird that only five characters made it to the big screen in 2022. With the increase of violence and discrimination against trans people currently on the rise, it only makes sense for our media to include their stories so that they can broaden the minds of people who may not know a trans person in their personal lives.
The idea of a movie with a trans character changing a bigoted person’s mind may sound laughable, but in the wise words of Nicole Kidman, “We go to the movies to laugh, to cry, to care. Because we need that, all of us, that indescribable feeling we get when the lights begin to dim.” When we see ourselves or communities we’re not familiar with on the big screen, it connects us in a way conversations can’t. Let’s hope 2024 is a better year for trans representation in film.
(via Variety, featured image: Universal Pictures)
