Musings on what used to be considered funny or normal

[neadods]

I was thinking about two movies I enjoyed vastly when they came out and now which have darker undertones: Without a Clue and Soapdish, both of which have transgender characters. Unlike other movies of that era that are All About Cross Dressing - Tootsie; Mrs. Doubtfire; To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar; both Without and Soapdish have actual transgender characters -- two people living as women who are both exposed as part of the plot as having been born male.

Without a Clue is playing it as a throwaway joke, but, I'll argue, not a throwaway character. There are hints throughout the movie that there is something up with Peter Giles' daughter - he's described as being uncomfortable with being praised over her beauty, although the first Leslie Giles we are introduced to is undeniably a lovely lady. The punchline is that that's not the real Leslie. The real Leslie is played by Matthew Simms and only revealed as male when Holmes removes a blindfold and takes off the wig as well.

BUT - When next we see Leslie, her wig is back on and she's under Holmes' protection. Watson and Holmes giggle when she flirts with Lestrade, but the closest they get to betraying her is when Watson tells Lestrade, with complete honesty, "Miss Giles is part of a stage review in Paris called 'La Femme Faux'." So while there's a certain amount of laughter solicited by the character being revealed as trans, she's also presented as feminine, successful, still loved by her parent, and treated as her preferred gender by the heroes.

Soapdish on the other hand... Montana Moorehead, played by Cathy Moriarty is the villain. Montana uses her sexual attraction to consistently try to get a bigger role for herself and cocktease one of the producers while undermining all the other actresses. The end of her schemes, affair, career, and perceived attractiveness is when she is exposed, on camera during a live feed as having been born Milton Moorehead. She runs off screaming, the "good guys" and the audience laugh at her comeuppance...

... and that's not even remotely funny anymore.

Looking back, it really shouldn't have been funny then.

Comments

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

You forgot Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. But that one is All About the Cross-Dressing too, albeit in a slightly different way. Oh, and there was The Crying Game as well.

(Interestingly, the person who played the trans* character in that went on to play Ra in Stargate and then just... disappeared. I hope that means they made enough money to live comfortably for the rest of their life.)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I was under the impression that To Wong Foo was pretty much an Americanized Priscilla.

[redpanda13.livejournal.com]

I can never watch Priscilla because Hugo Weaving is in it. I just do not want to think about Elrond in drag when I watch LotR.

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

My understanding is that Jaye Davidson pretty much just decided acting (or, if I remember the interview correctly, celebrity) wasn't for him; it happened pretty much by accident in the first place. (He does identify as he/him.) So if he didn't make enough from those two high-profile roles to live on indefinitely, hopefully he's instead doing something he finds more fulfilling.