Pride month has just ended, and I had just finished watching The Death and Life of Marsha P Johnson. It led me to wonder the impact that Marsha had on Hollywood and how we perceive films today.
Marsha P. Johnson, also known as the “Rosa Parks of the LGBTQ movement” was a prominent leader during the Stonewall riots and was a member of the LGBTQ community who fought for gay liberation.
- Tangerine
The completely shot-by-iPhone Sundance Festival indie film Tangerine follows two unapologetically vibrant transgender sex workers as they run around the streets of Hollywood on Christmas Eve. Sin-Dee Rella, one of the main protagonists of the film, is fresh out of jail and prowls the streets for her pimp boyfriend that has been cheating on her the whole time she was locked up.
While this indie film is portrayed in a comical fashion and ludicrous horseplay follows the characters, there are scenes that depict the grave reality that transgender hookers face in their everyday routine. POC transgender women are the most targeted minorities for homicide and hate crimes, with at least 22 being killed as of this year. The stories seem to keep coming with cases such as Chynal Lindsey being found in a river and Selena Reyes-Hernandez murdered in her own home.
While the characters of Tangerine can’t be taken seriously with their outlandish behavior and reactions, the audience can humanize the transgender sex workers they may encounter in real life and empathize with why we need to prevent our LGTBQ youth from ending up on the streets.
- Pose
Following our main character Angel, she soughts out to become one of New York’s most famous drag queen of their underground ballroom culture. The underground ballrooms are beauty pageants exclusively catered to the LGBTQ youth that dress in flamboyant and theatrical couture to win grand prizes and have their houses be recognized within the community. The “houses” that compete consist of transgender and queer youths waiting to for their own taste of fame and stardom.
The “House of Evangelista” and “House of Abundance” are fictional in the show but were a reality for many transgender youths in the late 1900s. Marsha P Johnson personally experienced the hardships of neglected LGBTQ youths from their birth homes when she was taken in by Randy Wicker in 1992 after sleeping in the streets. Pretty soon, the STAR House (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) was created by Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera to keep trans hookers off the streets in New York City.
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show
This British American comedy horror show was produced in 1975, only 6 years after the 1969 Stonewall uprising, and features a transvestite alien as one of the main characters. The metaphor of the only transvestite in the movie being an “alien” reflects how society found the transgender community back in the day, but it was the revolutionary step necessary to representing the transgender youth into the film industry.
- The Danish Girl
A historical fiction film loosely inspired by the Danish artists Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. Gerda Wegener’s first spouse was her then-husband Einar Wegener, who soon must come to terms with his evolving sexuality and transgender journey and becomes Lili Elbe. The film captures the nuances of their marriage and artistic works as Einar starts to transition. Lili soon becomes Gerda’s favorite model and muse for her paintings throughout the film as we see Lili embrace her feminine side despite society’s rejection of the transgender community.
Lili Elbe was one of the first transgender pioneers to complete sex reassignment surgery in 1930 in Germany. Denmark holds one of the first gender laws in the world with The Act of Sterilisation and Castration adopted in 1929. Without the Stonewall riots in America, other countries may not have been inspired to fight for gay liberation on their own.
- Unique Adams in Glee
Unique Adams is the first openly transgender character going into Glee’s third season. While being a strong character of the main cast, she transfers out of the high school after the disbandment of the Glee Club. However, she returns to the high school and guides Coach Beiste’s as she undergoes her own gender reassignment transition into a man. Unique Adams’ exuberance and spirit seem to rub off onto the other Glee members, whether they are part of the LGBTQ community or not, through songs such as Same Love and I Know Where I’ve Been.
As Masha P Johnson uplifted her queer brothers and sisters during the Stonewall riots and LGBTQ movement, Unique Adams does her part in introducing the same love and acceptance to the students of William McKinley High School. Unique formerly known as Wade struggles with her identity in the beginning seasons, but her struggles are manifested into a support system for struggling queers such as Coach Beiste.
- The Crying Game
This British thriller film is about to be available on the Netflix platform and takes place during The Troubles in Northern Ireland where unexpected friendship brews between a member of the IRA and imprisoned British soldier. This bond is tested when the British soldier urges the IRA official to visit his girlfriend, Dil, in London. The IRA member goes out to look for Dil and starts to fall in love with her, only to find out she’s transgender.
While Ireland is seen as the most liberated country for gay rights now, there was resistance to the LGTBQ movement in the past compared to the rest of the United Kingdom. The slow progression of rights given to the LGBTQ can be shown from same-sex marriage becoming legal in 2020. The Stonewall riots is a source of inspiration for other countries to include the LGBTQ community in their own films.
- Rethinking Normal: A Memoir in Transition
This inspiring story written by Katie Rain Hill is essentially a diary of her days undergoing gender reassignment surgery into becoming a girl. It’s an easy read for the LGBTQ youth that face the same challenges as Katie when she was a teenager about the insecurities of finding your own identity and how to cope with society’s perception of the image you want to portray publicly.
This memoir is only possible because of the gay liberation that Marsha P. Johnson fought for, so the world could hear the queer minority loud and proud. Katie’s story might never have been published if the Stonewall riots never happened.
These films and books I’ve personally reviewed and enjoyed before learning about Marsha P. Johnson. While researching the Stonewall riots and the mysterious death of Marsha, it’s given me a better insight on how the media today is still influenced by the courage and spirit of Marsha, the BLM movement parallels similar adversities that the gay rights movement faced back in the 1960s.