Full Disclosure ... transgender representation JAMAL GROOTBOOM DISCLOSURE is a documentary like none before it and gives a look into the history of transgender representation in media throughout American history. For many people, including those in the LGBTQIA+ community, it exposes how badly transgender people have been represented in media, documenting the journey from far back in history to where we are now. For the inaugural edition of the Queer+ Magazine we decided to focus on gender and all its hues and shades. As such, we sat down with the director and executive producer of Disclosure, Sam Feder (whose pronouns are he/him and they/them) over a Google Hangouts session, where we talked about how the idea for Disclosure came about, how Laverne Cox came on board and what the future holds for trans
LAVERNE COX
representation. Speaking about what sparked the idea for Disclosure he said: “So there are actually two documentaries that changed my relationship with the media. “The first one was called Ethnic Notions and that came out in 1987 and it is made by a black queer film-maker named Marlon Riggs. “And he’s well known for his experimental work which I was familiar with, but when I saw Ethnic Notions it really started to change my relationship with the media. “And there’s also this film called The Celluloid Closet that came out in 1995. So Ethnic Notions was about the representation of black people in film and television in Hollywood. And The Celluloid Closet was about the representation of gay and lesbian people in Hollywood. And both of those films showed me how telling these stories actually tells the history of America. Right, and marginalised communities are
always isolated to their own history but all you do is shift the lens and see the history of our country... But I did want to see what that history would look like for trans people in terms of what that representation looked like, what the evolution of that representation looked like and how far back it went.” When we look at how trans people have been depicted in the media it has been quite horrific with gross stereotypes specifically of trans women being perpetuated in film and television. Talking about why it’s taken so long for proper trans representation in the media Feder said, “A large part is the echo chamber phenomenon right, that 80% of Americans say they never met or to their knowledge they’ve met a trans person. People don’t think we’re real. When you look at the history you see the lack of creative imagination on behalf of storytellers. In Hollywood creative imagination is really limited about what’s commodifiable. When you look at representation in Hollywood, and for better or for worse trans people have not been deemed commodifiable until recently.” One of the trans trailblazers in modern media is Orange Is The New Black star, Laverne Cox. Not only is she one of the stars in the documentary but she’s also an executive producer. Speaking about how Cox got involved with the project Feder said he at least wanted to interview her as it had been a dream of
