[intro music]
Chase: Hello, it is me, Chasey-poo and today I'm talking about the controversial topic
thing that's happening in the media right now where
Scarlett Johansson is being cast to play a trans man in a movie
Let's just take a moment to like let that sink in
So, Scarlett Johansson is a cis woman and she's an actress and she's been in
a lot of movies
And she was actually in a movie by the same
director of this film that is coming out
Um, that she's going to be playing a trans man-she played a character
That was extremely white-washed
because she is a white woman
and the character and life was b ased off of someone who is not white
Lots of controversy and just
all around criticisms over that movie which
absolutely, you are white-washing a story that is super important
Hmmm
So, why is she making the news again? And why is everything so controversial
when we talk about her right now?
Um, so there is a movie called
Rub and Tug which is about the life of a trans man
who, uh, owned a bunch of massage parlours
in the 80s or the 70s, I believe
and this is just a story, you know? Like, we're gonna tell, we're gonna tell a story of his life
which is cool, it's exciting, look, representation
We get to
kind of learn more about somebody's story
But I do have some issues with it, okay?
One, I absolutely think there needs to be more stories out there of trans people
um, regardless of their life, because we need to kind of
show that trans people exist and existed
before the 2000s, because people think it's like a trend now
"Oh, it's all over the Youtube's now, people are all transgendering,"
[sharp inhale]
That's not how that happens and I think it's cool to show a story where trans people existed
way before
But there are so many issues with it
First of all, it is a cis woman playing a trans character
Now, don't go and pause this video right now and go in my comment section and go
Ra-ta-ta-ta-ta
"But actors are supposed to that, they're supposed to be playing a role,"
"a role of somebody that they're not,"
Okay
Here's the thing
And this might be controversial and that's fine if people don't agree with me, but
I really don't think that cis people should be playing trans characters at all
We are a marginalized community that has now been able to have a voice and we can speak for ourselves and we could talk
about our community and be part of this community and not have other people talk for us
It's always been a good thing that allies have been there for us and talked for us
But now that we have a voice, it's time for allies to still be with us
just listen to us and be there and advocate with us
But now that we have a voice
and are visible and people know who we are
there are a lot of trans actors out there , there's Laverne Cox and Elliot Fletcher, and yeah
maybe they're not the main role character
in a movie or a TV show
But they're still there and it's still that representation and it's like a step forward in the right direction for us
So, this might be where some people might disagree with me, but I
think that in the end it's not the end of the world if a cis person plays a trans character
I would way-99.99999
up to 100%
would rather
a trans person to play a trans character, because it's cool to see
that, oh my god, a trans person has a job
and they're famous, and look they're playing a character that's
like them in a movie and it's cool, but
I understand that that's never gonna happen
So, we kind of have to compromise
and I hate that we have to do that, but I wanna just talk about something that I'm like, I could understand
how this could be a thing, and that's where some people might get mad at me, I guess
So, I think that if
cis people are going to play trans people, it should absolutely not be
a woman playing a trans man
because right there, you're implying that that trans person is
either still a woman
was always a woman, will always be a woman
could never actually be a man
because we all know Scarlett Johansson as a woman
we're gonna start saying
"Oh yeah, Scarlett Johansson, she played that man in that movie,"
But you're saying, "she," in terms of the
character and the character is a man and you're supposed to be using male
and he/him, sorry, pronouns for him
but because the actress is a woman, you're saying, "she,"
So, you're completely dehumanizing and like, de-transing the actual trans person
So, just to plug a book that my friend actually wrote
called "I'm Supposed To Relate To This?" uh, it talks about
kind of trans representation in movies and moving images, it was originally her master's thesis and she turned it into a book
and now the book has a second version, like I wrote the forward
um, and it's a really good book and good research, so I'm gonna put that in the description below if you wanna just take a look at it
and this kind of brings up the issue of cis men playing trans women
Okay, so already in this society, trans women aren't seen as women
Okay? They aren't seen as women by cis-society, by straight cis-society, and by a lot of lesbian cis-society that exists
Um, that, you know, they will always biologically be male and
I'm squinting so hard and quoting here, because that's just ridiculous
So, we live in this society where trans women are harassed, uh, have violence towards them and are abused and
it's just not a great time
right now, and I really don't like that by casting cis men to play trans women
you're once again perpetuating this view that trans women aren't women, they're just men in a dress, so it kind of
"Oh, it's a cross-dresser, oh it's a drag queen,"
People don't even know what those words mean, they just think it's a man in a wig, it's a man dressing like a woman
and I don't like that, because, again, if you think of the show "Transparent,"
which I think has great representation, okay, even though
it is the, um, the cis man that's playing the trans woman
Okay, it's, it's, I think it's still good representation and it really opens the doors to a lot of things
for trans people and for cis people to kind of understand
But when you're thinking about that show, you're like, oh yeah, Jeffrey Tambor
I think that's his name, uh, yeah, yeah, he plays that woman, that girl, yeah, yeah, he, uh
He comes out and then he leaves his wife and he has kids and
it's just, he, he, he, all the time and not the lasting kind
He, he, he, no, not funny
It's more like, he, him, him, he
When you're supposed to really see the character as
a trans person that came out, in like, late life and is embracing her identity and using she pronouns
So, that's why I have such a big problem with
cis people being casted as trans characters
because they are always cast as the assigned gender
that the person was before
Scarlett Johansson was assigned female at birth and she is female, and she identifies as female, she is cis, she is playing a trans man
who was also assigned female at birth, but does not identify that way
In his true self and in his true soul, he feels and knows he is a man
which is why he transitioned, in order to be comfortable with his body and with himself
Obviously I'm not talking for him, I don't know who he is, and he's not alive anymore, but
I'm just saying, like, that's usually why trans people transition and like
say that they're men, because they are
Um, trans men, obviously, so I have a really big problem, now if
if you're gonna spin it on me, we can actually have, absolutely have a debate about this
What if the character was cast by a cis man to play a trans character?
Now, here's a thing, 'kay?
I think that that would be way less worse than
what is happening right now, because you are acknowledging that this person is a man
and that makes me feel a lot better, now, yes, there is absolutely a movie with
Felicity Huffman, where she is playing a trans woman, and Felicity Huffman is a cis woman
and that movie, I remember seeing it, it is really problematic, there are a lot of things that I'm like
Uhhhh, that probably shouldn't be in this movie
but for the fact that it is a cis woman playing a trans woman
that makes me feel better than if that movie was portrayed by a cis man
I feel like my train of thought is kind of all over the place, but I hope that you're following, and kind of, one of the last things that I wanna say is that Scarlett Johansson did
um, give a statement, I guess, about all of this backlash, because it is
you know, something huge that's happening and
here's the thing with the trans community is that like we don't back down anymore
We don't, we don't, no, no, people don't walk on us, I mean, they walk all over us absolutely, they still do, but
we kind of have this amazing community online and in person of people who are there for us and back us up, so
you know, when the Stonewall, um, trailer came out and it depicted a cis
fucking gay white man throwing the first brick
um, during the Stonewall riots, that caused an uproar, because
it was a trans woman of colour who did that in reality, learn your goddamn history, I'm sorry, I'm getting angry
This video is gonna get age restricted and demonotized, probably, but the community got so angry at that that
we called for a boycott, and guess what happened? I'm pretty sure that movie only made like a hundred thousand dollars in the opening weekend
which is nothing compared to the budget that they use, and you know what, I don't even feel bad about it, you wrote this
story over trans people, anyways, so, we have the power to boycott things and
there's another movie with, I believe, Michelle Rodriguez, and she was playing, oh my god
The character was like an assassin and
was captured and made to have a sex change in order to, like
punish them, oh my god
Wh-where are we that that's even okay to even write? Like, are you kidding me?
Anyways, Scarlett Johansson, um
made a statement, so I'm gonna read it to you right now, because was like, okay, maybe she's like, acknowledging that maybe it's not such a good idea
and, um, you know, a lot of people online have been saying that I don't even think there was a casting call out there for trans actors or anybody
uh, because Scarlett had already played a role in
uh, a movie that the guy had already written and directed that
she was chosen like that automatically, I don't know if that's true or not, but it's interesting
kind of theory to conceptualize, because you're not, you don't even give the shot
of any trans people to even try out for this role, and there are so many trans actors out there, like, I only named two, but there are
so many, just, so when she was confronted
this is what she said, "Tell them that they can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman's reps for comment,"
because they all have played trans characters and they are all cis
Listen, no one's happy about Jared Leto's
fucking character in Dallas Buyer's Club, no one was happy about that, especially because we are
and this is in the book that I was talking about, by the way, we are really transing this character and
um, it's a super interesting read, honestly, like I'm not trying to just like, promo for my friend, no like, I, I'm like proud
to back this up, because it's super good
Anyways, this is kind of like what Michelle Rodriguez said, um, when she was talking about her movie, I think it was called "The Assignment,"
Um, there was so much backlash and she was like, "no one's talking about LGBT stuff,"
and she was just, I'm part of this community, I, I think she's bisexual, so yeah, yeah of course you're part of this community, absolutely, no one's saying you're not
but maybe you should listen to the trans people who are saying that this role is a mistake and that you are portraying a
sex change as some type of punishment, and being trans is a punishment, where being trans is
and being able to transition and have any type of surgery that your body needs or that you need
um, it's liberating and it's freeing, and you're finally being yourself instead of what this movie is portraying
and I know it's not saying, "you're trans, you're bad, it's punishment," but you are literally associating trans-ness with punishment
which is what always happens and I can make an entire series
about the trans representation in the media and literally
talk about every single film and episode and movie that I've ever seen
that has a trans character in it and just talk about why it's good, why it's bad, but
here's the thing, trans people are always depicted as being bad and as being villains, as being drug dealers, as being sex workers
I don't think that being a sex worker is bad at all, but obviously society does, and
it is just such a shame and we are finally starting to kind of
go over that, like even in Orange is the New Black, which is, I'm literally watching that, rewatching it right now
Um, Laverne Cox is a great character and it's great representation
but she's in prison
and as much of a great representation as it is and as she is trans as well
playing a trans character, she is still in prison, so you kind of have that association
I might be doing like a far reach right now
Alright, I'm gonna stop this video, 'cause it's way too long
These are my thoughts on it, what do you think about this? About Scarlett Johannson's role as a trans man?
What does it mean to you? I feel like there are a bunch of things that I missed
saying that I got so heated with all of the representation of trans people, especially trans women
um, and like, that's the thing too, trans men get like, not like, trans men get nothing, but like
in terms of representation, like, name me ten
representations of trans people that you can think of right off the bat
and I have to like sit there and actually think
and most of them are recent, and I'm so glad, because before it was like, "Boys Don't Cry," oh my god, look, someone's dead and they're trans, and someone gets assaulted and it was like
another movie where, you know, the trans man is seen as a villain and it's just not
a good time, whereas now
like, the trans person exists in reality and is trans, but also has a life
and that's happening, but why do you have to go back now? Why did we take like ten steps forward and now we have to take a hundred back with this film that's gonna come out?
Anyways, boycott this movie, that's all I gotta say, I love you all, see you later, have a great day, bye [tongue click]