Streaming: Netflix (With Subscription)
Warnings:
Nudity
Violence
Sex
Rating: Not rated
In the documentary Disclosure leading trans creatives, activists and actors share heartfelt perspectives on what it’s like to be trans in Hollywood and how it has impacted the trans community for decades. The documentary was created by trans director Sam Feder, who emphasized the importance of trans individuals telling their own stories. Disclosure walks through the history of misrepresentation in Hollywood, to emasculation of Black men at the expense of Black trans women. This documentary is truly unique with the experiences they are highlighting, especially when it comes to BIPOC trans individuals. The film interviews remarkable people from the Hollywood trans community like Laverne Cox, Bianca Leigh, and Jen Richards to name a few. An interesting additional fact is that the film crew was composed of trans crew members, and where this was not possible, the non-trans crew mentored trans trainees. Overall, this documentary went above and beyond to explain what proper trans representation looks like and expose the misrepresentation in Hollywood over the years.
One of the most important parts of this documentary is the acknowledgment of emasculation of men throughout Hollywood. Throughout Hollywood history, when a man puts on a dress, it is meant to be a joke or not to be taken seriously. Alongside that notion, when Black men or men of color are emasculated, they oftentimes are viewed as “nonthreatening” whereas when they are not dressed as women (or emasculated), they are considered violent, aggressive and intimidating. This specific notion is at the expense of Black trans women and trans women of color and creates a threatening misunderstanding of who trans women are and who men of color are for that matter. This is scattered throughout Hollywood in many different fashions and makes Hollywood an unsafe place for trans actors.
Alongside the misrepresentation of what masculinity and femininity are supposed to be, Hollywood has normalized violence against trans people in crime dramas, award winning feature films and even in the news. There is a trans woman trope in crime dramas and oftentimes the women are misgendered, their bodies are put on display in crude ways, and their personal privacy is not even considered. Trans women are often killed off in tv shows and films, which normalizes the act. This is part of the reason why trans people are murdered at a higher rate, and it’s even higher when they are of color. Disclosure makes an interesting point that in Hollywood, trans people are either misrepresented or on the flip side, not even acknowledged as trans. These misunderstandings of the trans community costs them their dignity, their mental health and sometimes even their lives.
Disclosure talks about how proper representation has started to change. There are roles being written for trans people that don’t focus the character’s entire identity around being trans. Trans actors are also starting to refuse to answer invasive questions about their bodies in interviews because it takes away from the fact that they are doing amazing things like modeling, acting in major roles, or even being activists in their own community. Disclosure discusses safe spaces for trans people like Ballroom and how they are starting to become more accepted in the LGBTQIA community. And lastly, Disclosure highlights the difficulty of being trans in a heteronormative CIS white society and how that can ware on a BIPOC trans individual mentally and physically. However, they also discuss how this is starting to change, they talk with elder actors who have been in Hollywood for a long time and examine how much they went through to get where they are. This acknowledgement brings hope to the future trans actors, writers, activists in Hollywood which also brings hope for the trans population as a whole.
Disclosure is a film that is unlike any other, they focus on so many aspects of societal misunderstandings and misrepresentations that have hindered trans individuals for decades and pinpoint exactly how those misunderstandings influence society. This documentary shows an ugly side of Hollywood that most people would not otherwise be exposed to. It is important to support films like this because they highlight not only the damage that these misrepresentations cause but how to change them for the future generations. Disclosure explores how changing the representation of trans people in Hollywood will help change the acceptance and normalize trans people in society.