Recently, however, there has been a definite widespread upward trend in the quality and amount of representation for transgender characters and narratives in television and movies! To cap off this Pride Month, let's look at 4 recent examples of transgender representation in film and TV.
Nimona (2023)
Nimona is a fun fantasy sci-fi animated film that follows Ballister Boldheart (voiced by Riz Ahmed), a by-the-books knight who is framed for a crime and must team up with the titular scrappy shapeshifter Nimona (voiced by Chloë Grace Moretz) to uncover the true perpetrator of the crime and to clear his own name.
Nimona does an excellent job of expressing and representing gender-queerness without labelling it expressly as such. One of the main messages throughout the story is that Nimona’s shapeshifting is not just an ability to be used as a tool -- it is a part of her identity, and every form she takes is equally her. Ballister’s journey to realizing, understanding, and accepting this truth is analogous to the journey of true allyship.
The quality of representation in this film is an ode to the support of its creators. The film had a rocky production, with its animation studio Bluesky being bought out and subsequently shut down by Disney in 2021 after criticism. However, in early 2022, Netflix and Annapurna announced they were producing the film as an original, taking a big risk in making a firmly pro-LGBTQ+ stance. While the story never expressly uses transgender terminology, the story being told is a definite trans narrative and serves as excellent representation. (Stream on Netflix)
"The Umbrella Academy" (2019–2024)
"The Umbrella Academy" follows a group of seven super-powered adopted siblings, reunited to prevent the imminent apocalypse. Spanning 4 seasons over 5 years , the series explores themes of found family, overcoming trauma, and finding identity.
The representation in this series comes from the character Viktor Hargreeves (previously Vanya), played by Elliot Page. Victor comes out as a trans man in Season 3, Episode 2, a change that mirrors Elliot’s own transition.
Many viewers end up wishing the change was a bigger element in Victor’s character arc; while this complaint is valid, we still feel the series handles the transition with a lot of grace. The series makes the change so drastically to support Elliot Page, allowing him to more deeply grow and embody his character. Victor, with the love and support of his family, is able to become more confident and to shed many of his past insecurities through transitioning, and thus is a good instance of trans representation. (Stream on Netflix)
Spiderman, Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
Spiderman Across the Spider-Verse is a direct sequel to the first film in the series (Spiderman, Into the Spider-Verse'), continuing Miles Morales’s (voiced by Shameik Moore) story in reconnecting with Gwen Stacy (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld) and making the decision to go against the grain, fight fate, and oppose the legion of superheroes that make up the Spider-verse.
Gwen Stacy (AKA Spider-Gwen) serves as a deuteragonist of the film, with a journey and narrative that mirrors the experiences many transgender individuals face. Gwen is forced to live a double life, hiding her superpowers and that section of her identity from her father. Once that part of her identity is learned, Gwen is forced to flee from her family/dimension to found family of like-minded individuals. The climax of her narrative arc is returning to her father and finding acceptance and love, someone who is more willing to embrace her for who she is than to lose her again.
This is a clear analogy to the struggles many LGBTQ+ individuals face, mirroring especially close to trans experiences. While, like Nimona, the character is not expressly transgender, their character arc and narrative events serve as super strong transgender representation. (Stream on Disney+)
I Saw The TV Glow (2024)
Directed by Jane Schoenbrun, "I Saw The TV Glow" is a terrifying psychological horror that follows two highschoolers (played by Justice Smith and Jack Haven) as they question their memories, senses of self, and reality as their shared favorite TV series "feels more real than reality".
Smith’s character, Owen, feels isolated from society and doesn’t understand why; one of, if not the only character Owen has a connection with in the entire film is Maddy (Haven’s character), a lesbian and a fellow outcast. A lot of the horror of the movie comes from the fear of living a fabricated life clashing against the fear of being abnormal -- the two fears which govern and drive Owen to simultaneously search for and flee from truth. This internal conflict is the same one that most transgender individuals must go through before making the huge decision to transition. Owen is a prime example of a transgender character who never transitions out of fear, and to see the terrifying aftermath of resigning to live an artificial life is visceral.
The film does an excellent job of capturing so much of the terror and anxiety that can stem from transgender experiences, as well as emulating a lot of the same emotions and sensations felt pre-transition. By serving as both excellent character and narrative representation, I Saw The TV Glow will go down as one of the all-time best instances of trans representation, in modernity and of all time. (Stream on YouTube, Pluto TV, Tubi, and PLEX)
