From the twentieth century, significant changes in television can be seen clearly by the development in technology and the transformation of media contents. The process led from cable television to the era of contemporary television. Production changes, binge consumption behavior, and TV distribution are some of the execution causes by the digital technologies which includes SVOD (subscription-video-on-demand), VOD (video-on-demand), TVIV, and internet-distributed television (Goddard, 2018). The major change that can be spotted on contemporary television is the trans-representation in current media. Trans and LGBTQ+ people become more accepted and being more presented in shows, series, movies, and tv programs. Their appearances are not just added characters or being portrayed as jokes like in the past, but are now being put as both primary characters and secondary characters. This caused concern of how trans and LGBTQ+ identities are being shaped in the media both globally and locally, and what restrictions are put on the involvement of each subject (Horvat, 2020).

One series that has trans characters as their main character is Transparent (2014–2019), an American television series. It is a story about Maura, a divorced father, coming out to her kids about her sexual identity while each of the family members are in the process of discovering their own identities as well. The series is written by Joey Soloway, a nonbinary who uses they/them as pronouns (Omer-Sherman, 2021); this makes the story line more reliable. Every character has their own stories and struggles which audiences can experience with. However, the series does not focus on each characters’ sexual identity deep enough for audiences to feel the connection. In the fourth season, the story is about their journal of border corssing and Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The use of rich white American trans characters and their privilege while crossing borders are being compared to characters of queer Palestinian positions in their own country (Horvat, 2020). The series shows how queer Palestinian on the farm are being treated as they are not able to travel from places to places like the American tourists. This is a very interesting storyline for audiences around the world to see how lives and sexual identities are being treated at a different place. As there are many perspectives to concern when producing one transo-representation show, it is very vital to cast actors that fit well with each character. For Transparent, the series’ actor choices for trans characters also had an effect on the cancellation of the series. Jeffrey Tambor, a cis or identify as birth sex male actor, played the main character Maura (Abramovitch, 2018). Beside the fact that he was fired due to being accused of sexual misconduct (Patten, 2017), trans community audiences disagree with the production about not using real trans to play the role.

Media portrayals of trans and LGBTQ+ people are not just about their appearances, diversity, and social acceptance. As mentioned above, there are intersections between the evolution of television, audiences practices, and media organizations in the inclusivity of queer and trans in contemporary television like SVOD or streaming services (Goddard, 2020). The groundbreaking inclusion of trans-representation in such contemporary television could easily cause trans communities to criticize how each character is being presented as well as the story line. The accuracy of trans characters must be presented correctly in order to not cause controversy. In addition, the technological transformation as well as televisual changes in all media forms have an impact on audiences’ watching experiences (Goddard, 2018). The significant changes in aesthetic transformations and freedom of creativity in televisual are also owing to the diversity of trans characters’ involvement.

By Chawanrut Boonrapongcharoen (33813021)

References:

Abramovitch, S. (2018). “lines got blurred”: Jeffrey Tambor and an up-close look at harassment claims on ‘transparent.’ The Hollywood Reporter. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/lines-got-blurred-jeffrey-tambor-an-up-close-look-at-harassment-claims-transparent-1108939/

Goddard, M., & Hogg, C. (2018). Introduction: Trans TV as concept and intervention into contemporary television. Critical Studies in Television: The International Journal of Television Studies, 13(4), 470–474. https://doi.org/10.1177/1749602018798217

Goddard, M., & Hogg, C. (2020). Introduction: Trans TV Re-evaluated part II. Trans TV Dossier 3. Critical Studies in Television, 15(3). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1749602020937566

Horvat, A. (2020). Crossing the Borders of Queer TV: Depictions of migration and (im)mobility in contemporary LGBTQ television. Trans TV Dossier 3. Critical Studies in Television, 15(3). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1749602020934091

Omer-Sherman, R. (2021). Joey Soloway. The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/soloway-joeyPatten, D. (2017). Jeffrey Tambor exits “transparent” after sexual harassment allegations. Deadline. https://deadline.com/2017/11/jeffrey-tambor-leaving-transparent-sexual-harassment-allegations-amazon-jill-soloway-1202211711/