Film & TV Reviews
Monica Helms’ “Transgender and Transgender-Like Veterans” Video
Apr 5th
A fascinating historical view of US military veterans who served in some state of cross-gendered presentation, beginning with America’s earliest wars.
Monica uses the term “Transgender-like” because the word “transgender” is a 20th Century term, and we cannot say for sure that all of these individuals would identify using that term if they lived today. Most of these earliest transgendered (in varying senses of the word) veterans were born identified as female, and certainly some must have used male presentation simply because the military (and life in general) did not offer its best opportunities to women at the time. Some may have been lesbian women who were cross dressing. But according to Monica’s research, some continued presenting as male even after military service and many presented with lifelong histories of “tom boy” or masculine behavior. A good history lesson for anyone interested in military and gender presentation history.
The Sad Laugh of Woody Woodpecker: FOUND!
Aug 19th
(The laugh happens at the 5:30 mark!)
I love cartoons, and I have a special place in my heart for the toons that were on television during my youth in the 80′s and 90′s. For the longest time, my “Holy Grail” of cartoons was the one in which Woody Woodpecker ends the episode defeated, with a sad laugh instead of his usual victorious pre-Nelson-Muntz “Ha ha!” version.
Back in this post I shared one of my favorite cartoons of yesteryear, Tex Avery’s “Shhhh!” (featuring huge stretches of complete silence… unheard of in a cartoon!) and, while enjoying the sadistically hilarious trials and tribulations endured by the protagonist I recalled my quest for the fabled “Sad Laugh of Woody Woodpecker”.
Whenever something bad happened to me, whether getting passed over for a choice bit of acting work, tripping over my shoes in the street before a live audience, locking my keys in my car, whatever… in my head, I would imagine that singular sad laugh of Woody Woodpecker… a laugh robbed of characteristic bravado, utterly defeated… and yet, still a laugh!
Special thanks to Cal-pal Michael C. for finding this clip for me! Now I know where it is, and I will once again cherish having that funny little sound fresh in my head the next time I do something stupid and need to find a way to smile despite that most recent example of life’s little “defeats”.
“Were the World Mine” Opening in LA
Dec 5th
Hey kids, the super-cool film that won OutFest this year — “Were the World Mine” — is opening in LA! You should really see it, especially if you like the “new” movie musicals like “Hedwig” or “Moulin Rouge”. I was on the jury for US Dramatic Features for OutFest this year, and it got my enthusiastic vote as best film.
Were the World Mine opening in LA
South Park and Crossgendered Behavior Part 02
Dec 5th
First there was Mrs. Garrison, perhaps the most unflattering portrayal of a transsexual person I’ve ever seen. Meant to be funny? I get it. Still, at the same time, the most unflattering portrayal of a transsexual person I’ve ever seen. This week it’s a serial killer who appears to cross dress in an “OMG GROSS!” sight gag, alongside sexually molesting an effigy of his mother. Unlike the minorities that the writers actually like, who get audience-winning soliloquies at the end of each episode, people in South Park exhibiting cross gendered behavior are relegated to the same tired shorthand of serial killer, punchline or prostitute that we see everywhere else.
“But it’s just a cartoon, where’s your sense of humor?” I do indeed have a sense of humor… a sick one, at times, and irreverent. But I have the good sense to keep potentially hurtful humor private. South Park informs generations of young college aged guys of a certain personality, and I’m sure I’m not the only transsexual woman who’s been verbally attacked or ridiculed with comparisons to “Mrs. Garrison”, as my YouTube comments show. It’s just not funny to me, to be equated with grotesque buffoons and serial killers in an un-self-examined “it just makes sense that these things go together” kind of way. What if Hindus/soccer moms/bodybuilders were always portrayed with baseline personality traits of prostitution, serial killing and buffoonery underlying whatever part their character had in the story? When Cartman mocks Kyle’s Jewishness, it’s throwing spitballs at a monolithic community with millions of members, vast resources and a powerful place in society. But the characters in South Park don’t even comment on Mrs. Garrison or the cross gendered behavior of this serial killer character, which places the portrayals of cross gender behavior into a sort of meta-commentary that is assumed to be understood between the shows writers and the viewing public. The characters mouth “shocking” racial and sociological insults supposedly because they’re obviously not true but fun to say. They don’t need to mention the fact that a serial killer = cross gender behavior because, apprently, that’s just obviously true.
South Park's cross dressing serial killer
“Black Dynamite” – Looks Like a Must-See
Nov 23rd
I want to see this movie SO BAD. The Captain Kangaroo cameo is what took me over the edge.
