Vindicating Transgender Visibility in the American Film Industry: An Analysis on Tangerine (2015) and Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen (2020)

Abstract

[eng] Ever since transgender individuals started to appear on screen, they have been subjected to a series of harmful stereotypes that have become socially assumed. In order to put an end to decades of marginalization and prejudice, cultural products such as Tangerine (Baker 2015) and Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen (Feder 2020), aim not only to provide the transgender community with accurate visibility, but also to make audiences reflect on the fact that this specific group is still under oppression. Thus, the visibility that these two cultural products provide acts as a first step into achieving an inclusive society in which transgender individuals can feel included and protected. Nevertheless, giving visibility to the transgender community has been proven to be both highly beneficial but also extremely dangerous for the acts of violence that it implies. The aim of this dissertation is to prove that Tangerine and Disclosure contribute to visibilize the community in mainly similar ways. However, there are a few differences between the products that alter this similarity, and that are crucial when considering a comparison between them. Accordingly, these aspects are going to be further stated and explained in the final conclusions of the paper. By using several scenes, conversations and interviews related to the two analysed products, this dissertation is going to discuss how both the independent film Tangerine and the documentary film Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen contribute to the visibility of transgender identities and experiences.