Do you want politically correct casting or do you want the movie to be as good as possible, and have a name attached that people will actually go to see?

I think you’re absolutely right that as far as any interest in transgender stories goes among the cisgender population, its mostly fixated on transition narratives. And while I agree that there’s a large minority of that population that is thus fixated in a negative way - objectifying for purposes of titillation - I…

Which famous young teen transgender would you suggest? You clearly don’t know how the entertainment industry works.

It’s a valid point, but I’ll take it as a positive.

I would love to see a movie with a trans character where their identity just *was* and it was not introduced as something for cis people to react to. I guess Orphan Black managed it with the trans clone, but that is the only instance I can think of

If the WWF, PETA, Greenpeace and all the other animal lovers out there are serious they will start a fund to reward the capture and conviction of these bastards. Not an anti-hunter and I love meat (yes even if it kills me that’s my business) but this is ridiculous - lions, rhinos, giraffes ... none of those animals…

This. As an ally who spends a lot of time with people under rocks, the hardest point to get across seems to be that there is a “closet” for trans persons, similar to that of gay and lesbian persons. It’s a different “closet” and it is is more visible, because of socially gendered behaviors and appearances. But the…

This is a good point. While I know movies like these are important for cis people to see and help them relate to us, they often narrow a character down to where their only defining characteristic is that they are trans. This happens with other groups, as well, such as disabled people.

Here to represent people whose gender identity is neither male nor female. It’s complicated. Great to see all the TG love on this site, but just so you know there are a lot of us out there who can’t identify with either.

Are you saying that only gay people can play gay people? ‘Cause that would mean that gay actors wouldn’t be able to play straight characters.

I’m crying too. It made me seek out my cats and hug them for comfort. That poor baby. Do rhinos adopt baby rhinos whose mothers have died/been murdered by scum of the earth poachers?

Sure, they could have put out a casting call for 16 year-old trans men who can act and who haven’t started hormone therapy yet, but because it’s the story of a young person who is transitioning, it could be played by anyone, and the producers of this movie obviously wanted a known actor with a recognizable name. I’m…

Not that it’s a particularly significant point, but I believe Susan Sarandon is bisexual. And I think one of her kids is pan-gender, which gives her interest in projects like this some context.

Oh, okay, so we need to find a teen FtM who identifies openly as FtM, who can act, who I guess hasn’t yet been through HRT yet so they can pass for untranssitioned for most of the film, who’s perfectly okay having this untranssitioned state documented and immoratalized for a purely fictional dramatic film, and they…

I respect this perspective, but don’t fully understand it. Isn’t taking on, exploring and representing identities that are not your own an essential part of what acting is?

Plus big names mean big studio support, mean more screens, mean bigger audiences. I remember Philadelphia being fucking huge. I can’t help but think a really good, really big movie is probably on balance a good thing.

Agreed, though it may be harder to find one that young? Just speculation. Anyway it’s nice to see a female-to-male transition, in all the media I’ve seen it’s always the male-to-female transition shown. What none of them ever show (except maybe the TV show Transparent? I’ve never seen it) is the change in how people…

I suppose it’s progress that the LGBTQ community is finally getting mainstream movies that are just as generic, maudlin and hokey as the movies they make for everyone else. Personally, I prefer my queer movies a bit more, well, queer. But I guess this and Stonewall could be considered eye-opening and educational for…

Except this is pre-transition.. I understand what you're saying and agree-mostly. Just not in this case, I guess.

That said the vast majority of FtMs would fare pretty poorly representing the ‘before transition’ stage which seems to occupy the most of the movie.