Change Your Image
jerisummers2
Reviews
Trantasia (2006)
Why the sour grapes?
The movie documents the first "Most Beautiful Transsexual Pageant" and is also a search for talent for a show on the strip. A few contestants are profiled about their personal journey from being born male to transitioning to female persona's or living as women. There could only be eight finalists and then the top three out of those eight. I wasn't surprised at the choice of the eight finalists or the ultimate winners; they looked like women and were very beautiful, which was the whole point of the pageant! Two of the contestants, both black men, were shown complaining about not having won, claiming it was racist and prejudice. I saw it as they didn't look like real women and frankly, were not really attractive in drag! They both looked like what they were; a man in a dress with makeup on (and very poorly applied makeup at that...blend, blend blend, ladies!). The most vocal about claiming racism was seen tottering out onto the stage, clearly not able to walk well in heels and did not look feminine or classy at all. From what I could tell, the individuals who presented as the most realistic "women" were the ones who had gone through surgical and hormonal transition. Some revealed that they had had complete surgery and were living as women with a vagina and breasts (and some other silicon reshaping), rather than some who had not had breasts, hormones and/or sex re-assignment surgery. There is a difference; drag is a man in a dress (or a woman dressed as a man), transsexual to me means someone who has changed their gender which usually requires hormones at the very least. You don't just shave and put on a dress to be a woman! I thought the most natural looking woman was Maria, the blond with a European accent, tasteful clothes and makeup. She looked like a woman and behaved like a classy woman, as opposed to what some contestants were seen doing on the Strip. In my opinion all of the contestants should be proud of themselves for living their lives as their hearts dictate but their presentation of beauty may not be what appeals to others, end of story! That doesn't mean it's a racial decision! For anyone who has seen RuPaul's Drag Race, the winners of the first two seasons have been black men! RuPaul is black. Does that mean his show is racially biased because both winners are black? There were some beautiful Asian, Hispanic and white contestants who looked very good in drag but they didn't win. Was it racism? Or was it that their beauty and ability to create the illusion of a female wasn't as good as that of the two men who won, who happened to be black? Not everything is about race, folks. Vegas drag shows are about beauty, illusion and looking as "real" as possible. If you look like a fat man in dress with horrible makeup, you probably aren't what they are looking for to cast as a showgirl! Over all, the movie is interesting and I found the stories of some of the contestants very touching. I would have liked to see more of the process of the contestants creating their female illusions and more of their costumes during the actual pageant. What we should all take from this movie is that these people are not freaks, they are people just like all of us and deserve respect and acceptance for trying to make their outside match what they feel on the inside. Some are people who are changing gender in all aspects physically, some are happy with a partial transition and live as women, some are happy to live as men who do drag. I don't care what's under the hood, I only care about how we treat each other in this life!
Madame Satã (2002)
Why was this movie ever made?
Spoilers contained, but only in a general sense, not specific! I watched this movie expecting something about drag queens or someone who could be considered significant in some way, hence the "based on a true story" blurb in the description, yet I can't find any reason why anyone would have made a movie about the primary character. I found him to be unlikable, unsympathetic and not even a good drag queen! This man, if the story is indeed based on fact, was totally lacking in any redeeming characteristics; cruel to his "friends," unattractive physically, a thief, liar, con man, a criminal, violent, talentless and ignorant. Apparently he was notable for winning a costume contest after spending ten years in prison and that warrants a movie about him? The other characters were just sad; Lurita and Taboo. I could not get a clear sense of whether he was lovers with Lurita or Taboo or they coexisted as a "family" unit of unwanted people who found comfort in each other, yet even then the primary character was so cruel to Taboo that it sickened me. OK, I get that this time period, this neighborhood, these people were poor, ignorant and had miserable lives, but what in this movie, this story, was worthy of making a movie about? I sat through this whole movie waiting for something noteworthy to happen, to make me care about these people, to explain why their lives were being portrayed and that moment never came. It was a waste of time and money for me. No point to it at all.