By JAMES DEMETRIADES
STAFF WRITER
The controversy surrounding Jared Leto’s Oscar-winning role as Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club, as an HIV-positive transgender woman living in Texas in the 1980s, began shortly after the film was released. LGBT activists were quick to point out the problematic nature of having a cis-gendered male play a transgender woman. (Cisgender is a term used in Queer and Gender studies to describe types of gender identity where an individual’s gender matches the sex they were born with.) The controversy only grew after his nomination for Best Supporting Actor for the role, with LGBT activists publishing editorials to discuss their points. One such scathing article, written by Steve Friess, the former senior writer covering technology for Politico and a professor of journalism at Michigan State University, was published in Time. In this article he called out Jared Leto’s role as being akin to the mammy archetype that Hattie McDaniel won her Oscar for in 1939. He goes on to say, “McDaniel’s portrayal of a house slave is now, alongside the old Aunt Jemima syrup logos, viewed as an archetypical, racist touchstone,” relating that a possible Oscar win for Jared Leto is reinforcing the same stereotypes.
Voices across the LGBT community echo this analysis. Jos Truitt from the blog “Feministing” wrote in response to the nomination that she has “no interest in watching a cis man in drag play a trans woman ever again. No matter what Dallas Buyers Club does as a film, the narrative around this movie, the fact that a man in drag is playing a trans woman, perpetuates the stereotype that we are men in drag.”
This is not to say that there is a unity of vision or belief within the LGBT community. Mara Keisling, executive director at the National Center for Transgender Equality, praised the film’s accurate depiction of the challenges trans individuals face and expressed that it helps to bring a greater public awareness of transphobia and transgendered individuals.
I am not here to weigh the merits of both arguments; rather, I would like to bring the issue to the table to discuss it together as a community. PRIDE Alliance recently discussed this topic in a meeting and found it a difficult, yet enlightening and productive discussion. The question of discrimination and exclusion of trans actors from roles in films combined with the stereotype that the role perpetuates raises questions about the validity of using a cis-gendered male instead of a trans-woman.
The fact is that there are dozens of trans-actors and actresses who could have played this role is persuasive however, there is a counter argument that many have voiced. Jared Leto defended his role when faced by a heckler at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, saying the ideology of having people portray only their own gender or sexuality would then prevent members of the gay community from portraying straight characters.
This sentiment is frequently repeated by Leto’s defender but I believe it brings up an important point. The counter argument is a contrary scenario, “Should white actors be able to play African American characters?” The answer is clear, absolutely not. As transsexual and transgendered individuals struggle to gain equal representation in the media and public, Leto’s defense will no longer be a moot point. Equal representation and fair portrayal of individuals of the transgendered community in mainstream roles will undoubtedly help fight against transphobia and for the greater inclusion of transgendered people in media and beyond.
James Demetriades, FCRH ’15, is a history and political science major from Cromwell, Conn.
