Transgender Cinema
Hi...eventually I plan to document the history and details of the portrayal of transgenderism in film. It will
continue to be a work in progress (but soon to have more info than just this introductory paragraph), and if you
have anything to contribute, feel free to send me a note.
OUTLINE
- INTRODUCTION
- Exploring the concepts of transgenderism in film
- The difficulties of differentiating drag queens, transvestites, transsexuals
and other TG groups in film
- Pre-cinema TG performances; from ancient times to Shakespeare; the edict
of Charles II; the rise of vaudeville
- SILENTLY TG
- Early cinema's portrayal of TG concepts
- Actors/actresses playing characters of the opposite gender
- Crossdressing comedy - the extension of vaudeville into cinema
- CD COMEDY
- Straight men wearing women's clothes for comic effect
- Attempting to address gay/TG issues in the days of the Hayes code
- POST SRS
- After transsexualism becomes national news in the '50s, a series of overly
earnest docudramas emerge
- IT'S A DRAG
- The rise of the drag queen
- Gay cinema and the transgendered
- WILD CINE
- "Shock" directors such as John Waters, Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey
increasingly use TG themes/actors in film
- THE TG VILLAIN
- The villification of the transgendered
- Use of crossdressing to signify a "disturbed" mindset
- Parallels to the handling of homosexual issues in film
- TG TV
- From Bosom Buddies and All That Glitters to Coronation Street and The Education
of Max Bickford
- Trash talk shows
- Sweeps month: a flood of TG themes
- FOREIGN TG
- Foreign approaches to TG cinema
- TRIFLES
- The perserverance of the quick cross-dressing joke
- Surprise! The joke of revelation
- Supporting TG characters, and why they always seem to die
- Gender swapping
- The lack of TG actors
- NEW CINE
- The late '90s, and a new approach to TG cinema
- FtMs in the movies
- Documentaries and Short Films
- TrannyFest and other Transgendered Film Festivals
- A coming change...or more of the same
LISTING OF TRANSGENDER RELATED FILMS
1903
1903 Edwin S. Porter Film
1911
The Leading Lady
1914
A Florida Enchantment
Lillian's Dilemma
Sweedie Series
1915
A Woman
Miss Fatty's Seaside Lovers
Poor Little Peppina
Spit-Ball Sadie
That Minstrel Man
1916
Behind the Screen
The Danger Girl
1917
Cleopatra
Coney Island
The Countess Charming
The Widow's Might
1918
Sheriff Nell's Tussle
War Relief
1919
Bumping into Broadway
I Don't Want to Be a Man
The Hoodlum
Yankee Doodle in Berlin
1923
The Shriek of Araby
1924
Manhandled
The Sea Squawk
1925
Charlie's Aunt
Madame Behave
Man on the Box
1926
Be Your Age
Exit Smiling
Get 'em Young
Oh,What a Nurse!
Take it From Me
Whatever Happened to Jones
1928
Harold Teen
The Cardboard Lover
1929
Marianne
1930
Are You There?
Blood of a Poet
Charlie's Aunt
Dough Boys
Morocco
Murder!
1931
Palmy Days
Sidewalks of New York
1932
Blonde Venus
Love on Wheels
Movie Crazy
1933
Queen Christina
The Woman in Command
Twice Two
Viktor und Viktoria
1934
Georges et Georgette
The Hollywood Party
1935
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Night at the Opera
First a Girl
1936
Sylvia Scarlett
1937
On the Avenue
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
You Can't Have Everything
1938
Bringing Up Baby
Kentucky Moonshine
Wee Wee Monsieur
1939
Shipyard Sally
1940
Charlie's "Big Hearted" Aunt
La Conga Nights
My Little Chickadee
The New Pupil
Turnabout
1941
Blondie Goes Latin
Charlie's Aunt
The Black Sheep of Whitehall
You're in the Army Now
1942
Shut My Big Mouth
The Daring Young Man
The Road to Morocco
1943
They Got Me Covered
1944
Bathing Beauty
The Princess and the Pirate
1945
Boy! What a Girl
1946
Rhythm and Weep
1949
Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer
Blondie Hits the Jackpot
I Was a Male War Bride
1950
Sunset Boulevard
1951
At War with the Army
The Lemon Drop Kid
1953
Calamity Jane
Children of Loneliness
Glen or Glenda?
1954
Johnny Guitar
1958
Paris Holiday
Touch of Evil
1959
Some Like it Hot
The Mouse that Roars
1960
La Dolce Vita
Psycho
1961
Homicidal
On the Double
1963
A Stitch in Time
An Actor's Revenge
1964
Goodbye Charlie
Mondo Balordo
1965
A Very Special Favor
1966
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Chelsea Girls
The Glass Bottom Boat
1967
Caprice
Frankenstein Created Woman
She Man
1968
Flesh
No Way to Treat a Lady
The Black Lizard
The Further Perils of Laurel and Hardy
The Killing of Sister George
The Legend of Lylah Claire
The Producers
The Queen
1969
Midnight Cowboy
The Funeral Parade of Roses
The Magic Christian
1970
Mondo Trasho
Myra Breckinridge
The Christine Jorgensen Story
The Kremlin Letter
Trash
Where's Poppa?
1971
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde
Fortune and Men's Eyes
Luminous Procuress
Multiple Maniacs
Pickup's Tricks
Some of My Best Friends Are...
Sometimes Aunt Martha Does Dreadful Things
Women in Revolt
WR: Mysteries of the Organism
1972
And Now For Something Completely Different
Cabaret
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex
I Want What I Want
Pink Flamingos
Triple Echo
1973
The Laughing Policeman
1974
Broken Goddess
Bursting
Female Trouble
Freebie and the Bean
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
Uptown Saturday Night
1975
Coonskin
Dog Day Afternoon
Once Upon a Time in the East
Our Miss Fred
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
1976
Car Wash
Minimum Charge No Cover
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
1977
A Limitless Place/Hell Without Limits
Desperate Living
Fun With Dick and Jane
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
Outrageous!
1978
Let Me Die a Woman
Mirror Mirror
1979
I Wanna Be a Beauty Queen
In a Year of Thirteen Moons
Monty Python's Life of Brian
...And Justice For All
1980
Dressed to Kill
La Cage aux Folles
La Cage aux Folles II
Terror Train
1981
Dirty Daughters
For Your Eyes Only
Polyester
S.O.B.
The Year of Living Dangerously
1982
Angel
Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean
Labyrinth of Passion
The World According to Garp
Tootsie
Victor/Victoria
1983
A Man Like Eva (Ein Mann Wie Eva)
Dressed in Blue (Vestida de Azul)
Liquid Sky
Psycho II
The Woman Inside
To Be or Not To Be
Yentl
1984
All of Me
Angel
Deathstalker
Dorian Gray in the Mirror of the Popular Press (Dorian Gray Im Spiegel
Der Boulevardpresse)
Drama in Blond
Hookers on Davie
Privates on Parade
Revenge of the Nerds
The Death of Mikel (La Muerte de Mikel)
What Sex Am I?
Whatever Happened to Susan Jane?
1985
Avenging Angel
Dream Boys Revue
Just One of the Guys
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Once Bitten
Paradise is Not for Sale
Private Resort
The Mystery of Alexina
1986
Haunted Honeymoon
La Cage aux Folles III: The Wedding
Menage
Psycho III
Second Serve
Something Special
The Last Song
Vera
"Crocodile" Dundee
1987
Anguished Love
Critters 2: The Main Course
Curse of the Queerwolf
Eat the Rich
He's My Girl
Law of Desire
Mascara
Miss Mona
Raising Arizona
Shadey
Storme: The Lady of the Jewel Box
The Hidden
The Supergrass
Too Outrageous!
Vera
1988
Angel 3-- The Final Chapter
Big Top Pee-Wee
Hairspray
La Travestie
Salome's Last Dance
Summer Vacation: 1999 (1999 - Nen No Natsu Yasumi)
Torch Song Trilogy
Willow
1989
Cleo/Leo
Last Exit to Brooklyn
Sex Change--Shock! Horror! Probe
Tango and Cash
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
1990
All of Me
Frankenhooker
Nuns on the Run
Paris is Burning
Psycho IV
Sonny Boy
Total Recall
1991
A Fairy for Desert
Blank Point: What Is Transsexualism?
Danzón
Dead Again
Delirious
High Heels
Linda Les and Annie
Soapdish
Switch
Swordsman II
The Silence of the Lambs
Virginia
1992
A Little Bit of Lippy
Aliens Cut My Hair
Fly by Night
Lady Boys
Ladybugs
Orlando
Prelude to a Kiss
Split William to Chrysis Portrait of a Drag Queen
Storyville
Swordsman III: East is Red
The Crying Game
Time Expired
Transvestite Secrets Revealed
1993
Bank Robber
Blood In Blood Out
Boys from Brazil
Eagle Shooting Heroes
Fairwell My Concubine
Fertile La Toyah Jackson Video Magazine/Kinky
Glamazon: A Different Kind of Girl
Hot Shots Part Deux
How to Impersonate a Woman
Junior
Just One of the Girls
Kika
Le Sexe des Étoiles (The Sex of the Stars)
Lick Bush in '92
Lily Savage Live--Paying the Rent
Lip Gloss
Mrs. Doubtfire
M. Butterfly
National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1
She-Male by Choice
The Ballad of Little Jo
The Funny Tape
The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk
The Snail's Strategy (La Estrategia del Caracol)
Vegas in Space
1994
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Belles at the Bar (Belle al Bar)
Days of Pentecost
Ed Wood
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
He's a Woman She's a Man
Heaven's a Drag/To Die For
Highway of Heartache
It's Pat
Just Like a Woman
Man to Man
Mixed Nuts
Ready to Wear (Prét-á-Porter)
Red Firecracker,Green Firecracker
Skin Deep
Street Wars
The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert
The Best of Dish
The Crew
The Last Seduction
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation
You've Had Worse Things in Your Mouth
1995
A Peek Over the Wall
Blue in the Face
Dead Man
Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde
Marble Ass
Party Girl
Shinjuku Boys
Stage Door
Stonewall
The Basketball Diaries
The Celluloid Closet
The Haunted World of Ed Wood Jr.
The Written Face (Das Geschriebene Gesicht)
To Wong Foo,Thanks for Everything,Julie Newmar
Wigstock: The Movie
1996
A Mermaid Called Aida
A Midwinter's Tale
Dating the Enemy
Different for Girls
Hawaii
I Shot Andy Warhol
In and Out
Shampoo Horns
The Birdcage
The Nutty Professor
Trainspotting
1997
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Bugis Street
Divine Trash
Good Will Hunting
Leather Jacket Love Story
Ma Vie en Rose
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Neptune's Rocking Horse
Surviving Friendly Fire
1998
Elizabeth
Jerry Springer's Ringmaster
Life is Beautiful
Mulan
Patch Adams
Playing by Heart
Psycho (1998)
Shakespeare in Love
The Brandon Teena Story
The Impostors
The Waterboy
Woo
1999
All About My Mother
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Being John Malkovich
Better Than Chocolate
Bicentennial Man
Blast From the Past
Boys Don't Cry
Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo
Flawless
Heaven
Muppets From Space
Surrender Dorothy
Terror Firmer
That's The Way I Like It
The Adventures of Sebastian Cole
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc
The Out-of-Towners
Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train
Universal Soldier: The Return
Wild Wild West
2000
Big Momma's House
Billy Elliot
Charlie's Angels
Creature
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Gendernauts
Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps
What Women Want
Wonder Boys
X-Men
2001
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
The Iron Ladies
Moulin Rouge
Princesa
Rat Race
Shallow Hal
Southern Comfort
2002
All the Queen's Men
Austin Powers in Goldmember
Behind the Badge
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Frida
The Hot Chick
Juwanna Mann
Lilo and Stitch
Nicholas Nickleby
Scooby Doo
The Scorpion King
Sorority Boys
The Triumph of Love
2003
Gaudi Afternoon
Madame Sata
Normal
A Soldier's Girl
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