THE OFFICIAL: CD / TG Movie & Theatre Discussion

[CherylM]

One of my favorite CD films is "Just like a Woman", a modest, British film of 1992. Stars Julie Walters (Educating Rita, Calendar Girls). The protagonist is a male CDer. His wife (Julie) finds his stash, and has a fit, and throws him out. Through the mediation of their land-lady, Julie comes to terms with his crossdressing. He gets arrested, and Julie bails him out.

Later, he winds up going to a business meeting, dressed, and then chairs the meeting, and speaking Japanese, is able to close a big business deal with the Japanese clients.

The treatment of the subject is mature, and accepting. I thoroughly enjoyed this film.

[CherylM]

A modest, British comedy called "Nuns on the Run", with Eric Idle and Maggie Smith, has an interesting take on cross-dressing.

Two inept, bumbling crooks are fleeing, after committing a robbery. They stole drug money from a dope-dealer, and the cops are after them as well. (Sounds like one of the typical scenarios for cross-dressing).

The two guys, sneak into a convent, and dress up in traditional nun's garb. Wimple, habit, etc. They pass as nuns, and are able to elude their pursuers.

One of the pair was raised as a Roman Catholic, and he has one of the films funniest moments, explaining Catholic theology to the other crook. Hilarious!

In my opinion, by dressing as nuns, the guys are able to cross-dress, and avoid the sexual overtones, because nuns are celibate, and non-sexual.

The two idiots are discovered, eventually, when one of the nuns sees stubble on the man's face. They wind up escaping the convent, but leave their case of money behind. The Mother Superior (Maggie Smith) takes the money, which was made at the suffering of the drug users in the neighborhood, and use it to set up a drug-rehab clinic.

[CherylM]

"Yentl" with Barbra Striesand is one of the very few F-to-M crossdressing films. Barbra dresses as a boy so she can attend Hebrew school, because education is forbidden for Jewish girls at that time.

She dresses as a boy, and then enrolls in the school. She has a series of adventures, and even goes "skinny-dipping" with the other male students (almost). Her friend at school is admirably played by Mandy Patinkin. Later, Barbra, dressed as a boy, winds up "marrying" Mandy's fiancee, Amy Irving.

Barbra finally "comes out" to Mandy, by unwrapping her breast wrappings. Some of the women in the audience, when I saw this picture (1983) just wept out loud.

The characters finally get everything straight, Barbra gets her marriage to Amy Irving annulled, Mandy marries Amy, and then Barbra (dressed en femme) gets on a boat to America.

I love a happy ending.

[CJ]

Hi all,

I picked up (for ten bucks in a used book store) and read an interesting book a little while ago called Hollywood Androgyny where Rebecca Bell-Metereau, the author, examines crossdressing in the movies.

Here's an excerpt:

Cross-dressing in film often reflects and highlights the changes in society, but regardless of its particular manifestations over time, the device is distinctly suited to the film medium. Norman Holland argues that "all movies take us back to childhood. They give us a child's pleasure in looking at things, which we, as film critics, respond to in our demand that the film be true to its medium, that it be visual." Few cinematic experiences appeal more to our sense of delight in viewing the fantasies of childhood than does cross-dressing. We are allowed forbidden glimpses of what was once a very real confusion over sexual identity--visions that call back a long-buried fascination with adult costumes of gender. The childhood thrill of experimenting with the father's tuxedo or the mother's lingerie reemerges when we witness actors and actresses playing with sexual identity through clothing reversals.

Paul Rotha suggests that a thorough understanding of mise-en-scene "means paying just as much attention to make-up, lighting, decor, costumes, gesture, and other 'technical stylistic' details of a film as to dialogue and plot--noticing them not for their own sakes, but for their emotional meaning, their psychological impact." The cross-dressing film draws the attention of the audience to the otherwise neglected elements of makeup, costume, voice, and gestures because these features emphasize the disjuncture between fact and the sensuous illusion on screen. Unlike magic or sleight of hand, which often do not translate well onto the screen, impersonation--a kind of magic--is enhanced in many ways by film's ability to alter physical proportions through camera angling, eliminate discordant gender cues by editing out or soft-focusing them, or emphasize the incongruities between gender and costume through lighting, camera angles, or close-ups. (pp.16-17)

The book was written in 1993 so it doesn't include the crossdressing film "explosion" of the last fifteen years but it's a worthwhile read nonetheless. One "technique" (for emphasis or elimination of gender incongruities) that Bell-Metereau doesn't mention--because it didn't really exist at the time she wrote the book--is CGI. Film producers and directors can now alter any single frame of film through computer graphics imaging software and they can do this to their heart's content. I think it was George Lucas who, notoriously, once said that we would soon be able to dispense with actors and actresses altogether. Now, it's even a snap to turn a man into a woman in post-production (not that I'm aware of any film where this has been done, mind you). Imagine... software that lets you visually change your sex. I have but one question: do they sell this at Best Buy's?

Love,
CJ

[Jaye]

I've"Nobody's Perfect" with Rob Lowe playing a male college student (transfer into college and plays tennis) who dresses (and attends classes) as a woman to get close to a female tennis player, becomes her roommate and joins the women's tennis team (he got kicked off the men's team because he was distracted by the girl).

Actually, that was Chad Lowe, who went on to marry Hilary Swank, who won an Oscar for playing an FtM in "Boys Don't Cry".

[CherylM]

A pioneering film and one of the all-time classics is Hitchcock's "Psycho". Although a "horror" film, cross-dressing is a tangential theme of the film. The protagonist "Norman Bates" dresses up as his dead mother, whose mummified corpse is sitting in the rocking chair in the basement of the house. ( The house up on the hill is a real house, it is at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio). Norman kills Janet Leigh. (Hitchcock, by the way, had an odd sense of humor. He thought it was hilarious, to cast a major star like Janet Leigh in the film, and then have her killed off in the first 20 minutes).

Norman (Anthony Perkins) wears a dress and a wig, when he stabs Janet Leigh in the shower (one of greatest film sequences of all time- IMHO).

The film climax, is when John Gavin finally catches Perkins (dressed up as mother) from the back, and he subdues him.

In the film denouement, Simon Oakland, the psychiatrist, is explaining the phenomenon. Norman dressed as a woman (an off-screen voice chimes in with "transvestite"). The psychiatrist dismisses the theory, and goes on to explain how Norman "becomes" mother.

In the final scene, Norman is sitting alone, wearing a blanket, and contemplating the fly that is resting on his hand. In the female voice, he says "she wouldn't hurt a fly".

The film hits on crossdressing, abnormal psychology, Oedipus, murder, role-playing. The film was way ahead of its time, and remains an absolute classic.

BTW- Women quit taking showers for months after that film. You know it is a classic, when the shower scene has been parodied in comedies, like "National Lampoon's vacation", and "High Anxiety".

[Virginia]

I guess I have to plead temporary insanity, but does any one remember the "girl" who was on the forum - what a year or so ago and was asking a lot of questions and I think even had a questionnaire for those who wanted to fill it out. That "she" and some colleagues were making a movie about or dealing with crossdressing? I know I did not dream that up and wasn't she using the AKA "Karen?" Wonder what happened to that?
Just curious,
Virginia

[CherylM]

1975(?) Woody Allen's "Everything you always wanted to know about sex". Which is not really a movie, but a collection of short sketches about sexual topics. Infidelity, what happens during intercourse,etc. The bit where Gene Wilder has an affair with a sheep is hysterical.

One of the sketches has a middle aged man cross-dressing. He goes upstairs, dresses up, and then goes out of the window. He winds up in front of the house, witnesses a traffic accident, and is then discovered to be a man in women's clothing. Then he winds up going in for counseling, because his wife is grossed out.

The film sequence is played for laughs, and the protagonist is played to be a pathetic disgusting middle aged man. I found it to be in bad taste, for me the comedy just does not work.

[Jacqueline Manesis]

Not a movie but the old TV show Bossom Buddies. I believe it was Tom Hanks and John Ritter moved into a girls dorm and CD'd to maintain their apartment.

[Connie]

Sorry Jacqueline,

It was Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari in Bosom Buddies.

Connie

[CherylM]

"Gangs of New York" with Leonardo Dacaprio. Saw it two nights ago. The film is about various Irish gangs operating in the Five Points area of New York during 1864-1865. (The War between the States was going on then). The film protagonist is known as "The Butcher". He is a 19th century gang-banger, running a number of scams. One of the scams that is never quite explained is "He-She's". The Butcher is obviously running some (heterosexual) prostitution. But exactly what he is doing with the crossdressers is never brought out. The individuals are shown on camera, as being crossdressers, with two days worth of beard growth.

[CherylM]

An excellent film, with a very slight bit of CDing is "Shallow Hal". The theme of the film is unique. A man is "hypnotized" into seeing people as they really are . (Similar to Liar,Liar, where the hero is compelled to be truthful for 24 hours).

The films hero now sees all people, children, men, especially women as who they really are. The main thrust of the film, is when he meets a thin woman buying size 75 panties, big enough to use as a sail on a yacht.

He winds up in a relationship with this woman (Gwyneth Paltrow). The comedy is gentle, and the film just "clicked" for me.

The one slight reference to a CD is when he is in a restaurant, and he talks to the hostess "Tiffany". She is a beautiful petite girl, and when the camera turns away, the audience sees that she is really a husky male in a dress.

I recommend this film highly.

[DonnaT]

"The Silence of the Lambs" is one reason CDing still freaks my wife out.


And another link to add to CJ's: http://www.tgwebbuilders.com/TGRL/movies.html

[Rikki]

My daughter once made a reference to "silence of the lambs" like, "Dad, you aren't going Silence of the Lambs on us, are you?" That scared me for a bit. Like you say, the public just doesnt understand the complex and varied nature of our "gift".

Well, be safe, be frilled everyone.

Rikki

[Kyra]

Well, last night I finally rented and watched Transamerica. The gals in my support group talked a bit about it, but didn't go into much detail. I went down to the local movie rental mogul and looked it over. Oddly enough, the cover doesn't say much about the transgendered theme and labelled it as a comedy. The movie was fairly well made, and performances were pretty good too. It was sad. I wasn't disappointed, but I wouldn't call it a comedy. It was very close to the difficult reality most TS's face daily.

I think it would make a good film to educate adults who don't have a clue about transexuals or the harsh world they live in. Oh yeah, it's definitely for adults only.

Just my views.
Hugs,
Kyra