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Women in revolt (1971)
This film didn't deal with trans issues but features the Factories three trans 'superstars' Candy Darling, Holly Woodlawn and Jackie Curtis as the leaders of PIG (politically involved girls) a feminist group torn apart by infighting, personal ambition and lack of coherent goals.
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In a year of 13 moons (1978)
The film has a bleak outlook on trans people. It features Elvira, formerly Erwin, who went for sex reassignment surgery shortly after the man she loved said he'd love her if she was a woman. He reject Elvira, as does everyone she ever cared for. It is a harrowing film and difficult between trans people partly due to the connection between surgery and butchery. However it is a eye-opening exposition of the challenges that gender-variant people had in this time.
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The crying game (1992)
The crying game promotes it's famous twist of the revelation of the leading ladies genitalia and the audience find this out the same time as the ladies lover. She had been born male. It is a mainstream film that rethought old stereotypes of trans people, encouraging the audience to empathize with the main character without only asking for sympathy.
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The adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert (1994)
The film follows a transsexual woman, a transvestite and a drag queen as they travel across the outback to resurrect their old cabaret act the other side of Australia. It was one of the most significant trans-themed films of the 1990s.
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Boys don't cry (1999)
Trans women became more popular as a subject for films and documentaries during the 1990s, but it wasn't until the end of the decade that major picture centered around the subject. It was based on the true story of Brandon Teena who was raped and murdered in Humboldt, Nebraska in 1993 after two acquaintances discovered he was trans. The film follows Brandon as he struggles to fit in with the local guys whilst keeping his gender identity secret, resulting in tragedy for which his community blames him.
Jacques, J (2015) 10 Great Transgender films [Online] Available at: http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/lists/10-great-transgender-films . [Last accessed 24th Feb 2015]
Comedy films often have gender transformation roles that mirror the pantomime dame role. Two famous gender transformations in films have been John Travolta in Hairspray and Robin Williams in Mrs Doubtfire
Hairspray
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This video gives a detailed explanation of the prosthetic and wig work that went into turning John Travolta into Edna Turnblad. It was very interesting to see the large foam latex pieces that clipped together to form the entire body suit, foam latex would have been used because it is very light and therefore the actor could move and dance whilst wearing the pieces. It was also interesting how eight different versions of the face were sculpted before one was decided upon and they were then split into separate prosthetic pieces to be attached to the face. Although I'm not doing such a heavily based prosthetic elements in my makeup it's very useful to see the way this would be done in films and the realistic result it gives.
Mrs DoubtFire
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This video shows the process of transforming Robin Williams into Mrs Doubtfire. The pieces looked like foam latex pieces as they were blended at the edges by using more material added on It was very useful seeing the prosthetic pieces fitting together seamlessly to look like one large piece over the whole face and also how they were a very opaque pink colour when they were applied but then had layers of colour and stipple put over them to form a more realistic skin look that had translucency. Again although this was a heavily prosthetic makeup it's very useful to see the transformation process and the work that goes into it and the areas of the face that need to be altered to appear more feminine, such as a softer jawline.
