SALUTE
I have barely watched Breaking Bad
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Here is a screenshot of where to find the spoiler button.
Let’s have another good week everyone 
umbrella academy and the privileged trans narrative
Finished the Umbrella Academy. And while I love a good time travel story, Elliot Paige’s character, and how his transition was handled, I found really annoying.
It was all too perfectly liberal. Never gets misgendered or dead named. Family was all on board with zero habitat energy (I can believe a family being this supportive, but even my supportive gf occasionally misgenders me out of habit two months in).
The actual transition was hand waved. And I found it so unbelievable that I kept misgendering the character in my head. Though not Elliot himself.
Broke suspended disbelief for me every time he was on screen. And the whole thing felt like a privileged liberal narrative, rather than representive of trans lives in any meaningful way.
Am I just being a hater? I guess it’s pretty mindless TV overall and maybe I shouldn’t expect so much from a super hero show. And maybe just be glad for more trans visibility.
I have no idea what that show is, but I agree that “representation” like that, that erases the inevitable struggles that come with life as a trans person, feel so much worse than even no representation. It just shows that the creators either have zero concept of what it’s actually like to be trans, or they think the audience can’t handle the reality of our lives.
I think they hand waved it because Elliot transitioned in real life during a break (COVID or writers strike).
So for the character it was like poof, you’re a boy and everyone is cool with it.
I think it was lazy cis writing. Inclusive of the actors needs but not really inclusive of trans lived experiences outside of that.
I like Elliot Paige. And I think him transitioning and continuing in the role does help normalize our existence. But yeah, the narrative the writers used wasn’t believable.
I think it’s not allowed to have anything less than shiny perfect liberal-compatible experiences of being trans on TV, even if the TV show is in a stream. Sucks, fuck em.
idk, i’m at the point where i honestly loathe how almost all trans narratives in the mainstream are centered on suffering and transphobia, especially when they’re coming out stories. I found it refreshing to see something different from the usual “hey, here’s some traumatic thing you’ve probably gone through yourself and didn’t need to be reminded of, aren’t queer lifes just SHIT?” It’s good to show a wider audience that you can just not act weird towards us and i thought they captured the vibe of siblings trying to be supportive fairly well. I just want to see more trans joy in media, it honestly kept me in the egg longer than needed that our existence is always shown as unending martyrdom and i’m fed up with that.
It was more the lack of narrative that kept breaking my suspended disbelief. Not so much that trans lives need to be full of trauma. Though I think I implied that in my post.
I think I’m just being critical because I like to write. If the transition had all happened off page in a book, I would find it jarring. And I think that’s really my main complaint.
Transition takes time.
But it was hand waved I think for Elliot’s sake. Which I think is the writing being supportive of a real trans person. Elliot doesn’t need to live out his transition on a show to make me happy.