have to agree to some extent. When I first watched the trailer, I was just excited to see Benedict and was laughing at other parts of the trailer that I thought were actually funny. Upon rewatching it, I saw that All was being asked the same question that SO many trans people are still asked and really needs to stop - "what genitals do you have?" However, while we are given a reaction shot of All after this question (the giggled and the subsequent "oops"), because it is a trailer we do not know for sure whether that is All's actual reaction to that question in the movie. Trailers are often edited to give people a certain impression and often play to more common beliefs or ways of thinking even if the film ends up subverting those things or just not being that way at all. So, I don't think we can really judge the film and how the character All is portrayed until we actually get to see the scene in its full context. The film is, after all, about two aging models who are no longer current, they're the relics of a time past and if the rest of the trailer is any indication, the film is going to make fun of not only their stupidity but also the fact that they are out of the loop with some more current things. I think it's too soon to say that All is the butt of the joke, when otherwise it would seem that it is actually Hansel and Zoolander who are the butts of the jokes in the film.
But whether some of the concerns ring true or not, I think there is something positive, which is what initially gave me approval of the character. When asked whether they are a female model or a male matter, All replies, "All is all." I like this, because even if it turns out to be just a small moment, the fact that someone can be more than one gender, and that the terminology used is "all" and not "both" takes us away from the imposed binary a little bit, which is something that still needs doing.
Whether All is an exaggeration or not - again, I don't think we can say just yet whether it's a wholly bad exaggeration. This is a comedy, where we see exaggerated version of fashion (though fashion shows can often be exaggerated anyway), so I don't think necessarily that All's look is damaging or defaming. It's surprising, especially knowing that it's Benedict we're looking at, but is it ugly? It wouldn't be that surprising to see a look like that on a high fashion runway, so even if it is a bit exaggerated because the film is a comedy, I can't see it, at this point, as being negative or ridiculing trans people specifically, but more just general fashion, perhaps.
I'm certainly not the most offendable person, though I doubt I'm the least offendable person either, among other trans people. That is partly to do with the fact that I am closeted, non-binary passing as female (I still go by "she/her"), and have never experienced real discrimination based on gender, but I still don't think that this is really that bad. At the very least, we have to see it in its full context before we can really pick it apart and analyse how it really depicts anything, like I said before.
Like you hae already alluded to, I doubt Benedict would do something like this if, when he read the script, it seemed like something horribly offensive. Now, if it does turn out to be offensive in the way it is edited - that is not Ben's fault. Things change from page to screen sometimes, but Benedict would have chosen the project based on the page, it is likely, and we cannot blame how the material was treated beyond his control.
nakahara wrote:
