Television executives are always looking for new trends and so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that transgender shows are popping up all across the cable landscape. And this summer, Big Brother features its first transgender contestant, Audrey Middleton.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen transgender characters on TV. Laverne Cox has wowed us in Orange is the New Black.
Transparent was the trailblazer here, with a transgender as the central character. The show is built on elegant and emotion-jarring writing and fully-developed characters that shine not because of the salacious subject matter, but because of the quality of the show. Jeffrey Tambor’s career-defining work has given a relatable voice to a community that has been, up until recently, defined by the mainstream as not relatable to middle America. But the show has been more of a critical darling with very little reach. Amazon Prime has a fraction of the subscribers of Netflix, let alone the potential viewership of a broadcast or cable network.
Still, the show’s acceptance on any level played a role in giving Caitlyn Jenner the courage to say that now was the right time to finally live her true life. Her ABC interview, her speech at the ESPYs and now her E! reality show I Am Cait has sparked a healthy nationwide discussion about the plight of the transgender community. A cultural icon, Olympic champion and one-time symbol of both American pride and the ultimate poster boy for masculinity is giving transgenders a platform to preach acceptance and understanding.
I have witnessed it firsthand, as my father and a pair of close friends have evolved rapidly when it comes to even discussing the transgender lifestyle. Before Jenner’s latest media blitz, they voiced a hatred and vitriol for Bruce born out of ignorance. After watching her ABC and ESPYs appearances, the harsh “he-she’s a freak” language turned into a tolerance rooted in sympathy and compassion.
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“She can live anyway she wants. People should just leave her alone,” said one ultra-conservative friend. “I may not be able to relate to that life, but I can relate to pushing through the worst of adversity.”
Two other reality shows are attempting to further humanize the transgender community.
ABC Family’s Becoming Us tells the story of two families coming to grips with males that are transitioning to females. The show centers on teenager Ben Lehwald, whose father Charlie is becoming Carly.
The show begins with the family in turmoil. Ben is failing classes and having a very hard time accepting that his Dad didn’t want Ben to call him “Dad” anymore. His older sister, Sutton, is getting married soon. His mother, Suzy, is struggling mightily to accept the end of her marriage, while at the same time trying to guide her kids through the emotional firestorm.
When I first heard of the show and that its executive producer is Ryan Seacrest, I didn’t have high expectations. That’s born out of his track record for creating low-grade reality like the many Kardashian shows and The Shahs of Sunset, productions that give obnoxious rich people a platform to flaunt their good fortune and, well, be obnoxious. Seacrest as a producer has built a behind-the-camera empire by creating characters that simultaneously infuriate viewers and fuel binge-watching addictions.
I never expected one of his shows to provide such insight and capture such an amazing array of human emotion. We see plenty of strife here, as every generation of the Lehwald family is processing Carly’s transition with varying degrees of acceptance. The show also includes Ben’s girlfriend, Danielle, who is going through the same rollercoaster of feelings as her father, SallyDan, transitions as well.
The storytelling devices are at times cheesy, with social media pop-ups and confessional moments used as transitions between scenes. But the scenes feel about as real as reality TV can get. From Carly’s awkward appearance at Sutton’s bridal shower to the two wives consoling each other with the help of heavy doses of wine, every scene is infinitely relatable.
Perhaps the best thing I can say about Becoming Us is that not even by the end of the first episode, I was invested in this family as a viewer. Carly and SallyDan’s struggles and milestones are handled with respect and simplicity. When SallyDan goes on her first date, the cameras don’t follow her in to the restaurant in typical tabloidy reality TV style. Instead, Danielle and SallyDan discuss the trainwreck of a date the next morning. And the reasons behind the disaster have nothing to do with trans issues. The guy was just a self-centered jerk, a scenario just about any adult can relate to.
Becoming Us could very well prove to be a cultural breakthrough for the trans community on par with Transparent. It truly is that impressive. It’s a bold move by ABC Family to veer away from the dreck of shows like Baby Daddy and Melissa and Joey and attempt to educate its heavily teen-centric audience.
The result is a big win. It’s the type of show that should be shown in schools and watched by the masses to show that transgender people are not fringe, not freaks. They are merely facing a different kind of struggle. Where other shows may use the platform to preach, Becoming Us presents a brilliantly-framed family drama that just happens to involve transgenders.
While Becoming Us focuses on adult transitions, TLC’s I Am Jazz tells the story of 13-year-old Jazz Jennings’ transition from boy to girl. The show is split into half-hour episodes instead of the hour-long Becoming Us, so there’s less time to tell each story. As a result, each situation we see Jennings face – from talking to her doctor about hormone treatments and minimizing facial hair growth to facing apparent transphobia at a friend’s bowling party – are handled with far less depth. The Jennings family at times seems a little too perfect, and go out of their way to say, “We’re normal” instead of that knowledge merely revealing itself in the presentation.
The end result: I’m having a harder time creating a must-see-TV connection here. I want to root for this kid. Her courage to put her story out to the masses is to be celebrated. But the producers have not created a product that captures the emotional potential here. The scenes at times come off as too staged with family members trying to act instead of just be themselves.
Jazz is a dynamo, as we saw in her 2011 OWN special of the same name. We see her here as at times far more mentally older than 14, but mostly as an awkward teenager trying to fit in but not afraid to be a dork on camera.
There are glimmers of impressive TV here, but ultimately, the complete package is boring. Jennings is more self-aware than her peers and for good reason. She’s received heaps of attention before this show, as a celebrated author of a trans-themed children book and one of TIME’s Most Influential Teens of 2014.
The Jennings almost come off as too evolved and settled, aware of their budding celebrity status, whereas we’re seeing the until-now-unheard-of Lehwalds in the midst of embracing their new normal.
Perhaps it’s a victory merely that we’re even calling a show on transgenders too normal or boring.
The fact that we have multiple shows spotlighting transgenders is a step forward in and of itself. Seeing a trans woman on Big Brother may have been jarring at first, but Audrey was universally accepted and applauded by her housemates. She was not targeted for eviction because of her lifestyle. She became the villain of this season to viewers for her evil tactics and ultimately became an early casualty because she was an extraordinarily poor game player.
Given the rapid social gains the gay community has made, it’s hard to believe there was a time in my generation when seeing a gay-centric show like Ellen was taboo. That’s a good thing, and the television industry has been a leader in that suddenly swift shift toward equality after decades of ignorance and injustice.
Mental illness advocates hoped that presenting Tony Soprano’s struggles with depression would lead to a widespread understanding and acceptance. Sadly, that has not been the case. Shows like In Treatment have brilliantly illustrated the struggles depression creates, but there has been no such large-scale cultural shift for the mentally ill. Courageous, functional depressed people are still lumped in with the “crazy” and “deranged” criminals behind headline-grabbing tragedies.
What will this summer of TV spotlight yield for the transgender community? It’s too soon to tell. But Becoming Us, I Am Jazz, and yes, even Big Brother, have done their part in showcasing transgender pioneers as merely normal people, desensitizing the viewing public in the process.