Gendernauts & White Like Me & Miss Representation review

Gendernauts explained the need to broaden the definition of gender beyond its original binary meaning. The film represents a variety of different speakers all with distinct genders and sexualities. Multiple perspectives explore the transgender narrative in America and how identities have been formed. They include people who are cis such as Tornado and trans people that take and do not take hormonal supplements. By focusing on real transgender identities, Monika Treut brings the audience closer to the speakers, providing personal relatable interviews and stories. The constant narration that Stone provides help explain to the audience the authentic encompassing definition of gender. She mentions the importance of a paradigm shift in considering gender, which she enforces through her explanations and summaries as she transitions between points and interviews. The footage often shows examples from the daily lives of the interviewees in San Francisco, which normalizes transgender identities. Treut is very intentional about the people she chooses. Max, a transman is very clearly male gendered. Hida, who identifies as intersex, has both anadromous and feminine characteristics. Therefore, gender as a social construct and its fluidity is brought out through the people the film represents.

In White Like Me, Wise begins with a brief historical recap. The music in the background is somber and striking as he talks about historical progress in racial issues, which sets the tone of struggle and urgency. Wise immediately then makes the point that despite these achievements, America still has long way to go by citing facts like the problem disproportionate incarcerated blacks. He adds credibility to his views on white privilege by citing his personal story about race first, providing key encounters with racial inequality early on in his life. Much like in Gendernauts, the narration and logical reasoning is very compelling. By walking the audience through the media footage and dialogue, it obviates the need for further racial equality when it comes to white privilege. In particular, I found it interesting how racism can be taken under many guises today. The Tea Party political advocates to cutting welfare all point indirectly to biases against blacks that people may not be aware of. By citing unconscious bias and drawing from scientific literature further backs up his points by stating incontrovertible facts and data.

In Miss Representation, the opening change from ‘misrepresentation’ to ‘Miss representation’ captured the quote “You can’t be what you can’t see” from the film. It demonstrated the need for successful women in all kinds of careers to be represented in the mass media over objectifying images and degrading women in our culture. The music fit well into the message, the recurring females singer had rhythmic lyrics that pertained to the plight at hand (ex. “I tremble..they gonna eat me alive” when discussing female body image). Miss representation drew a lot more from footage from the media, bombarding us with sexualized women that have become so normalized in society. The zooming, panning, and rapid examples in succession serve to emphasize how sexism is engrained in our culture. This film also interviewed a much more diverse group of people from high school students to Condoleezza Rice. By bringing in both credible high-profile speakers and personal experiences of young women, provides a more wholesome perspective in context. Also, statistics and facts provide shocking truths in America that are too often overlooked. For example, America ranks 90th in the world in terms of women in national legislature. Compared to White Like Me, using quantitative observations extends interviewees’ experiences by broadening it to women around the country who may be in similar positions.