The Construction of Sexuality and Gender in The Film Tangerine

In this essay, I will be comparing and contrasting the construction of sexuality and gender in Tangerine (Sean Baker, 2015), a film which, according to its IMDb page, is about “A hooker” who “tears through Tinseltown on Christmas Eve searching for the pimp who broke her heart”. Laura Mulvey, according to BFI Screenonline, “…was born in Oxford on 15 August 1941” and “…came to prominence in the early 1970s as a film theorist…”. I will be using her essay, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, which details that, in Introduction to film studies “…the pleasure gained from looking is a male pleasure, that ‘the look’ in cinema is controlled by the male and directed at the female; this is referred to as the ‘male gaze’” as a reference, as well as various other sources about the representation of transgender characters in film.

[Mis]Representation of Transgender Women in Films states that “Trans women are sexualised on screen in a similar way to cis women…”. According to Introduction to film studies (Jill Nelmes, 2012), “…the female is reduced to the icon, the erotic…”. In Tangerine (Sean Baker, 2015), trans characters are often depicted as overly sexual beings, with many employed as prostitutes; gathering on street corners, sporting provocative outfits, exclaiming sexual profanities and reverting back to sex work when all hope seems to have been lost for that character, as though it’s their only option. An example of this would be when Alexandra loses Sin-Dee on the streets or when it’s revealed that Sin-Dee’s boyfriend, Chester, cheated on her with Alexandra while Sin-Dee was in jail and she reacts with “Now let me make my money and go the fuck home”. [Mis]Representation of Transgender Women in Films (n/a, n/a) also states that “…all trans women want to be desired by cisgender men…” which is apparent in the film among cis male characters who use trans female characters as a secret fetish, with one cis male character dismissing a cis female character out of his car after mistaking her for a trans woman, while living a separate life at home with his cis wife and child.

According to The Representation of Trans Women in Film and Television (Nikki Reitz, 2017), “Movies… say that trans women are dangerous people who act violently towards others”. This ideology is present within the first 5 minutes of the film when Sin-Dee first discovers that Chester had been cheating on her while she was in jail and immediately starts looking for him. The fact that Sin-Dee has just been released from jail already suggests that she’s a dangerous character as well as the fact that her search begins with purpose and in an angry manner as she storms across town. This violent behaviour continues throughout the film with trans characters, for instance, when Dinah, the girl Chester cheated on Sin-Dee with, is found in the bathroom of a motel and dragged by her hair onto the streets and assaulted by Sin-Dee, or when a man refuses to pay for Alexandra’s, another trans woman’s, service and is assaulted by her. In [Mis]Representation of Transgender Women in Films, “Trans women are often portrayed… as being mentally unstable…”. Trans characters in Tangerine may be depicted in such a way as their emotions can abruptly change at any given moment, take Sin-Dee and Alexandra during the opening scene in Donut Time for instance, when the two sit down to enjoy a doughnut to celebrate Sin-Dee’s release from jail and the holiday season, before Sin-Dee finds out her boyfriend cheated on her, resulting in her becoming a lot more agitated and aggressive as well as the way trans characters handle these sort of situations, becoming overly dramatic and outspoken characters.

According to Introduction to film studies, “…women are… inferior to men…”. This statement is true for cis female characters in the film, however, trans characters still possess more power over their cis female counterparts, even cis male characters at times, suggesting that stereotypical masculine tendencies still reside within these characters, alluding to the fact that in The Representation of Trans Women in Film and Television (Nikki Reitz, 2017), “…Hollywood reinforces the idea that trans women are not really women…”. Transphobia is also a common theme which runs throughout the film, with characters using language such as “homeboy”, “homo”, “half fag to full fag” and “tranny faggot” to describe and when referring to trans characters, suggesting that trans women are really just gay men in women’s clothing. Introduction to film studies mentions that “…women are always based in the home…”. This statement is apparent when Razmik, a taxi driver, who we follow throughout the film returns home from work to his child and wife who’s preparing a buffet for him and the rest of their family.

According to The Representation of Trans Women in Film and Television, “Often the police will misgender trans women…” and “They will “deadname” trans women…” in media where police and trans characters are present. While Alexandra is assaulting the man, who refused to pay for her service, the police observe the situation from their car, referring to Alexandra with male pronouns, “Have you not worked with Alexander?... Here’s your chance if you wanna go, meet him”. In this scene, they also refer to Alexandra with her “deadname”, Alexander, on multiple occasions until they realise they aren’t getting a response, which results in them putting a dramatic emphasis on the last syllable of her name in, sarcastically, to capture her attention.

However, The Representation of Trans Women in Film and Television (Nikki Reitz, 2017), states that “Hollywood…” casts “…cisgender men in the roles of trans women”. This statement isn’t true to Tangerine as real life trans women were cast to play the roles of trans characters in the film, enabling Sean Baker to not only use “…their real-life stories to inform his script” – Tangerine is amazing – but not because of how they shot it – but also to allow the actors to take from these experiences and be able to adapt their actions into the film, creating a sense of realism.

The Representation of Trans Women in Film and Television (Nikki Reitz, 2017) also states that films that feature trans characters cast them as “…the main antagonist…” and that they’re “…often used as plot devices for cis characters…”, alluding to the fact that “…women… have usually taken supportive roles…”. However, this is only half true for Tangerine, with the main protagonists being trans women; the film following their story, and where both cis male and female characters play supportive/antagonistic roles.

In conclusion, according to The Representation of Trans Women in Film and Television (Nikki Reitz, 2017), “For transgender women, the way they are represented on the screen is especially negative…”. This statement is predominantly true of the film Tangerine, with trans characters behaving in a manner which would only be seen as deviant behaviour for the majority of society. However, in Tangerine: Sean Baker, Kitana Kiki Rodriquez & Mya Taylor Exclusive Interview, Rodriquez mentions that “…we just got to play with different… stereotypes…” suggesting that the film isn’t actually an accurate depiction of the minority group and instead plays off of society’s views in a comedic way. This isn’t to say, however, that Tangerine doesn’t present a true depiction of or raise awareness for the struggles trans people face on a day to day basis.