A Film Analysis and A Reflection on the film Transamerica (2005)

Transamerica (2005) is a trans movie that features Bree's story (Felicity

Huffman), who feels compelled to become a woman. Her vaginoplasty surgery is a
week away when she discovers that she fathered a jailed 17-year-old boy. Margaret,
her therapist, wouldn't allow her to undergo surgery unless she meets the son and
comes to terms with him. The majority of the film revolves around Bree pretending to be
a female Christian missionary to Toby, his son, whom he bailed out of jail. Overall, the
film is an accurate depiction, especially in the Philippine context, of how trans people
are negatively treated by their families, the medical institution, the administration, and
society in general.

At the beginning of the film, Sabrina is trying to modulate her voice to sound
more feminine; this shows how transgender women adjust to feminine standards
imposed by the society and puts pressure on them who, to conform to such beauty
standards, undergo several plastic surgeries to achieve their desired physical
appearance. These cases are prevalent in the Philippines. Some trans women are
innately masculine and feel the need for surgeries to conform to feminine standards
since they often receive society's discrimination for their appearance. All appearances
are different, but all are beautiful; we shouldn't let other people feel that they are not.

Before her surgery, she had an appointment with different psychiatrists to have
their approval to undergo sex reassignment surgery. One of the psychiatrists prejudged
her and stated that Gender Dysphoria is a severe mental disorder that Bree immediately
challenged by asking, "Don't you find it odd that plastic surgery can cure a mental
disorder?"

Meanwhile, to have the therapist sign the consent, Bree traveled to New York to
meet his son Toby, a young street hustler who wants to better himself by becoming a
porn star. His career choice is upsetting to Bree since it is considered indecent in the
society; she even asked him if he might be interested in being a vet or a zoologist, but
Toby only wants to be an actor. This scenario shows how sex workers are labeled as
deviant and problematic workers in today's society, especially in a conservative country
like the Philippines. But, as long as it does not involve human trafficking, there's nothing
wrong with it and society need not demean their whole existence for being a sex worker.
Same with our country, people engage in this kind of work because of poverty and a
lower chance of getting a stable job.

We can also note that when Bree went to jail, a police officer puts her in a tight
situation of giving an account of her gender identity. She was asked about her
relationship with Toby; she didn't know what to say between being his mother or father
because she was afraid of being judged given how the officer questioned her with a
transphobic approach.

Throughout their ride, they encounter obstacles that highlight gender roles in
society and the changes Bree is undergoing; these encounters also provide examples
of spaces in which gender complexities are acknowledged. For instance, when they
stopped by a restaurant, Bree meets a little girl who directly asks her, "Are you a girl or
a boy?" This situation reflects society's binary perception of sex and gender. The kid is
curious, this curiosity in the community could be a chance to discuss gender fluidity, but
the kid's mother disregards the child's question. That action imitates a portion of society
who ignores gender complexities, which can indirectly cause discrimination because
most people are uneducated about it. In the Philippine setting, most people tolerate the
lgbtq++ community, but only a few completely accept them. Those who tolerate them
are the people who are okay with their existence but don't want to understand them by
refusing to discuss the facts about them.

The saddest part of the film is that Bree's family does not accept her. In the
drama, Murray said, "Your mother and I both love you," "but we don't respect you,"
Elizabeth added. Her mother reprimands her for coming to the house but then pulls her
inside so that the neighbors won't see her as the trans woman she is. She even
received gender discrimination from her son when he founds out about her biological
sex. Indeed, acceptance from the family is one of the greatest struggles of being
trans/gay/bisexual; as our family, we expect them to be the first people to accept and
understand us, but it's never easy as it seems. The treatment that Bree received from
her family is so usual in most Filipino families of an lgbtq++ member; commonly, the
parents are ashamed of their bisexual/gay children because they feel like it was an
embarrassment to their kin, especially for a renowned family.

At the end of the film, Bree finally has her surgery, which makes her more
confident of herself as depicted in the drama when she starts to dress in lighter and
more revealing clothes than she has worn throughout the movie. Furthermore, she
walks around in a more relaxed manner and is no longer avoiding people but is more
confident within herself. The film ended when Bree and Toby reconciled after a long
time, which shows a positive outcome of the whole storyline and the positive
representation of the transexual experience.

While watching the movie, I realized how difficult it is to have gone through all
those struggles and discriminations, which, unfortunately, begins inside the family. I
thought that if they have the choice to choose the easier path, why would they risk it all
choosing the difficult one? This clearly shows that they are not in control of the crisis
they face. We should not make their situations worse by giving them baseless
judgments they don't deserve.