GLAAD Mounts Censorship Campaign Over Tribeca Fest Transploitation Flick
GLAAD is a funny little organization, on the one hand these self-appointed sentries for positive representation of gays in media, on the other a kind of nutless institution reluctant to get their Pradas dirty on the way to the awards show by, say, recognizing important but confrontational work like Kirby Dick's Outrage. It's baffling, really, when you then consider where they do choose to pick their battles.
Consider today's "call to action" against the Tribeca Film Festival, what essentially boils down to a campaign to have a particular selection -- a self-described "transploitation" film from writer/director Israel Luna called Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives -- removed from the program. Here's an excerpt from their takedown:
GLAAD has since seen the film in its entirety and can report that the title is far from the only problem with this film. The film, its title and its marketing misrepresent the lives of transgender women and use grotesque, exploitative depictions of violence against transgender women in ways that make light of the horrific brutality they all too often face.
By marketing Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives as a "transploitation" film, by using the word "trannies" (a pejorative term for transgender people) in the title of the film, by casting transgender women in some roles, and by citing the murders of Angie Zapata and Jorge Mercado in the trailer, Israel Luna has attempted to place his film squarely within a transgender narrative.
[W]hile some of the actors in the film identify as transgender, the characters are written as drag queens, "performing" femininity in a way that is completely artificial. The very names of these over-the-top female caricatures (Emma Grashun, Rachel Slurr, et al.) drive this point home.
First of all, congratulations to Luna (a sort of budding Tarantino if Tarantino were Latino, Texan and gay -- which kind of makes cosmic sense, somehow), who'll see his profile heightened immeasurably as the man at the center of this particular contrannieversy.
But back to the issue: When, exactly, did GLAAD start delineating between what is acceptable or not acceptable humor within the whole Queer spectrum for whom they advocate? According to their logic, drag as a subject is an OK area for broad satire, because it's "performing," but transexualism is not. Well, what if the transexual in question also happens to be a raunchy drag performer, like Dirty Sexy Money star Candis Cayne? Doesn't the voice of the filmmaker count for something? Are transexuals incapable of laughing at themselves? If you can't love yourself, how the hell are you gonna love someone else? Can I get an amen up in here?! (And don't f*ck it up.)
And even more importantly -- isn't this, like, censorship? Take a cold shower and count downwards from ten, GLAAD. You don't want to walk down this dark alley. There's far worse things lurking in it than a couple punnily-named trannies with switchblades.
UPDATE: Reps from Tribeca Film Festival and GLAAD respond.
And if you're reserving judgment until you get a better look at the evidence, here's a preview of what to expect from Ticked-Off.
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Comments
Thirty cents? That's quite the bargain.
I'm in this movie and it's awesome.
GLAAD has flat out lies on their website. they knew about this movie a while ago. they weren't "just alerted."
Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives is Kill Bill for the GLBT set and is scary where it should terrify, funny when there's jokes (about appropriate material) and wham-bam-glam in the action sequences.
The trailer mentions the hate crimes. The movie does not. I think the trailer mentions them to bring to light that stuff like what is in the movie actually happens and hopefully will not again.
great work, seth.
I stopped listening to GLAAD after they approached Kevin Smith over his film JAY & SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK (which I worked on), and let him know that they would not publicize their issues with the film if Smith would donate $10k to the organization.
Smith rightly smelled extortion, made noise about it (as we all know he can), and GLAAD backed down.
Schmucks.
I usually see where GLAAD's coming from and kiiiind of do here, but I think they should maybe just let people make up their own minds on this one.
Who knows, maybe they're in cahoots with the filmmakers and trying to get the word out...
First of all, would you say the same thing if the following movies were run at Tribeca?:
“Pissed-Off Niggers With Glocks”
“Zombie Nelly Faggots with Knives”
“Mad Kikes With Flame Throwers”
Tranny is a pejorative. So many things are wrong with this film, I don't even know where to start. Exploiting footage from actual hate crime victims? Portraying transgender women as Divine clones? This isn't transploitation, it's EXPLOITATION. I, for one, am glad to see them publicly protesting this hateful film.
We provided a copy of our film to GLAAD in February, and for weeks the organization had been supportive to us. In fact, GLAAD representatives advised us and our cast on how to describe our film to our core constituency. We look forward to premiering our film at the Tribeca Film Festival next month.
israel luna
writer/director
Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives
Not only would I say it, I would get there early to ensure my seat at the GREATEST TRIPLE-FEATURE OF ALL TIME.
Damn, maybe more people would have seen *my* movie if I'd called it "Zombie Nelly Fags with Knives."
Can't wait to see TOTWK!
Chris Diani
Director / Co-writer / Co-producer, Creatures from the Pink Lagoon
I'm really confused. What's with that first sentence in the opening paragraph? It reads like it fell down a flight of stairs and lost some important grammatical structure before landing in a disheveled heap.
Ooh zingity-zing, fuckwad.
I must admit all those titles sound awesome.
When the the Mathew Shepard zombie film open ? Audiences will love seeing him executed over again wont they ? It's only humor and people will be laughing as the bigots beat his face in again ! I'm laughing now aren't you ?
The film uses real life victims Gwen Ajrou and Angie Zapata as examples and you know what boys , it just isn't funny. Not to her family, not to her friends and not to the people who look up to them.
Guess what Israel , I don't have a knife but I'm ticked off. Till you remove Gwen and Angies names from your film your film is nothing I want to see.
So well said Marti.
Excuse me? They've already done tons of exploitation movies involving gay men and lesbians (the latter being targeted for at least 40+ years). There are at least 2, if not 3, movies depicting Jeffry Dahmer raping, murdering, and cannibalizing his victims (who are identified by the names of the real victims). Believe me, if someone found Shepard's murder interesting enough he or she would have already done it (if it's not in development already). Doesn't mean you can't be upset, offended, or protest the movies, but it is exploitation, after all.
"Doesn’t the voice of the filmmaker count for something? Are transexuals incapable of laughing at themselves? If you can’t love yourself, how the hell are you gonna love someone else? Can I get an amen up in here?! (And don’t f*ck it up.)"
Sadly the general perception of trans people is so poor at the moment that no, it's not time to laugh at ourselves. We're still at a point where everyone else is doing that for us. We're almost *only* shown as campy drag queens, or unstable, or violent, or a combination of these (as in this film). People get their impressions of trans folk almost exclusively from media. Jerry Springer, The Crying Game and The Silence of the Lambs give people most of their exposure to [stereotyped representations of] trans folk as it reaches a broad audience. There is extremely little "good" material to balance it out... if there was, then there would be no problem here. I can tell you from personal experience that these portrayals have a very real effect when it comes to harassment and discrimination of trans folk.
And sure we can - but this isn't us laghing at ourselves. Unless Izzy is going to transition. That might help explain the material. Just as closted gay men are often the most homephobic - etc.
One has to wonder why Izzy didn't apply this treatment to his own life. His business as a bisexual prostitute would could provide a wealth of material. Perhaps a remake of Cruising?
"Protests
Throughout the summer of 1979, members of New York's gay community protested the production of the film. Gay people were urged to disrupt filming, and gay-owned businesses to bar the film-makers from their premises. People attempted to interfere with shooting by pointing mirrors from rooftops to ruin lighting for scenes, blasting whistles and air horns near locations, and playing loud music. One thousand protesters marched through the East Village demanding the city withdraw support for the film."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruising_(film)
Whew - gay men can be so tempermental.
So was that censorship? Or - as anyone in publishing should appreciate - is censorship an act of government?
Expression a communities outrage at how others choose to exploit them - well - that's free speech.
"The second major criticism of the film came from gay activists that felt that the film had a homophobic political message that would lead to a rise in hate crimes against gay men."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruising_(film)
William - you obviously have little appreciation for the concerns of the characters you portray if you don't understand why we have such a revulsion to the images used to represent us or the use of our dead as marketing tools.
Why do you seek to make a career portraying those you don't understand? It seems ultimately self defeating.
Of course the larger question is why would someone hire a actor so out of touch with the lives of those he's making a career portraying? Unless your goal is to portray something false and hollow. I guess there's always a place for minstral shows, stage Irish and the next Shirley Q. Liquor. But - I wouldn't expect career longevity if this is your method.
Izzy - if the concern you state for transgender murder victims is genuine - I assume you'll sign over the rights to the film to the families of the murdered women you use to market the film?
They would be well suited to decide if distribution honored their memories or lessened the violence you choose the riducule. Too extreme & cutting edge for your tastes> Perhaps you can donate any profits to organization serving the victims of such violence?
Here's your chance to step up & show what you really think of these murder victims.
He was funny, wasn't he?
The point is that nobody you mention is actually transgender. GLAAD didn't stand up until the transgender community told them to. Why? They are "for positive representation of gays in the media" not "for positive representation of transgender people in the media." Until people stop thinking of transgender women as gay men in drag, depicting us as gay men in drag is adding to the negative stereotypes about them and therefore actively increasing violence against them. Either make it clear that this movie is not about transgender women (or "trannies" in case you aren't familiar with non-slurs) but about drag queens, or don't promote it.
There's also a huge difference between censorship and saying an offensive, oppressive, exploitative film is offensive, oppressive, and exploitative.
I ain't buying it. GLAAD was all in on this project, and then all out? What? Why?
For Dorothy's sakes GLAAD, don't be so weird and creepy. HRC has that ground covered already.
Would this movie be in the film festival, let alone made if the lead characters were lesbians or gay men and the words "Dykes" or "fags" replaced the word "Trannies"? Of course not!
Someone suggested that this film is "camp". "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" is camp. "Ticked Off Trannies With Knives" isn't. It's dehumanizing, demeaning, and exploitive. The words used to describe the purpose of this film have nothing to do with what this film portrays.
For those who find nothing wrong with "TOTWK" I have one simple question. When are we suppose to go down on our knees and than Isreal Luna and this film festival for providing another excellent propaganda film to the Religious Right to use against us?
Pax
Gwendolyn S.
It's a run-on sentence.
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