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THE INTENTIONAL (!) TRANS ALLEGORY OF BARBIE, part 8

Welcome to #TransTuesday! It’s time for this installment of Tillyvision to come to a close, as we wrap up THE INTENTIONAL (!) TRANS ALLEGORY OF BARBIE (the movie), PART 8! Self-actualization is at hand! Things are gonna get emo.

One last time, PART 1.

And PART 2.

Our old friend PART 3.

Our other old friend PART 4.

That little scamp PART 5.

Our good buddy PART 6.

And the lovely PART 7.

1:39:59 – Barbie: “I’m not in love with Ken.” I’m not a man. CEO: “What do you want?” Then who are you? Barbie: “I don’t know. I’m not really sure where I belong anymore. I don’t think I have an ending.” I’m not the stereotype society says I have to be, to be a woman…

If she wants to figure this out, you know what she has to do. Who she has to listen to, and connect with. And it’s even telegraphed right in her earth tone costume… look at her necklace. She needs to listen to her HEART. And so who shows up right on cue?

Barbie in her yellow dress, wearing a gold necklace with a heart pendant.

1:40:20 – Ruth: “That was always the point. I created you so you wouldn’t have an ending.” Transition ISN’T an ending, it’s a beginning. A starting point. The heart knows that. If you listen carefully, you’ll hear Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” start as Ruth is first seen. 

Ruth, dressed in royal blue, approaches Barbie.

Ruth: “Nobody looks like Barbie, except of course, Barbie. Take a bow, honey.” Barbie: “I don’t really feel like Barbie anymore.” Nobody looks like you except you, be who you are. But she doesn’t know who that is.

1:41:33 – Ken waving goodbye in his “I am Kenough” hoodie. “Thank you, Barbie. Thank you.” She’s leaving him behind for good, and don’t miss the importance of his hoodie. She can put the false male simulacra to rest now because she is (K)ENOUGH.

Ken waves goodbye in his pink, blue, and yellow “I am Kenough.” hoodie.

See how it’s PINK AND BLUE but also with EARTH TONES from the yellow? The truth of transness has been accepted, and could only be achieved by realizing you do not have to conform to ANYONE ELSE’S IDEA of what a woman is, or what being trans is.

You DON’T have to be society’s idea of a stereotypical woman to transition. You don’t have to be on HRT or get surgeries to be trans. You’re trans if you say you are, and you are enough. See the trans tuesday on TRANS DAY OF VISIBILITY (yes you are trans enough).

“What Was I Made For?” continues on under Ruth and Barbie talking, and it’ll rip your heart right out if you let it. Especially when you pair it with Barbie’s realization, both in the surface-level feminist story AND in the trans allegory, that she needs to transition and live a real life.

I used to float, now I just fall down
I used to know but I’m not sure now
What I was made for

I’m not the cis guy I thought I was, that everyone said I was. What does that mean? Who am I?

Takin’ a drive, I was an ideal
Looked so alive, turns out I’m not real
Just something you paid for
What was I made for?

The only woman I thought I could be was a shallow stereotype, and that’s not me. So what does THAT mean? Who AM I?

‘Cause I, I
I don’t know how to feel
But I wanna try
I don’t know how to feel
But someday, I might
Someday, I might

Is there a life outside of dysphoria and dissociation? Where I can feel things to the fullest, experience all life has to offer?

When did it end? All the enjoyment
I’m sad again, don’t tell my boyfriend
It’s not what he’s made for
What was I made for?

The cis male shell was only made because it was expected to be there, and it covered and hid my sadness, and my truth. But I’m not him? WHO AM I?

Think I forgot how to be happy
Something I’m not, but something I can be
Something I wait for
Something I’m made for
Something I’m made for

There has to be more to life than this. I CAN figure out who I am, and be the real me.

Watch those colors swirling as they walk, which is actually a really magnificent metaphor for what goes on in your head in those moments before you choose to transition. Listen to what’s being said when royal blue shows up, when pink shows up, when earth tones show up.

1:41:49 – Barbie: “I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to do now. I’ve always just been stereotypical Barbie, and I don’t think I’m really good at anything else.” I spent my life trying to be someone I’m not, and I don’t know how to be who I am.

Ruth: “You saved Barbie Land from patriarchy.” Hey, you figured out you weren’t a dude, that’s huge.

Barbie: “That was a group effort.” COMMUNITY. By seeing others who’ve done it before us, we believe we can do it too. We help each other get there. Nobody has to do it alone.

Ruth: “And you helped that mother and daughter connect.” Barbie: “They helped each other.” This reads a WHOLE LOT like the moment from MATRIX RELOADED where The Kid tells Neo, “You saved me.” And Neo replies, “You saved yourself.”

But if Sasha and Gloria are just aspects of Barbie, the inner child she didn’t get to be and the inner woman she wants to be, SHE SAVED HERSELF. And this is also a direct MATRIX connection, which I’ve mentioned before. She is “The One.”

“The One” we’ve been waiting to save us… is US. Ourselves. WE CAN SAVE OURSELVES FROM A LIFE OF MISERY BY CHOOSING TO TRANSITION. YOU are the one you’ve been waiting for.

1:42:24 – Ruth: “You understand that humans only have one ending. Ideas live forever, humans not so much. You know that right?” Barbie: “I do.” It’s gonna be rough, it’s not all rainbows and happiness. Cis society is gonna make it a struggle. We choose to do it anyway.

Ruth: “Being a human can be pretty uncomfortable.” Barbie: “I know.” Ruth: “Humans make things up, like patriarchy and Barbie, just to deal with how uncomfortable it is.” Barbie: “I understand that.” Ruth: “And then you die.” Barbie laughs. “Yeah.”

There’s no telling how far you’ll get. There’s no telling WHAT you’ll get from transition. It’s different for everyone. You DO NOT KNOW where you’ll end up, or if that’s where you’ll want to be, and if it will help as much as you want it to. We choose to do it anyway, and hope.

Because it’s still so much better than the alternative.

1:43:06 – Barbie: “I want to be a part of the people that make meaning. Not the thing that’s made.” She wants to make herself, choose to transition and be real, and not live being who society said she had to be. 

Barbie: “Do you give me permission to become human?” Ruth: “You don’t need my permission.” Barbie: “But you’re the creator. You… don’t you control me?” 

Ruth: “I can’t control you any more than I can control my own daughter. I named you after her. ‘Barbara.’” Her heart, after her subconscious, is the next to not call her “Barbie.” It knows. It’s telling her what her true name is.

Ruth: “And I always hoped for you like I hoped for her. We mothers stand still so our daughters can look back to see how far they’ve come.”

Our hearts make us who we are, but they can’t force us to listen. Like Barbie with Ruth, like Neo with the Oracle, we can only hear what they have to say when we’re ready to listen. You can’t rush it, you can’t force it. But when you’re ready, it’s there to guide you.

Barbie’s crying. “So being human’s not something I need to… ask for, or even want? I can just… it’s something that I just discover I am?” DO YOU SEE HOW TRANS THIS IS??!?

You do NOT need anyone’s permission to be transgender, or to transition! It’s something you DISCOVER ABOUT YOURSELF and then choose to do something about! 

Ruth: “I can’t in good conscience let you take this leap without you knowing what it means. Take my hands.” AGAIN we go back to “taking the leap” like in the MATRIX films, where FLIGHT symbolizes the gender euphoria you can find during and after transition.

NONE OF US know if we’re going to find it, or how often, or how easily. But we hope it’s out there, waiting to help us break free.

1:44:30 – Barbie takes Ruth’s hands. She’s embracing her heart!

Ruth: “Now close your eyes. Now feel.”

Ruth takes Barbie’s hands in the white void.

1:44:55 – Barbie is truly feeling the world for the first time. Existing as herself, her TRUE self for the first time. Listening to her heart, feeling her heart, becoming one with her heart. And so you get another shot of her golden heart necklace.

A closeup of Barbie’s gold heart necklace resting on the skin of her chest.

And then Barbie truly understands all the beautiful, strange, amazing, weird, wonderful ways women can be. She can be any of them. She is part of them, and always has been. She is a woman, and always has been.

1:45:58 – Barbie is alone in the void. The colors are gone, her mind is clear. With a tear, she takes the leap, she makes the decision. She WILL transition and become who she’s always been. “Yes.”

Barbie standing alone, very small and off in the distance of the massive white void.

1:45:25 Barbie’s in the real world in Gloria’s ROYAL BLUE car, she is again CONNECTED to the woman inside. Barbie IN IS EARTH TONES. This is real. This is the truth. “Thanks for the lift.” Look at her REAL SMILE, for the FIRST TIME.

Barbie, in a tan blazer, sitting in the back seat next to Sasha, who wears a pink top under a gray hoodie.

Sasha’s in PINK because Barbie knows she can’t be the girl she didn’t get to be, and has to let her go. But the TRUTH is she CAN still be the woman inside, so peep that EARTH TONE green on Gloria’s top.

Gloria looking to the back seat from the diver’s seat, wearing a white top with green stripes.

1:45:51 – Barbie’s wearing the Birkenstocks Weird Barbie showed her, confirming she’s taken the red pill and chosen to transition. But they’re not brown, they’re PINK! But it’s an EARTHY PINK. WHAT DOES IT MEAN, TILLY? C’mon, you can see it, right?

A shot of Barbie’s feet outside the car, in an earth tone-pink pair of Birkenstocks.

You CAN transition, and you don’t have to conform to gendered stereotypes. But you CAN still like girly things if you want to! You can be butch and like pink, you can be girly but like sports! And on and on. NO. FALSE. DICHOTOMIES. (that’s episode 11, if you forgot)

1:47:12 – She gives her name as “Barbara.” What her heart called her. A NAME CHANGE. Guess what people who transition do?? Receptionist: “And what are you here for today, Barbara?”

1:47:18 – Barbara: “I’m here to see my gynecologist.” GUESS WHO NEEDS A GYNECOLOGIST? Is it… people with vaginas??? Remember what Barbie said she DIDN’T have when she first got to the real world? And so now she clearly must have? Look how happy it makes her.

Barbie, in her brown blazer, with a huge smile in the doctor’s office.

I don’t know how much clearer you can be that this is a SOCIAL AND MEDICAL TRANSITION. And don’t mistake this as saying you need bottom surgery to be trans, but this is metaphor and a change like this conveys a transition perfectly.

And of course it’s not really that fast, but this is allegory, and a movie. Barbara chose to transition, and is now finally living as her true self, entirely free of Ken.

Both due to its many visual and thematic references to THE MATRIX, and through the genius of its own creators constructing something truly unique that meant a whole lot to a whole lot of people (cis and trans alike), BARBIE is a story of transition….

Out of the misogynistic expectations leveled on every woman, and out of the transphobic expectations leveled on every human. It is a story of self-actualization, of self-realization, of acceptance of truth and rejection of the lies society oppresses us with.

And it did it with idiosyncratic style, so very much genuine humor and heart, and a deep love and belief in every single person society’s shoved into a box they never belonged in. It, very specifically, says all women are women. ALL women. Trans women too.

This is why it left so many trans women, myself included, in tears. Because not only did it say that we ARE women and belong with the rest of the women, but that OUR journey is important and maybe different, but no less valid. Barbie’s story is our story.

You, too, can break out of that box and fly free. 

You can shed gendered expectations. 

You can be WHOEVER you want to be, whoever you TRULY are.

Hi, Barbie! You are Kenough.

Tilly Bridges, end transmission.
tillysbridges@gmail.com

THE INTENTIONAL (!) TRANS ALLEGORY OF BARBIE, part 7

Welcome to #TransTuesday! We’ve got the Tillyvision sign! And that means it’s time for THE INTENTIONAL (!) TRANS ALLEGORY OF BARBIE (the movie), PART 7! To heck with the false shell! But then… what comes next?

The setup, PART 1.

The intro, PART 2.

The trouble, PART 3.

The more trouble, PART 4.

Oh god so much trouble, PART 5.

Wait maybe there’s a way out of this trouble, PART 6.

1:16:35  – Barbie: “By giving voice to the cognitive dissonance required to be a woman under the patriarchy, you robbed it of its power.” I mean, this applies to everything. When you see the lies, they no longer have any power over you. You can’t make me pretend to be cis again.

1:17:27 – As they set about their plan to stop the Kens and free the Barbies, they’re all in pink jumpsuits because there’s doubt about if this plan is going to work. CAN Barbie truly kick out the male simulacra and become the woman she is?

1:19:46 – Hari Nef as a decoy damsel Barbie in glasses: “Gee, I am so awkward and don’t feel pretty at all, and will anyone ever like me?” Ken takes her glasses off. “There. Now we can see your beautiful face.”

That line from Hari Nef certainly applies to how society wants all women to feel, but again, that’s compounded for trans women who don’t just need to be PRETTY to be accepted… if we don’t look CIS our chances at cis acceptance fall off a cliff. Again, they gave her this line for a reason.

1:20:49 – Gloria’s doing Barbie’s makeup. Barbie: “What if this doesn’t work? What if he doesn’t like me anymore?” Gloria: “He knows deep down you don’t like him the same way.”

Barbie, hair in curlers, gets her makeup done by Gloria.

So this is Barbie psyching herself up to be rid of the false shell of a man forever, but why is it in a scene of Gloria doing Barbie’s makeup? We didn’t see Barbie put makeup on… ever, the entire movie, even though she clearly had it on.

To me, this speaks to a trans woman putting makeup on for the first time, in the hopes it will help her feel more like her true self. In fact, one of the first things I did was get a makeover from a (cis) hollywood makeup artist, and it’s what let me know I NEEDED to transition all the way.

It was, at that point, the closest I’d ever gotten to seeing the real me in the mirror. And a lot of us trans women go through being shown how to do makeup from both other trans women and cis women. And at this moment, for Barbie, it kind of reads that way.

But they’re looking at each other, right? And talking about how to get rid of Ken. So it also feels like Barbie putting on makeup for the first time, as herself, letting her see (and start to be) the real woman she is inside. She’s looking into herself.

1:21:32 – Barbie goes to confront Ken, in pink, because she’s lying to him to try and exert control, but look at them… PINK AND BLUE. The transness can’t be denied. Look at the PINK AND BLUE “fire” between them!

Ken, in a blue denim vest, plays guitar at Barbie, in a pink dress, in front of a (fake) blue and pink fire.

1:22:58 –  The Kens play “Push” at the Barbies. This is, like, SUPER-supertext. Because Barbie’s trying to exert control and be rid of the false male shell forever, right? And it’s pushing back because he can’t possibly be trans! Look how toxically masculine he’s become!

And look, this is a movie and metaphor, so things are taken to extremes. I’m not saying all trans women go hard right into toxic masculinity before accepting our truth (though some do), but if you dial that back a little…

It very much reads as “I can’t possibly be a trans woman, I grew a beard! See?” or “I can’t possibly be a trans woman, look at this suit I’m wearing!” or “No no I like football and cars!,” etc. A lot of us try so hard to be that man to hide the truth we can’t yet accept. But it doesn’t work.

1:23:11 – And so we see, now on the beach, which is Ken’s JOB and what he thinks he’s BEST at, Barbie is now in a white top and denim shorts, closer to earth tones than she’s ever been. And the entire beach has become ROYAL BLUE. She’s connecting to the truth.

Barbie, in a white top, denim shorts, and white boots sits near Ken, in black, as he plays the guitar and sings near another fake fire. They’re on the beach, but the scene is lit so that the sand appears a royal blue.

1:26:32 – Ken’s song before the Ken war sure sounds a WHOLE lot like a person accepting their transness and realizing their fake cis shell is about to cease existing. Look at the lyrics.

Doesn’t seem to matter what I do
I’m always number two
No one knows how hard I tried
I have feelings that I can’t explain
Driving me insane
All my life I’ve been so polite
But I’ll sleep alone tonight
Cause I’m just Ken

Anywhere else I’d be a ten
Is it my destiny to live and die
A life of blonde fragility
I’m just Ken
Where I see love she sees a friend
What will it take for her
To see the man behind the tan
And fight for me

As the Ken war wages, her false male shell fighting for its existence, did you notice the beach is now… entirely pink? This existence they’re fighting for IS. A. LIE.

The Kens fight each other in the Ken war on the beach… which is now entirely pink.

1:28:27 – More of Ken’s song continues to read exactly how it read before, a false persona realizing it no longer needs to exist.

I want to know what it’s like to love
To be the real thing
Is it a crime?
Am I not hot when I’m in my feelings?
And is my moment finally here,
Or am I dreaming?
I’m no dreamer

1:29:06  – And if you’re doubting my assertion that this is Barbie coming to terms with and accepting her transness and choosing to be rid of Ken, the false male simulacra waging an internal war for its own existence, did you… did you notice the colors during the dance-off?

Ken, dressed in black, stands on a floor that is half blue, half pink, with white stripes.

You might as well have painted a trans flag on that floor, friends. 

Is it my destiny to live and die
A life of blonde fragility

Ken fought for his existence, but lost… because Barbie IS trans, that’s the truth, and so 

1:30:18 – The EARTH TONES return to Ken, as the truth has been accepted.

The Kens, all in black (except for Ken prime, who is now back in his earth tone fur coat), stand together on the blue and pink floor.

1:32:14 – And now, for the first time since her egg cracked on the dance floor, Barbie’s in yellow. ALL EARTH TONES. The truth is on its way.

Barbie looks on, smiling, in a yellow dress, from inside the dream house.

1:32:55 – Barbie to Ken: “Are you crying? It’s okay, I cried too. It’s actually kind of amazing.” Listen, when you spend your life in a cloud of dysphoria, when it starts dissipating even a little due to transition, you suddenly have access to all kinds of emotions you never did before.

1:33:12 – Ken: “It was hard running stuff. I didn’t love it.” It wasn’t natural for Barbie’s false cis shell to be in control. It’s not easy putting on that act. He tries to kiss her, she pulls away. Again, no, she was never a guy, and doesn’t want to pretend to be one anymore.

Barbie: “I didn’t mean to suggest, uh…” Ken: “I just don’t know who I am without you.” Barbie: “You’re Ken.” Ken: “But it’s Barbie AND Ken. There is no just ‘Ken.’ That’s why I was created. I only exist within the warmth of your gaze.”

He was created ONLY to protect, cover, and hide the real Barbie, until she was ready to cast the lie aside and live her truth.

1:35:27 – Barbie: “You have to figure out who you are without me.” Ken: “Why?” Barbie: “You’re not your girlfriend. You’re not your house, you’re not your mink.” Ken: “Beach?” 

Barbie: “Nope. You’re not even beach. Maybe all the things that you thought made you you aren’t… really… you.” Barbie is realizing she’s talking to herself here, metaphorically and literally!

“Maybe it’s Barbie, and it’s Ken.” They are SEPARATE. They are no longer one. Barbie is on the path to self-actualizing!

1:37:06 – The CEO comes out of the treehouse playset crying. “Ken is right. It’s just so hard to be a leader.” Yeah, boo hoo, feel bad for the people with all the power, money, and control. Sure.

1:37:30 – CEO: “Do you know how many times I’ve wanted to stand up in a board meeting and just say, ‘can we just tickle each other?’ Let’s have a company retreat and just tickle each other.” Funny and weird, yes, BUT-

Tickling is a physical action that forces a certain response from the receiver, whether they want to or not. Do you get how insidious that is? Coming from a white non-disabled cishet white man? What does he want? CONTROL OVER YOUR BODY.

CEO: “But thanks to the Barbies, I, too, can now relieve myself of this heavy existential burden while holding on to the very real title of CEO. And we can restore everything in Barbie Land to exactly the way it was.”

See, I GET you. Yes yes, trans rights and women’s liberation… we’ll put it on mugs and t-shirts, and do nothing else, AS LONG AS WE GO BACK TO THE STATUS QUO WHERE I AM IN CONTROL.

1:37:57 – President Barbie: “Mr. Mattel…” CEO: “Please, call me mother.” Do you see how badly he wants to be respected? In control of women? And everyone else?

President Barbie: “No thank you. I don’t think that things should go back to the way that they were. No Barbie or Ken should be living in the shadows.” NONE OF US should be forced to live a lie, hidden in the shadows of a false persona that wounds us.

1:38:15 – President Barbie to Weird Barbie: “I just want to say I’m sorry we called you weird Barbie behind your back and also to your face.” Weird Barbie: “That’s okay. I’m owning it.” Gettin’ weird is LITERALLY what the subconscious does. Just look at dreams.

President Barbie: “Would you like a job in my cabinet?” Weird Barbie: “May I please have sanitation?” Sure that’s funny, but ALSO… she wants to keep things healthy and clean the place up! So you don’t wind up ill and suffering. If that ain’t the subconscious’ job…

Also, remember before how Weird Barbie was all in pink, because Barbie didn’t know if she believed her yet? (even though transness was present in the squiggles on her forehead). LOOK AT WHAT SHE’S WEARING NOW. ROYAL BLUE (connection) WITH PINK (transness).

Weird Barbie in a pink shirt, under a multicolored jacked with prominent royal blue patches.

1:38:55 – Gloria: “I have an idea.” CEO: “Tell me your secret dream, child.” Gloria: “What about ordinary Barbie. She’s not extraordinary. She’s not president of anything, or maybe she is. Maybe she’s a mom. Maybe she’s not. But it’s okay to just want to be a mom…

“…or to wanna be president or a mom who is President. Or not a mom who’s also not President. She just has a flattering top, and she wants to get through the day feeling kinda good about herself.” Women can be anything. A trans woman can be ANY kind of woman!

CEO: “That’s a terrible idea.” Executive: “That’s going to make money.” CEO: “Oh. Originality Barbie. I love it. Fantastic.” This confirms what I told you about him earlier, when Ken’s Mojo Dojo Casa House was selling well and he said he didn’t care about money.

Here you see he CLEARLY does, so he should have been elated at the Mojo Dojo sales. But he wasn’t, and he claimed he wasn’t in it for the money. But he is. 

Again, the only reason he didn’t want Ken stuff selling is because he’s more concerned with the CONTROL he had over women and trans people and how he was losing it.

1:39:42 – Sasha: “What about Barbie? What does she get?” CEO: “That’s easy. She’s in love with Ken.” Sasha: “That is not her ending.” Even now, society is trying to force her back into the simulacrum, and both Barbie’s inner child and inner woman know that’s not it.

They’re clearly trying to figure out where her place is, but they don’t know for sure because Barbie still hasn’t fully accepted herself. So they’re both in pink, because they’re full of doubt about where Barbie goes from here.

Gloria, in a pink top under a purple blazer. Behind her is Sasha, in a pink dress.

And next week, we’re going to get to the most important and heart-wrenching scene in the entire movie, because it’s time to god damned self-actualize.

Tilly Bridges, end transmission.
tillysbridges@gmail.com

PART 8 is here!

THE INTENTIONAL (!) TRANS ALLEGORY OF BARBIE, part 6

Welcome to #TransTuesday! Tillyvision, full speed ahead, right into THE INTENTIONAL (!) TRANS ALLEGORY OF BARBIE (the movie), PART 6! Flashbacks and overcompensation ahoy!

The context from PART 1.
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The beginning of the journey in PART 2.
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The awakening in PART 3.
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The discovery of PART 4.
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And the complications of PART 5.
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53:07 – I want you to pay close attention to the flashbacks, visually, because they’re showing you everything. THEY’RE SHOWING YOU EVERYTHING. On the swing, PINK AND BLUE on little Sasha (Barbie was always trans).

Young Sasha sits on a porch swing with Gloria, playing a game. She wears a pink and blue dress.

Look at the PINK AND BLUE as they play with Barbies, and the colors are now also worn by Gloria. The trans kid you were (or could have been) is now an adult.

Gloria, in a pink shirt and blue pants, plays with Barbies with young Sasha, still in a pink and blue dress.

There is life in this transness. You can live in it, and find love (the hug). Look at the PINK AND BLUE WALLS, the BLUE DOOR in front of the PINK WALL.

Young Sasha, in a blue nightgown, runs to hug Sasha, in a dusty pink top. The wall behind them has a blue and pink pattern on it. An open door in the background is blue, and we can see a pink wall behind it.

You can hold on to that truth, that love, that transness, as an adult. The BLUE JACKET with the PINK BARBIE. Look at the EARTH TONES around Gloria, the EARTH TONES of her dress. This is the TRUTH.

Gloria stands in a doorway, wearing a dress colored in earth tones under a blue denim jacket, holding a Barbie in a pink dress.

But to do that, you’ve got to let that little girl go. She’s pulling away from you because that’s not who you are. It hurts like HELL that you didn’t get to be her, but you can’t go back to that. And if you don’t let that go, you can’t become the woman you are. PINK JACKET, BLUE JEANS.

Gloria stands next to Sasha, in a pink blazer and blue jeans. 

And what all of this is showing you is that, once you know you’re trans, you can look back at your life and see that THE SIGNS WERE ALWAYS THERE, you just couldn’t (or wouldn’t) recognize them. See the applicable trans tuesday!
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54:17 – The freeway chase. Also a visual connection to the freeway chase in MATRIX RELOADED, where Neo tried to escape the past that haunted him. Maybe a past like… thinking about the little girl he never got to be! So it’s the perfect place to reference it.

The driver’s side mirror on Gloria’s car, showing a car pursuing close behind
The driver’s side mirror on Trinity’s motorcycle, showing a police car pursuing close behind, from MATRIX RELOADED
Gloria’s car speeding down the freeway, two executive-filled SUVs pursuing. There is a high wall on the left.
Trinity and Morpheus’s car speeding down the freeway, two police cars and a black SUV with the ghost twins pursuing, from MATRIX RELOADED. There is a high wall on the left.

54:11 – Barbie: “… the real world is forever and irrevocably messed up.” Heyyyyyy guess what waking up to the explicit and implicit transphobia of compulsory cishet patriarchy feels like?

Barbie: “I love women. I want to help women.” Sasha: “Women hate women. Men hate women. It’s the one thing we can agree on.” Imagine realizing this when you’re a trans woman who hasn’t transitioned yet, and what that might feel like for you.

Gloria: “I am wide awake Sasha!” I mean, yeah, she is. Transition isn’t too far off, Barbie’s realizing her truth, and the truth of the world. It’s very much like waking up.

56:10 – Barbie: “Ken is totally superfluous.” 

I MEAN. 

SUPERtext.

Look how their trip back to Barbie Land is filled with them IN PINK. Barbie’s trying to re-embrace the lies, deny her truth. Even Gloria shifts to being in pink. She’s trying to pretend her inner woman is the lie. But what’s Barbie in? BLUE AND PINK. Transness remains. 

And now it’s mixed with a little green, and an off-white. EARTH TONES. Transness is her truth, and she’s about to find that out. Also look at Gloria doing the little upward point like Barbie did when singing the song before. Because they’re intrinsically linked.

Barbie drives her car back to Barbie Land, with Gloria (in pink) in the passenger seat, and Sasha in the back seat. Barbie wears a jacket and hat with a blue and pink pattern, with spots of green.

56:53 – The CEO and executives discover Barbie, Gloria, and Sasha went back to Barbie Land. “This could mean extremely weird things for our world. Nothing our collective imaginations could ever dream of.” 

If someone who knows the truth goes back to the world under the veneer of lies, what’s going to happen to those lies? They’re gonna get dispelled and proven to be false. Trans existence is, by its nature, proof of the lies of the white cishet patriarchy.

57:20 – Barbie, driving through Barbie Land: “I can practically feel my heels lifting already. Yes! This is what I’m supposed to do. Bring you back here.” Gloria: “This feels right.” Yes, we’ll go back to upholding the lies. This should be fine, right?

Ken is in earth tones. This is the truth of what she’d be heading back to by pretending to be a man and re-adopting the false simulacra of a man. She’d be upholding and participating in the oppression of people like her: WOMEN (and other trans people). 

Ken in an off-white fur coat and dark red boxing gloves.

Listen to how the Kens say and name everything with redundant words. Why? They’re saying more without adding anything useful, trying to seem more important. Again, it’s a front. A show. A lie to appear as something you’re not. Simulacra of men.

59:00 – Barbie confronts Ken about the masculinization of Barbie Land. Ken: “Don’t question it, just roll with it, tiny baby.” Barbie: “Don’t call me baby.” Women are infantilized (routinely), and Barbie’s realizing that would include her true self. And that’s uncomfortable (for good reason!).

Also, remember Weird Barbie (Barbie’s subconscious) initially called Barbie “baby girl.” Her false male shell pointedly does not gender her, just infantilizes her. She’s had enough of that, and is growing beyond the “baby trans” stage.

In the real world, Ken’s Mojo Dojo Casa House is taking off, it’s a huge seller. The CEO is upset by this because he got into the business for “little girls and their dreams.” But that’s not true at all, right? We learned that from his words before, in the executive office…

And we’ll learn that again, in a little bit. But what this is showing you is that their desires are not about financial success, because if they were, they’d be stoked. They care less about that than they do *controlling women* (and trans people) and feeling like they have power over us.

Just look at BARBIE itself, and all the money it made. Did studios immediately launch into tons of women-led tentpoles? Nope. Did studios immediately hire more women directors? Nope.

We see this again and again with other marginalized communities too, where it doesn’t matter how good their movies do, one “financial disappointment” is enough for studios to say “that doesn’t sell” and not make more of them.

Meanwhile, how many movies written by, starring, directed by, and about cishet white men have been financial disappointments? Did they stop making those movies? Or… did they not apply those failures to the identities of the people making them? 

They only do that for marginalized people. Why? It’s the same reason. CONTROL. It allows them to stay in control and as the decision makers, even in the face of success and making tons of money. That’s less important to them than maintaining the cishet white man-led status quo.

1:01:48 – Ken says the “real world” (Century City! ha) has it all figured out. Barbie says no they don’t because, “we failed them.” Ken: “No, YOU failed ME.” I think this is one of the most important lines in the entire movie.

If Ken is the false shell Barbie had to live in for her whole life, but falling into stereotypical gender roles and expectations was not the kind of woman Barbie wanted to be, then this becomes very easy to understand.

As an example, for a long time cis people would only ~LET~ you medically transition if you conformed to every gender stereotype in their head, and if you were gay pre-transition and would be straight post-transition (ie going from gay cis “man” to straight trans woman).

I’ve said this so many times you’re probably tired of it, but cis folks, hey… imagine how trans people feel! This has all too often been the reality for us.

Soooooo, see AGAIN the trans tuesday on TRANSMEDICALISM (and WPATH standards of care 1) for more on where that particular strain of nastiness originated, and how the trans community still struggles with it today.
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Okay! So, if you think you’re a trans woman, but think that means you’d have to dress and act and be in a certain kind of relationship and uphold the false cishet binary, and those things ARE NOT WHAT YOU WANT, you can’t see how transition would help.

See my book BEGIN TRANSMISSION: THE TRANS ALLEGORIES OF THE MATRIX, specifically the section on MATRIX RESURRECTIONS, for more on this and how difficult it can make things for us.

If you’re a lesbian trans woman (transbians represent!), or a butch trans woman, or a bi trans woman, or a bi butch trans woman, it’s so much tougher to figure out because people will legit say, for example, “if you want to be a butch woman why not just stay as a man.”

But we don’t have to conform to ANYONE else’s idea of who we are or how we should live. That’s all bullshit. And we can’t “stay” as what we never were, especially when it’s painful!

But damn if it doesn’t make it exponentially more difficult for us to figure things out.

Also that line is one hundo percent a TRANS MICROAGGRESSION, learn about those in the trans tuesday all about ‘em!
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1:05:32 – Barbie cries, talks to Gloria. Barbie: “Why did you wish me to your messed up world using your complicated human thoughts and feelings? … Barbieland was perfect before. I was perfect before.”

Life was so much easier to move through when I pretended to be cis. True! But dysphoria made life miserable. So when you do something about dysphoria and then transphobic cis society makes it so hard for you to exist… it’s a really difficult thing to process.

And yes, THE MATRIX deals with this directly too, right in the first film. And thus so does Begin Transmission: The Trans Allegories of The Matrix! (did I mention I have a book? It’s a book! You should read it! Book book book!)

1:05:59 – Barbie – “I’ve never wanted anything to change.” Why did this happen to me? Why did I have to be trans? It’d be so much easier for us if we weren’t.

Gloria: “Oh honey, that’s life. It’s all change.” True! Listen to the woman inside, she knows.

Barbie:  “That’s terrifying. I don’t want that. Not my life, no thank you.” You don’t even know how many times most of us try to talk ourselves out of our transness. It doesn’t work. We might as well try and talk ourselves out of being humans.

Sasha: “I almost feel bad for you, but you are exactly what I thought you were.” Barbie’s letting down that little girl she never got to be, by not giving her the chance to exist as an adult either. It’s heartbreaking. Sasha: “Come on Mom, she doesn’t deserve you.” OUCH.

1:08:01  – Weird Barbie arrives to wake Barbie up. Barbie: “I’m like you now.” Weird Barbie is Barbie’s subconscious, that knows the truth of her transness. DO YOU SEE WHAT THIS IS SAYING? Barbie’s fully accepting her transness.

And in our highly transphobic cishet compulsory society, how does Barbie describe her transness? “Ugly and unwanted.” Ouch ouch ouch fucking ouch. 

But this is what society teaches us to think about ourselves. See the trans tuesday on INTERNALIZED TRANSPHOBIA for more on that particular monster, and ways to recognize it and fight it.
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1:08:28 – Gloria and Sasha are driving out of Barbie Land, singing “Closer to Fine” again, and they smile. Barbie’s inner woman is connecting with that inner child, the one she doesn’t want to let down.

1:08:44 – It’s interrupted with Ken’s favorite song, Matchbox 20’s “Push.” Allan stowed away in the car with them. He wants out, he hates Kendom. You can clearly see how a place like that is nothing but misery for a gender-nonconforming man (and trans women!).

1:10:03 – Sasha wants to go back and save Barbie. Gloria says Sasha hates Barbie. Sasha: “Yeah but you don’t. You always believed in what she could be.” GLORIA believed in what Barbie could be… namely, LIKE GLORIA. Her inner woman.

Gloria: “Barbie gave up. The Kens won.” Sasha: “You have to try. Even if you can’t make it perfect, you can make it better.” 

EVEN IF YOU’RE NOT SURE YOU CAN BE THE PERFECT IDEAL OF WHO YOU WANT TO BE, YOU HAVE TO TRY. TRANSITION CAN MAKE IT BETTER.

1:11:02 – They go back to save Barbie, and Allan is dismayed he’ll never get to leave. Gloria tells him to shut up. Which seems a bit harsh, but I think this is Barbie’s inner true woman saying being a gender-nonconforming man isn’t enough! NO. Not who she is.

1:12:30 – Weird Barbie to Barbie: “The fork in my soup is this Barb, why didn’t the brainwashing work on you?” Barbie’s subconscious is the first one in the entire movie to NOT CALL HER “BARBIE.” She knows that’s not her true name.

Barbie: “My exposure to the real world must have made me immune. Either you’re brainwashed or you’re weird and ugly, there is no in between.” Weird Barbie: “Sing it, sister.”

Okay, like… DO YOU GET IT? It’s so hard to wake up to the matrix, to the false cis binary, to the prison for your mind they put you in at birth, WHEN IT FITS YOU SO PERFECTLY. This is why it’s so hard for cis people to truly understand how compulsory cisness is in society.

But ONCE YOU SEE IT, you cannot unsee it. You know the truth. And there’s no unknowing a truth of existence. Once you know it, you know it. You can’t be fooled in the same way again.

1:12:59 Gloria: “What’s wrong?” Barbie: “I’m not pretty anymore.” Gloria: “You’re so pretty.” Barbie: “I’m not Stereotypical Barbie pretty.” Few of us are! 

But you have NO IDEA how many trans women are hurt by the fact that they don’t look like cis women, and worry they never will. Passing is, again, a very complicated issue, which you can learn more about in the trans tuesday on MISGENDERING AND PASSING.
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When Gloria has her big, amazing speech about being a woman, listen… I’m not going to quote the entire thing here, but it’s brilliant. And it’s no mistake it’s given by a woman from a historically marginalized community, showing you it applies to ALL women.

But there’s something I want you to do.

I want you to watch it again, and realize that everything she says, EVERYTHING, applies to trans women just as much as cis women. And it compounds upon us in ways you might not expect.

Because while society says all of those terrible, conflicting things to cis women, society says all of those to trans women and tells us we’re NOT women if we’re not ALSO EXACTLY all of those things. If we falter at ANY of them, our womanhood gets called into question.

Are cis women punished by society for not conforming to all of those impossible standards? Unquestionably! And that’s horrible. But are they treated as NOT WOMEN when they can’t meet all of those standards? 

Are they treated as UNWANTED MALE INTERLOPERS who must be ABUSERS and TRICKSTERS out to hurt you?

NO. THEY. ARE. NOT.

And I just want to be sure that you, yes YOU, dear reader, are aware that trans women suffer in all those same ways, but are punished even more severely when we cannot meet those impossible standards.

Next week we’re gonna see Barbie try to reject the false male simulacra for good, and attempt to figure out where to go from there.

Tilly Bridges, end transmission.
tillysbridges@gmail.com

PART 7 is here!

TRANS ROLES AND STORIES

Welcome to #TransTuesday! This week we’re going to talk about trans roles in media, and who gets to portray them, and trans stories in media, and who gets to tell them. Spoiler: it’s trans people! But why is that? Let’s dive in to: TRANS ROLES AND STORIES.

This week, what we’re specifically talking about is who gets to write trans characters, and who gets to portray them in movies/television/video games/scripted podcasts/plays/anything else.

So let’s just get it out of the way right off the bat. NOBODY should be playing trans characters except for trans people, and there are multiple reasons for this and none of them have anything to do with acting ability.

“Just cast whoever is best for the role!” is a bullshit stance that ignores the real world barriers trans people face to seeing ourselves represented at ALL. It also presumes that a cis person could be better at portraying a trans character than a trans person.

We’ve lived that experience, and to claim a cis actor, no matter how good they are, could be us better than US at BEING US is some hot nonsense. It’s also INCREDIBLY dangerous, because cis men playing trans women is a big problem.

It reinforces the bigoted and wrong refrain of “trans women are just men in dresses” that so many people weaponize against us. If you cast a cis man to play a trans woman you’re at worst admitting that’s what you think we are, and at best making it easier for others to say that.

It’s admitting you don’t see us as WOMEN. And as such: screw you. And it’s not like there aren’t trans actors who are good and readily available. All you have to do is LOOK. Here’s a fine example with a cis character…

I don’t know if you watched The Expanse (but you should, it’s spectacular), but there’s a character on it named Bobbie Draper. The show is based on a series of books, and in the books she’s described like this:

“Bobbie was not the right shape to fit into one of the standard suits, and the Marines made her jump through a series of flaming hoops every time she requisitioned a new custom one. At a bit over two meters tall, she was only slightly above average height for a Martian male…

…but thanks in part to her Polynesian ancestry, she weighed in at over a hundred kilos at one g. None of it was fat, but her muscles seemed to get bigger every time she even walked through a weight room. As a marine, she trained all the time.”

The authors of the books insisted she be cast right, without changing the core of who she was. And do you know what happened? They found Frankie Adams, who’s amazing, and fits the description perfectly, and is a DELIGHT.

And of course the right actor for the part was out there, because people from all walks of life are out there if you look. There’s no excuse whatsoever for claiming you couldn’t find a trans person to play a trans role. There are a ton of very good trans actors.

But trans roles in media are still incredibly rare. We almost never get depicted, and when we do it’s often hurtful, harmful, and can perpetuate lies about us and increase the violence we already experience. You can see the trans tuesday on the dangers of BAD REPRESENTATION for an example.

I won’t say only trans people can write trans characters, because that’s not true at all, and also because that would even further reduce the amount we’re represented in media because there are so few people giving us the opportunity to make and run our own shows and movies.

There’s a right way and a wrong way to go about including us in your stories (which you SHOULD do!). I’m going to stick to talking about this in relation to trans people for obvious reasons, but I think it applies to marginalized communities across the board.

There are some stories that are intrinsically ABOUT being trans. About what it means to BE us, about how we move through the world, about the very nature of our identities. These stories should only be written BY trans people. Those are our stories to tell.

Now there’s a caveat to this in that trans people might not be out as trans yet, or even aware they’re trans yet, so when you see things you might not always know if there’s a trans person behind them or not. And that’s okay. Don’t jump all over those people.

I’m speaking specifically to the folks who KNOW you’re cisgender. You’ve frankly got no place telling a story about what it’s like to discover you’re trans or coming out as trans or existing as trans in a world set up to pretend we don’t exist, or anything else like that.

So how do you include us in your stories? I’m gonna let you in on a secret, but it’s a really big one that may shake the foundation of reality as you know it. Seas will boil, mountains crumble, the ground may crack open and swallow you whole. Are you ready?

We’re more than just our transness.

Just like cis people are more than their cisness.

We’re just PEOPLE, and we EXIST, and we can be (and are!) anyone! Need a librarian? Bet your story doesn’t have a need for them to specifically be cis. Cast a trans person! Cab driver? Trans person. NASA scientist? Trans person.

Brain surgeon? Trans person. Teacher? Trans person. Pro athlete? Trans person. Writer? Trans person. Politician? Trans person. Ghost? Trans person. Knight in shining armor? Trans person.

Like we can literally be ANYTHING, just like cis people! Isn’t that crazy? Why you can also cast us as parents! And children! And we can be characters in those stories where our transness isn’t the focal point. We NEED to be in all those stories too.

That’s the ONLY way we’re going to get the kind of representation we need in our media, which of course does wonders for normalizing trans people and works toward changing the hearts and minds of those who may be prejudiced against us.

Our art is powerful, and can move mountains at times. There’s a really strong case that shows like Modern Family, which depicted a loving married gay couple, helped move the needle on marriage equality. There’s an article from The Atlantic all about this.

Think about the thousands of characters you’ve read about, seen, heard… for how many of them was being cisgender central to their story, or even an important part of who they were? 

Also, I want to add, it never hurts to get a trans person to look over your work and check the portrayal for any red flags or potential problems you might not have realized. This is what sensitivity readers are specifically for. It’s why they exist!

In fact, it’s something I do for friends, and am happy to be hired to do on projects. Hit me up! Susan and I consulted on an entire season of an upcoming show for this very reason, more news on that when the NDA says we can tell you.

But sometimes even if you have a sensitivity consultant things can go bad (if you don’t listen to them). Story time!

Okay so there’s actually two stories. And each of them illustrates the exact right and wrong way to handle things. Let’s start with the wrong way.

A while back another writer I know was talking with a producer about a project the producer wanted to bring them on to. And it was the story of a trans woman, and a tragedy in the queer community, and how she made a found family and found a way to heal after.

And I should add this is based on a real trans woman, and real events. It’s a story that I think needs telling. 

But the producer was a white cis man, and the writer he was talking to was… also a white cis man. Now, TO HIS ABSOLUTE CREDIT, my writer friend said, “I’m not the one to be telling this story.” 

And he put the producer in touch with ME, as I am (surprise!) a trans woman writer. This is EXACTLY what we need more of our cis allies to do, by the way. Advocate for us and help us break through the barriers and gatekeeping that keeps us from getting our stories told.

So I talked with the producer, and he already had an outline for a pilot episode and the subsequent season of television were it to get picked up, and had already made all the decisions about everything and basically wanted me to take all that and write the actual script.

Which is not so much “getting input from trans people” on the actual story or portrayal of the characters. Nobody is going to be able to tell that story better than trans people, but changing the story or the perspective or anything was seemingly out of the question.

It gets worse, because in the pitch deck he’d already made (for those who aren’t screenwriters, it’s basically a pdf or powerpoint type thing with slides that sells the concept of your show)… he deadnamed and misgendered the very real trans woman it was based on.

Not intentionally or with cruelty in mind, but because he didn’t know to not do that when discussing a trans person pre-transition. And there were parts that also used offensive terms that showed how little he understood about being trans.

Which is exactly why this is a problem, right? So I wrote him back and outlined all of that, and I asked if he had the trans woman’s life rights since it’s based on things that really happened to her…

And then I had to, gently, ask him why he felt he was the one to be telling this story. Why did he, a white cis man, feel like this was HIS story to tell? Seemingly only interested in bringing me on for any “trans authenticity” it would provide, but not interested in changing anything.

I told him that if he felt this was a story that needed to be told (and I think it is), the best thing he could do as a cis white man producer was find a trans writer, hire them, and let THEM tell the story in the way only they can.

His response… was to ghost me entirely. It’s been months and I’ve not heard a thing. He had no intention of listening to me telling him that this very trans story wasn’t his to tell. He wasn’t concerned about getting it right if it meant it wasn’t what he thought it should be.

The second story, the one with a good outcome, is much shorter because things went the way they should. Another writer/producer is doing a project about an intersex person who they felt had a story that needed to be told, and wanted me to consult.

And this was at the inception of the project, nothing had been done yet. There was no outline or anything. It was just a producer realizing there was an important story about someone from a marginalized community that needed to be told. That’s the EXACT time to bring someone on.

So… the first thing I said to them was I’m so glad you know you need to bring someone else in on this, but I’m not the right person for the job. I’m a trans woman, and not intersex. And while those two things are not cisgender, they’re not remotely the same.

I told them they needed to find an intersex writer, because that was THEIR story to tell, not mine. I could write an intersex character into any story, any and all of us SHOULD. But a story ABOUT being intersex? That’s not something I have any business writing.

And this producer… then went and found an intersex writer, who they are now working with. Yes! Success! Victory! Happy exclamations! That’s exactly how it’s supposed to work.

The one piece of info I haven’t given you yet is that this producer told me they were not cis. And I’m sure that made them more receptive to understanding that this story belongs to the intersex community and NEEDS their involvement.

Susan and I have talked with producers and comic editors, white cis people (almost all men), who say they want trans stories about the trans experience. And then we pitch them incredibly trans stories and get told: no not like that.

If you’re a cis producer or editor or a gatekeeper of what stories your company produces or publishes, the best way is to bring us in at the inception of the project. Let it be our project, and then get out of the way. Or to let us pitch our own stories and help those get made.

Trans stories aren’t going to conform to cis expectations, and that doesn’t make them bad. It makes them OUR stories, which are not the same as yours. 

But cis people will still identify with them! Don’t tell me they can’t. Trans people have to identify with cis characters in everything ever made. If we can do it, so can you.

As I’ve said so many times, trans stories are HUMAN STORIES. So much of what we go through cis people also go through, just in adjacent ways not maybe not even related to gender. But the STRUGGLES are similar, because we’re all human beings.

You can best see this in my book, BEGIN TRANSMISSION: THE TRANS ALLEGORIES OF THE MATRIX.

You can see it in the TRANS ALLEGORY OF REAL GENIUS, part 1.

You can see it in THE TRANS ALLEGORY OF THE LITTLE MERMAID‘S “PART OF YOUR WORLD.”

You can see it in THE TRANS ALLEGORY OF THE TWILIGHT ZONE‘S “NERVOUS MAN IN A FOUR DOLLAR ROOM”.

You can see it in THE TRANS ALLEGORY OF SILO s1, part 1.

You can see it in THE TRANS ALLEGORY OF BARBIE, part 1.

I want to remind you that we NEED CIS PRODUCERS to do this, because there aren’t enough (or… any?) trans producers out there who can get more trans stories on screen. We NEED CIS ALLIES to help get our projects made.

We WANT to be seen. We want to tell our own stories, but we also want to be part of YOUR stories. And I don’t think it’s too much to ask that when we are, you’re not doing active real-world harm to us in the process.

Trans writers and actors and directors are everywhere. I happen to be one! I write with my lovely and talented and beautiful (cis) wife. Hire us if you want, we’d be happy to work for you (I mean I don’t KNOW you, but I feel pretty sure you’d love us, we’re very charming)!

Trans folks are a myriad of wonderful, diverse people with unique perspectives who are more than ready to be part of the stories we ALL love, like we should have been all along. 

Help us out by opening the door and letting us in.

Tilly Bridges, end transmission.
tillysbridges@gmail.com

THE INTENTIONAL (!) TRANS ALLEGORY OF BARBIE, part 5

Welcome to #TransTuesday! Tillyvision keeps on keepin’ on with THE INTENTIONAL (!) TRANS ALLEGORY OF BARBIE (the movie), PART 5! You’re gonna get some trans confirmation in this one that you’re not gonna believe… but it’s true!

PART 1, and the context.

PART 2, and act I.

PART 3, and things start getting messy.

PART 4, and the messes compound.

43:29 – The Mattel AGENTS (all cis men) arrive. “Miss Barbie?” Barbie: “It’s just Barbie.” She doesn’t feel she can be GENDERED CORRECTLY in the real world because she’s not the kind of woman they want and is considering trying extra hard to learn how to be a manly man.

Because we trans women, listen, we didn’t know how to be the men we were told we were. We were bad at it, hated it, were hurt by it, and were punished by family, friends, and society in all kinds of ways for not conforming to it. 

We’d watch other men and just try to do what they did and hoped it was good enough that people wouldn’t notice how fake it was, how we didn’t conform, and then tease us about or make fun of us for it (or experience much worse, like slurs and violence, from cis men).

Also remember how I said the Mattel executives were the Agents from THE MATRIX and you scoffed (I know you did, I have minions everywhere) and I said there’d be more proof later? Here you go. Another direct visual reference.

Barbie looks on at three Mattel Agents, all in black suits and ties, wearing sunglasses and with earpieces
Three agents from Matrix Reloaded, all in black suits and ties, wearing sunglasses and with earpieces

44:17 – Sasha gets in the car with Gloria, who was previously protecting the top brass “all the way up” at Mattel. But remember I said she had a connection to Barbie? And more evidence was later? Here’s some…

This scene is MINUTES after the Mattel boardroom scene, and Gloria has… an entirely new wardrobe. Why would she have stopped to change clothes? No story reason! Except look at her clothes and HOW THERE IS BLUE AND PINK TOGETHER. 

Gloria stands and watches as the Agents drive away with Barbie. She’s in a pink and blue top, with a pink belt and blue pants.

Even as Barbie doubles down on trying to be a man (all the nonsense Ken is off doing), she’s coming to realize her own transness more and more. The true woman inside her reflects that.

And so she’s coming to a choice, try to self-actualize with transition, or go back to living the lie. And like so many of us, she’s not going to get it right the first time, because it’s scary as hell.

“Now Tilly,” I hear you say, “Now Tilly, I’ve been reading all this so far and I’m just not sure BARBIE really has anything to say about transness.” 

To which I say, c’mon that’s not true! It’s almost like someone made that up for the sake of argument just to make a point hit home harder… but what point could that be?

When Barbie enters the Mattel executive office… THERE IS A TRANSGENDER SYMBOL HIDDEN ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE DOOR. (it’s actually been there all along, but this was the best spot to mention it for reasons you will soon discover)

Barbie, in her pink cowgirl outfit, in the Mattel executive office, centered in the multicolored rings painted on the wall and floor, in front of the pink door. Behind her are two men in black suits. ON the left (in a pink circle that I added), a transgender symbol is hidden amid the curves of the multicolored rings.

This isn’t something I added, or someone on the internet snuck in there and it’s been perpetuated without people knowing. This was legit in the movie itself. I checked it in my 4k copy on disc. Here’s a shot from my tv with the contrast goosed so you can see it better.

A transgender symbol on the wall of the Mattel executive office, over the curves of the circles painted on the wall

I reached out to some folks who worked on the movie, to see if this was on the set (and if so, why) or if it was added with special effects (and if so, why). The only reply I’ve gotten is that everyone on Barbie supports trans people, and are glad we felt included.

If there are more conclusive answers, they weren’t provided to me. So why is it there? Is it just a hidden nod? They don’t do anything with it, right? Ah, but they do. Continue on, dear readers, I shan’t lead you astray! SHAN’T.

45:16 – Barbie’s never experienced the real world before, so she pours the water right on her face because she’s used to the cups being empty. Awakening to your transness is actually a lot like water being thrown in your face, it wakes you right the hell up.

45:32 – Barbie: “So what can I do to repair the rift in the space-time continuum, get my feet back and that one cellulite gone, and just generally not turn into weird Barbie.” She’s terrified of the truth, wants to know how to ignore it and go back to pretending to be cis.

45:50 – To fix things she has to get back into the box, the PINK Barbie box. Literally she has to consent to being BOXED IN to the cis binary. Do you… see where the box is located?

Barbie, in the Mattel executive office. Behind her is the pink life-size Barbie doll box like you’d see on toy store shelves. A man in a black suit stands on either side of it.

46:35 – Barbie wants to meet the woman in charge before she goes but all of them are men. She’s asking to meet the woman in charge of HERSELF, but is finding only dudes.

And remember how earlier I said trans women pre-transition aren’t treated like cis men are, because we don’t “perform” manhood correctly? And how we’re punished for it?

We also don’t experience male privilege the way cis men do, again because we are NOT conforming to what the world and other cis men expect us to be, even when we mirror cis men around us and try to be like them.

If we walk into a room of strangers, yes, at first glance we might have been awarded a degree of male privilege. But the second we had to do anything or interact with anyone… the mask is never perfect. And when you don’t conform to stereotypical manhood, privilege drops off.

And so here, where Barbie’s trying to find the woman in charge (of herself), we get this line from Aaron: “I’m a man with no power, does that make me a woman?” Like… ouch. On multiple levels.

46:47-  The CEO resents even being asked about a woman, and says they are a company “literally made of women”. Implying they’re not inclusive or doing things right is so much worse, to them, than actually not being inclusive. 

We see this all the time, with any kind of bigotry, including transphobia. Bigots will tell you that calling them transphobes is the problem, not their actual transphobia. 

See the trans tuesday on CIS IS NOT A SLUR (there is no default human) for more on that particular nugget of awfulness.

CEO: “There was a woman CEO in the 90s… and another at some other time.” “We have gender neutral bathrooms out the wazoo.” See? It’s all fixed. It reeks of the ways Agent Smith put on a pretty new face while being the same old transphobia in MATRIX RESURRECTIONS.

We’ll use buzzwords and pretend we’re hip, we’ll put a rainbow on merchandise (or… the executive office WALL, maybe?) while doing absolutely nothing to fix the actual problems. It’s exactly what RAINBOW CAPITALISM is.

47:45 – Barbie gets in the box. “I remember this smell. I’m having a real Proustian flashback.” Proust was a French writer and I’m not going to get all into his business here, but something being “Proustian” is likely about recovering forgotten memories.

She’s been OUT OF THE BOX (if not fully realized and self-actualized) long enough to remember how it feels to be LITERALLY TIED DOWN IN THE BOX SOCIETY MADE FOR HER. She’s remembering when she was entirely subsumed by the false male simulacra of Ken.

47:50 – They strap her in, but she runs. And this is where the trans symbol placement is relevant, because it’s as far left of the door as her box is right of the door. She doesn’t want to completely tie her truth down, but she’s too scared to commit to transition.

The trans symbol is pink, she doubts her transness. But she heads out the PINK door between it and the box. 

Tying down and boxing in her truth is a lie, but she also can’t totally admit she’s trans and choose to transition yet, so she denies THAT and heads out the pink door, full of doubts.

And, like, this is so often what it’s like when you transition as an adult. It’s all SO confusing and you just don’t know what to do and you deny (or put off accepting) your truth over and over, until you can’t anymore. She’s not there yet. But she’s on her way.

48:20 – The executives give chase, and their executive-only elevator is literally in black and white (and the pink of their lies). Again, they see only THE FALSE DICHOTOMY (or do everything they can to make sure that’s all anyone else can see, anyway).

48:30 – Barbie ducks behind cubicles to evade the executives. Here’s another visual callback to THE MATRIX when Neo was ALSO avoiding AGENTS in his attempt to flee Metacortex/Mattel. I told you the Metacortex connection was more than just the outside of the building!

Barbie ducks between gray cubicles to flee the executives in the Mattel offices
Neo ducks between cubicles to flee agents in the Metacortex offices in THE MATRIX

49:04 – Barbie is in the white hallway, another direct visual reference to the MATRIX, this time RELOADED/REVOLUTIONS/RESURRECTIONS, in the space between worlds.

A white hallway with gray doors, extending on to infinity
A white hallway, with green doors, extending on to infinity. Neo stands in the center. From MATRIX RELOADED.

49:17 – One is the door to where she meets her creator, Ruth. (Remember that Ruth is her HEART. And what makes us who we are? Our hearts.) Ruth is in a kitchen… LIKE THE ORACLE IN THE MATRIX (the Oracle was also Neo’s heart).

Ruth, sitting at a table in a kitchen
The oracle sitting at a table in a kitchen, from THE MATRIX

This is a double reference to THE MATRIX, with the older-lady-in-a-kitchen and the fact that both of these ladies play the hearts of their respective lead characters. Ruth has a ROYAL BLUE dress under her cardigan, Barbie is CONNECTING with her heart.

And look at all the EARTH TONES in that kitchen. There is truth in Barbie’s heart, if she’s open to hearing it (Neo had the same issue with hearing his heart, at first). The heart always knows, but we can’t ever accept what it has to say until we’re ready.

49:32 – Ruth: “Don’t worry, you’re safe here.” If we’re not safe in our own hearts, where are we?

50:01 – Ruth hands Barbie the cup of tea, literally handing her EARTH TONES AND ROYAL BLUE. The truth is right there if Barbie will connect with it and accept it. And she drinks. She takes it in. She’s getting there.

Barbie drinking from a teacup decorated in earth tones and royal blue

50:32 – Ruth: “You look different.” Y’DON’T SAY. Barbie: “It’s not how I usually look. I usually look perfect.” I no longer conform to who society said I was or what I had to be and look like. Ruth: “I think you’re just right.” LISTEN TO YOUR HEART, GIRL.

Barbie: “The real world isn’t what I thought it was.” Ruth: “It never is. And isn’t that marvelous?” At first this line threw me, because… no? The way the real world is, and how it treats trans people (and all women) is generally not so good!

But to me, what Ruth (who, again, is Barbie’s heart) is saying is… isn’t it marvelous that the real world IS NOT WHAT THEY TOLD YOU? You don’t have to be a cis person. If trying to be cis makes you miserable, then you’re trans and that’s MARVELOUS.

51:07 – Ruth hears the CEO and executives coming, transphobia is inside the house. But “If you go through that closet,” there’s a way out. Why, DO YOU THINK, the word closet is in there? It could have been “door.” They’re in a kitchen, it could have been “cupboard” or “pantry.”

But no. Closet. C L O S E T. You can ESCAPE by going OUT OF THE CLOSET. Embrace who you are, live your truth, and escape the pain that society wants to box you into. SUPERtext. 

51:37 – Barbie runs through the lobby to escape and “come out.” This is really reminiscent of the lobby scene from THE MATRIX, which was the building where Agents were holding Morpheus (Neo’s subconscious) prisoner, right down to the material and construction of the pillars.

Barbie runs through the Mattel lobby, with columns that house elevators on the left and right. The material appears corrugated, and has a solid block on bottom with two smaller blocks separated by a vertical line on top.
The lobby of the building where Morpheus was held prisoner in THE MATRIX, with columns made of material that appears corrugated, and has a solid block on bottom with two narrower blocks separated by a vertical line on top.

I’m not as sure if that one was an intentional reference. It might have been, but I know nothing about construction and that could just be the way… columns… in lobbies are made? I mean that seems weird to me, but I dunno.

52:20 – Gloria and Sasha, in their ROYAL BLUE car, show up to rescue Barbie. Barbie’s now in the same place and fully connecting with the inner child she lost, and the woman she is inside. And this is where she makes an important realization.

Gloria: “I’ve been a little lonely lately and I found those Barbies we used to play with.” Sasha: “I thought you gave those away.” Gloria: “I started playing with them. … because I thought it would be joyful.” Barbie’s inner child, that she never got to be, found no joy from them.

But Gloria thought it “would be joyful.” She’s searching for trans joy. “But it got weird.” The thought of conforming to the only idea of what the false binary says a woman can be prevented her from transitioning, because that didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel like what she wanted. 

Gloria: “Maybe because I couldn’t be like [Barbie], I ended up making [Barbie] like me?” This is it right here. THIS IS IT. Barbie’s realizing that the woman she is on the inside is messy and complicated and not a stereotype. And that’s a REAL and OKAY kind of woman to be.

And this is where the turn happens, because Barbie realizes while she was searching for Sasha, she actually came for Gloria. She will never get to be that little girl, and that hurts, but it’s not too late to BE THE WOMAN SHE WANTS TO BE.

Next week we’re gonna flash back, and see that yes, the signs of our transness were ALWAYS THERE. And we might just discover we’ve overcompensated into our false cis shell further than we realized.

Tilly Bridges, end transmission.
tillysbridges@gmail.com


PART 6 is here!

THE INTENTIONAL (!) TRANS ALLEGORY OF BARBIE, part 4

Welcome to #TransTuesday! Tillyvision chugs along with THE INTENTIONAL (!) TRANS ALLEGORY OF BARBIE (the movie), PART 4! You’re going to get two really important visual clues as to what Barbie’s going through, more Matrix connections, and problems abound!

Here’s your starting context in PART 1.

The beginning of timestamp-o-rama in PART 2.

And getting into some heady stuff in PART 3.

29:39 – Barbie and Ken get outlandish western outfits. After the rough experience being perceived as trans, Barbie pulls back to all PINK. Ken’s neckerchief is also PINK. No no, that was too hard, I can’t live like that. Back to telling myself I’m cis! (still won’t work)

Barbie in flared pink jeans and a pink vest and white cowboy hat. Ken is in a black western outfit with white fringe and pink neckerchief, and white cowboy hat.

29:48 – “Hey man, you guys gotta pay for that stuff.” They run because they HAVE NO MONEY. A little thing, sure, but, y’know… guess what lots of trans people don’t have? Because we lose our jobs and homes once the world knows we’re trans? And people won’t hire us?

30:08 – Barbie: “I just need to clear my mind so I can think.” And to do that, she needs Ken away from her. ANYWHERE away from her. 

31:04 – Ken sees all the manly-man stuff, including two cops on horses. He just repeatedly saw cops sexually harass Barbie but he’s not put off by that. He sees men are everywhere, and in charge of everything.

This is Barbie realizing all the ways society REWARDS you for conforming to the false cis binary. Look! You can have power, prestige, riches, control! This is how society works for cis men.

MATRIX RELOADED, REVOLUTIONS, and RESURRECTIONS also explicitly deal with the ways society rewards you for conforming to the cis binary and denying your transness, and the new problems that causes.

31:40 – Barbie’s at the bus stop with eyes closed, listening to herself. She’s getting in touch with what she THINKS is the little girl inside, Sasha, who’s becoming distant as she ages. Note Sasha starts in earth tones, and moves to a BLUE AND PINK DRESS.

32:32 – When Sasha is dropped off at school by her mom, Gloria, they’re in a ROYAL BLUE car. Barbie is connecting with her inner self. And Sasha goes to Davy Crockett junior high school.

Sasha leaving Gloria’s royal blue car, in front of a sign that says “Davy Crockett Junior High School, home of the frontiersmen.”

Look at that sign. Davy Crockett. “Home of the frontiersmen.” Barbie’s little girl inside spent her childhood in a place dedicated to being a tough manly man, doing what was expected of her, and it disconnected her from the girl she was inside.

32:45 – Barbie cries, feeling the loss of, and reconnecting with, her inner little girl that she didn’t get to be. “That felt achey, but good.” PHEW, if that ain’t TRANS GRIEF over lost childhoods we didn’t get to experience, I don’t know what is. See the trans tuesday on it.

33:15 – Barbie’s noticing the world, the real world, for the first time. And how beautiful it all is. Sharing and feeling the emotions of those around her. When dysphoria lessens due to transition, even just a little, a whole new world opens up to you.

See the trans tuesday on INTO THE UNKNOWN (aka WHAT IS HAPPENING aka A WHOLE NEW WORLD) for when this exact thing happened to me.

And you can see it continue in FREEING UP MY BRAIN (aka LUNCH WITH TILLY) when less dysphoria opened me up to even more experiences that I’d missed out on for my whole life.

33:36 – Barbie turns to the older woman at the bus stop with her. The older woman is in EARTH TONES. She’s real. The truth. Barbie: “You’re so beautiful.” Older lady: “I know it.” They share a smile and a laugh. 

This is Barbie connecting with her possible future, and thinking it would be BEAUTIFUL (because it is, and she is). And I hear you saying “BUT TILLY, HOW CAN THERE BE CONNECTION IF BARBIE ISN’T IN ROYAL BLUE?”

What do you think I am, some kinda rube? I’d have thought you’d trust me by now. BECAUSE DID YOU LOOK AT THE BUS STOP THAT BARBIE IS IN??

An older woman, in earth tones, sits on the left side of a bus stop bench. Barbie, in her pink western outfit, sits on the right side of a bus stop bench. The bench and entire bus stop are royal blue.

Before Barbie can think any more about this future she longs for…

33:59 – Ken comes crashing back. That false shell of a dude is still hangin’ around, damn it.

34:32 – The Mattel offices. Here’s another direct visual reference to THE MATRIX.

A shot of the Mattel office skyscraper from the ground, looming up into the sky
A shot of the Metacortex office skyscraper (from The Matrix) from the ground, looming up into the sky

I need you to understand what BARBIE is telling you here. If you’ve not read BEGIN TRANSMISSION: THE TRANS ALLEGORIES OF THE MATRIX, here’s a very brief summation… YES I am going to quote myself, SHUT UP:

“The cortex is the outermost layer of an organ (the surface level). Most commonly known is the cerebral cortex, which among other things controls our perception and memory… things vital to our own knowledge of our true self. 

“Meta” means to go beyond, to transcend. Neo is trapped in a drab, mundane life he hates inside Metacortex. To become his true self he has to transcend the boundary of his memory and perception of himself by escaping the building.”

This is NOT A FLUKE. BARBIE references THE MATRIX here, as everywhere else, with intent. They’re telling you exactly what Mattel stands for in Barbie’s life. Mattel is Barbie’s own Metacortex, trapping her in a false perception of herself! 

And once you see the inside, it’s drab and lifeless. This is more than just a joke about office culture and corporate drones, but we’ll get there in a bit.

34:34 – The split screen between Mattel and the FBI offices. What I love about this shot is that it shows you the ENFORCERS of the system of oppression (police, FBI, security guards, etc) are JUST AS MUCH DRONES as the office workers are. Look how they’re BOXED IN.

A split screen with the FBI offices on the left, and the Mattel offices on the right. While Mattel’s are all gray and muted and the FBI’s are in color and much warmer, they all have the exact same structure and mirror each other perfectly.

But when you INTENTIONALLY choose to uphold the systems of oppression, you are REWARDED for it and “allowed” to express yourself and liven up your work area. But you’re no less a puppet of the system. And we talked about those societal rewards before.

35:22 – The button to go “all the way up” and see the people in charge. If you look closely, the numbers for other floors go up to 100. So what floor would “all the way up” be, based on the numbers? 101.

In THE MATRIX, when Neo began his journey of realizing and accepting his transness, his apartment number was 101 (he later successfully makes it to 303, where we first met Trinity, and begins his new life as an out trans woman).

A lit up elevator button that reads “all the way up”
Neo peeking out from behind his apartment 101 door in The Matrix

In MATRIX RELOADED, the Merovingian (a trans person who squashed their truth and continued pretending to be cis to attain the rewards of society, and to stomach it had to pretend he never had the choice to transition) was also on floor 101.

Morpheus, Trinity, and Neo near the elevators on floor 101 from Matrix Reloaded.

Like, I don’t even know how to explain to you how significant this is. Not only are they showing you the executive floor is the start of the journey, it’s also a place people get trapped by denying their own truth, be it intentionally or by lying to themselves.

Do you SEE what they’re telling you about Barbie going in there? This is HUGE. And if you really want to feel the weight of it, the full impact of it, listen… I don’t know what to tell you, read BEGIN TRANSMISSION. That’s what I wrote it for! 😌

35:29 – Gloria is drawing Barbie in her PINK western outfit. Look how SAD the drawing looks in her facial expression. Look at the drawing on the left, with ROYAL BLUE tears. And do you remember what I said to you about BLUE AND PINK TOGETHER? 

A POV shot from Gloria, looking down at her hands as she draws a very sad Barbie in her pink western outfit. On the left is a sketch of Barbie’s face with royal blue tears

Gloria is drawing (upholding) the lies of society by working at the company that oppresses Barbie. That it’s Gloria doing this is super important. There’s more evidence for this later, but that Gloria drew those ROYAL BLUE tears shows you CONNECTION. To who?

Who’s she drawing? BARBIE. If Gloria’s daughter, Sasha, is the little girl inside Barbie that she never got to be, what does that make Gloria? THE ADULT WOMAN BARBIE IS INSIDE.

Unlike the Matrix where Trinity was a manifestation of Neo’s self-actualization and who he wanted to be after transition, Gloria is not that. She’s Barbie’s INTERNAL adult woman, if that makes sense. Which it will, moreso, later on. Just trust me for a bit. We’ll get there.

But Gloria is here working at Mattel, as Neo worked at Metacortex, crushed and upholding the systems of oppression without realizing it. Because Barbie hasn’t yet woken up to the truth of her own transness and societal transphobia.

34:45 – “Irrepressible thoughts of death Barbie,” “full-body cellulite Barbie,” “crippling shame Barbie.” If Barbie thinking about dying was her thinking about change, or transition, “irrepressible thoughts of death” means I CAN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT TRANSITIONING.

If cellulite appearing on Barbie was symbolic of her desire to transition to being a human woman, then “full-body cellulite” equals full transition. And how does society make trans people feel when we realize we’re trans and want to transition? Like it’s SHAMEFUL and WRONG.

And there’s also something to be said about how when you can’t stop thinking about transition, and what you should, could, and hope to be? “Irrepressible thoughts of death” and “crippling shame” on the surface level also ring of…

GENDER DYSPHORIA, which is going to wash over you and threaten to drown you in the darkened deep if you don’t do something about it. These few simple lines are so genius because of all the levels they work on. Here’s more on GENDER DYSPHORIA if you need it.

And look at the drawing Aaron holds up. PINK AND BLUE TOGETHER, transness. But she’s LOOKING AT THE YELLOW LINE AND THE YELLOW BY THE OTHER WOMAN, and the black splotchy darkness separates them.

A hand holding a drawing of two Barbies. On the left is a Barbie that is half pink and half blue. There’s a yellow line down the right side of her body, and a large black splotch seemingly coming out of her head. On the right is a Barbie that’s not colored in, but has a yellow line down her right side.

The yellow is an earth tone. The trans woman is looking at the truth that she IS in fact a woman, but can’t see it clearly due to the darkness of the dysphoria swimming around her head. THIS ONE IMAGE SAYS SO DAMNED MUCH.

36:03 – The “top brass” that are “all the way up” are a bunch of cis men, talking about “empowering girls” without actually talking to any women or girls. They’re deciding what’s best for everyone without our input or consent. They’re in suits. AGENTS of the system.

YES, like THE MATRIX. You knew I was gonna say it, c’mon. There’s more evidence for this in a little bit, but I want to take a second to point out how cis men deciding what’s best for girls and women without talking to them… is also exactly what they do to us trans people.

36:10 – They believe they sell dreams and imagination and sparkle… “female agency,” but only as long as you conform to what their ideas of that are. What they actually sell is indoctrination into the false cis binary. 

Look at the Pink drumsticks, the CEO’s pink shirt, and pink tie. The pink chairs. The pink heart light over the table. lies Lies LIES LIIIIIEEEEES.

The Mattel executive office, with a lit up pink heart on the ceiling, and all the cis man executives sitting around a heart-shaped table in pink chairs. The CEO has a pink shirt and tie and is holding pink drumsticks.

37:41 – Gloria overhears them talking about Barbie in the real world and is confused. “That’s impossible.” She thinks you can’t self-actualize and leave the fantasy (Barbie) land of the false cis binary, which is what so many of us are raised to believe.

38:00 – The CEO cishet white man in charge says Barbie getting out would be CATASTROPHIC. He knows the danger of letting trans people self-actualize and disprove the lies of Barbie Land aka the false cis binary.

38:18 – CEO: “No one rests until this doll is back in a box.” They’re LITERALLY BOXING US ALL IN. You will conform and fit in your box! Because to not is a danger to everything cishet white men built and control.

38:59 – Barbie finds the little (now teen) girl, Sasha, at a table with her friends. 

39:30 – The response from the kids is not what Barbie’s hoping for, it’s all stunned silence and looks. Sasha, “Who are you?” The little girl inside doesn’t recognize her, because conforming to the rigid gender binary was never what she wanted or who she was.

40:35 – Sasha: “You’ve been making women feel bad about themselves since you were invented. You represent everything wrong with our culture. Sexualized capitalism, unrealistic physical ideals.” 

Barbie: “Barbie is so much more than that.”

Sasha: “You set the feminist movement back 50 years. You destroyed girls’ innate sense of worth…”

Okay so there’s this thing that trans women especially have to deal with, where society says A Woman Is X, and so to be seen as the women we are, we feel we have to conform to those things… even if they’re not who we really are.

Cis society upholds this in all kinds of ways. If I put MAKEUP on before going out, I’m much more likely to get gendered correctly by people I interact with because I am CONFORMING to their idea of a woman (even though I personally like makeup, that’s irrelevant).

See the trans tuesday on MISGENDERING AND PASSING for more info.

And somehow EVEN WORSE than that is that we used to be required, YES DAMN IT, ***REQUIRED*** to conform to stereotypes just so cis people would ~ALLOW~ us the medical care we need. AGAIN see the trans tuesday on TRANSMEDICALISM (and WPATH standards of care 1).

So when we DON’T want those things, don’t want to BE those things, it can be extra hard to even realize our transness, much less figure out who we really are. MATRIX RESURRECTIONS deals with this too, about the EXPECTATIONS OF WOMEN affecting trans women.

And so you think… I don’t want to be THAT kind of woman, so maybe I’m NOT a woman (even though we are). And do you know what so many of us do then? Try to double-down on manhood and playing the part that wounds us. So what does Ken do?

41:43 – Ken gets books, “Why Men Rule (literally)” and “The Origins of the Patriarchy.” If you look at the shelf of books they’re all about things that conform to the narrow idea of what society says men can be. Let’s learn how to be a man and do that, that’ll make transness go away!

A hand roaming over book spines in a library, all the titles are about very stereotypically “manly” things (or horses)
A hand roaming over book spines in a library, all the titles are about very stereotypically “manly” things (or horses)

Next week you’re going to get strong, irrefutable proof (truly!) of transness in Barbie, a whole lot more Matrix connections, and we’ll see if Barbie can escape her own Metacortex, and what that means for her.

Tilly Bridges, end transmission.
tillysbridges@gmail.com

5PART 5 is here!

THE INTENTIONAL (!) TRANS ALLEGORY OF BARBIE, part 3

Welcome to #TransTuesday! Tillyvision continues with THE INTENTIONAL (!) TRANS ALLEGORY OF BARBIE (the movie), PART 3! We’re gonna engage with the subconscious, and take our first steps into the real world as ourselves. Things are gonna get weird!

Of course, be sure you begin with PART 1 and all the context you need.

And PART 2, covering the first act of the movie!

19:23 – Look at the very weird path to Weird Barbie’s weird house, and how uncomfortable Barbie is (now in EVEN MORE ROYAL BLUE AS SHE CONNECTS WITH HER SUBCONSCIOUS).

Barbie, in a royal blue dress, approaches a gate of odd pointed shapes in various colors, all of which have swirling lines of color within them
Barbie looks worried and unsure as she follows a winding, bumpy path up to Weird Barbie’s house

This is another (looser) visual reference to THE MATRIX, when Neo was on the path to talk with HIS subconscious, Morpheus. Then, as here in BARBIE, the path is winding and confusing when you’re digging through your own subconscious to find the truth.

A winding staircase with a checkerboard floor, shot from above, as Neo ascends to meet with Morpheus from the first MATRIX film.

Not only are both paths scary and winding, both of them RISE. Both Barbie and Neo have to climb the foreboding, twisting path to honestly connect with their subconscious. You have to root through all your thoughts and feelings if you want to be ready for what awaits.

19:30 – As Barbie approaches weird Barbie’s house: “I would never wear heels if my feet were shaped this way.” I WOULD NEVER WEAR THIS CLOTHING THAT DOES NOT FIT THE WAY MY BODY IS, IT MAKES ME FEEL BAD. It’s transness up and down all day long.

As we get Weird Barbie’s intro, I remind you again that she’s Barbie’s subconscious. She’s in pink because Barbie doesn’t yet know if what her subconscious is going to tell her is the truth (Morpheus at times appeared in colors relating to doubt for Neo, too).

But what her subconscious is telling her, on its face, is that she’s trans. Pink and blue together, remember? What’s on Weird Barbie’s forehead? HER SUBCONSCIOUS IS TELLING BARBIE, ON ITS FACE, THAT SHE’S TRANS!

Weird Barbie, with her wild hair and very pink dress, with blue and pink squiggles, together, drawn on her forehead

20:17 – Weird Barbie, re: Barbie’s feet: “Flat. Never seen that before.” Barbie “Can you fix them?” My body feels better this way but everyone says it should be another way, can I go back? But if you’re trans, you know what the subconscious is going to tell you.

20:33 – Weird Barbie, re: Ken: “I’d like to see what kind of nude blob he’s packing under those jeans.” A good joke about the dolls, BUT if Ken is Barbie’s false male persona… the subconscious is saying it knows what’s going on in the crotch isn’t what’s “expected.”

20:50 – Weird Barbie asks what preceded the flat feet. Barbie: “Thoughts of death.” Thinking about change and transition ALLOWED her to change her body in ways she liked. It obviously takes more than just thought, but this is metaphor. And transition begins in the mind.

21:10 – “There is a rip in the continuum that is the membrane between Barbie Land and the real world.” Dunno how many times I’ve said it, but when you wake up to the cis binary matrix being a lie, you start to see all the OTHER lies society also tells you. You see the truth.

21:18 – Weird Barbie “…if you want to be stereotypical Barbie perfect again, then baby girl, you gotta go fix it. Or you’re gonna keep going funny. Look at your upper thigh.” And there’s cellulite. More body changes, which freak Barbie out.

But Barbie’s transition in the surface story is from artificiality to a real woman, right? Which is allegorically a transition from a false shell of a “cis” man to a trans woman. So the cellulite represents another body-changing step along that path to the true her.

Also note that her subconscious calls her “BABY GIRL.” This is the start of Barbie’s journey to her true self. Trans people who’ve only just realized and accepted are often described as “baby trans.” It’s not derogatory, it just indicates the beginning of a new stage of life.

21:25 – Weird Barbie: “…and then you’re gonna start getting sad and mushy and complicated.” So, funny thing! For a lot of trans people, being on the right hormones allows us access to emotions we couldn’t experience before, because dysphoria kept us so closed off.

See the trans tuesday on GENDER DYSPHORIA for what that’s like.

And so yeah, if you don’t “fix” your transness (which can’t be done, but DAMN do so many of us try, over and over again), you’re going to transition and open yourself up to a whole flood of really strong, messy, complicated feelings and changes.

21:35 – Weird Barbie: “You have to go to the real world, and you have to find the girl that is playing with you.” To figure this out, Barbie needs to get in touch with her inner little girl, the one she never got to be, and find out what’s going on.

21:50 – Weird Barbie: “Her thoughts and feelings and humanness are interfering with your dollness.” Isn’t it weird that when we start becoming our true self, it interferes with us upholding the artificiality of gender assigned at birth? How ‘bout that!

22:05 – Barbie feels she can’t be responsible because all she’s ever wanted was for everything to stay exactly as it is. And again, you do NOT know how many times trans people often just keep trying to wish our transness away.

The life upheaval it causes (and it SHOULDN’T, but our transphobic society makes it so) and the way so many of us lose family, friends, homes, and jobs after coming out… we KNOW what we’re risking. We try to bury it and be the cis person we’re told to be. It doesn’t work.

22:21 – In one of the very MOST clear visual references to THE MATRIX, Weird Barbie offers Barbie the two shoes, just as Morpheus offered Neo the two pills.

Weird Barbie holding a pink high heel in her right hand, and a brown sandal in her left.
Morpheus’s hands, with a red pill in the left and a blue pill in the right.

And JUST LIKE in the MATRIX, this is what establishes the meanings of these two colors (or color families, in BARBIE’S case). In the MATRIX, the red was for truth and the blue for doubt.

In BARBIE, the pink is a high heel, showing you IT is the doubt or lies. Go back to your “regular” life and forget any of this ever happened, even though it will cause you pain and discomfort and contort your body in ways you hate.

The EARTH TONED Birkenstock is to know the truth about the universe, and to find comfort and support. COULD MS. GERWIG BE ANY CLEARER?

Barbie tries to deny her truth and picks the high heel, but Weird Barbie, her subconscious, knows that’s not right. She’s not having it.

23:01 – Weird Barbie won’t let her ignore it all. “I just gave you a choice so you could feel some sense of control.” This is ANOTHER MATRIX connection, especially to RELOADED, where Neo is wondering if he ever had a choice at all and struggling with the issue of CONTROL.

23:05 – Weird Barbie: “You have to fix the rip yourself.” This is ANOTHER MATRIX connection as it’s a reframing of the message of the first movie: YOU are “The One” you’ve been waiting for to save you. You. Can. Save. Yourself. (by choosing to transition) 

23:46 – Barbie: “How do I find this girl?” Weird Barbie, “You will know.” ANOTHER MATRIX connection as it’s a reframing of, Neo: “Are you telling me I can dodge bullets?” Morpheus: “I’m saying when you’re ready, you won’t have to.”

24:21 – The banner reads, “bon voyage to reality and good luck restoring the membrane that separates our world from theirs so you don’t get cellulite.” It’s PINK. aka SURE HOPE YOU CAN FIX YOUR PROBLEM AND KEEP UPHOLDING THE CIS BINARY, YOU ANOMALY.

A pink banner hung up between Barbie dream houses that reads, “Bon voyage to reality and good luck restoring the membrane that separates our work from theirs so you don’t get cellulite.”

24:56 – Barbie: “I just don’t want to leave. I’m trying to find reasons not to leave.”

25:12 – Barbie: “I’ll be back in no time with perfect feet and we’ll forget that this happened.”

Again, so many times, we try to find reasons NOT to transition. To pretend we’re not trans. 

It never works.

As Barbie leaves, she’s in pink because she has doubts about what she’s going to find, and as we just saw from those lines she’s trying very hard to doubt her truth. But Ken is in pink and blue together, her transness is still there. She’s TRYING to leave it behind.

25:43 – “Closer to Fine” by The Indigo Girls plays as she drives.

Barbie driving and singing along to “Closer to Fine”.

And just look at the lyrics to the song, which are all about finding answers on your own, and not as outlined by the expectations of society.

I’m trying to tell you something ’bout my life
Maybe give me insight between black and white
And the best thing you ever done for me

Is to help me take my life less seriously

No everything is NOT black and white, not cis man or cis woman only. Maybe not playing by those rules will help you find what you’re looking for.

Well, darkness has a hunger that’s insatiable
And lightness has a call that’s hard to hear
And I wrap my fear around me like a blanket
I sailed my ship of safety till I sank it
I’m crawling on your shores

Dysphoria is unending and the truth is hard to accept. We try to deny that truth and embrace what we know is wrong, and we’re left with the wreckage of our lives. I’m not going to put the rest of the lyrics in here, but it goes on just like that.

This is the most famous song from one of the most well-known queer bands, and it appearing at this moment is a CHOICE. Barbie already knowing all the words is definitely telling you something. Are you listening?

26:09 – Ken pops up in the back seat singing and she screams. She was trying to run from her transness, leave it behind, reaffirm her cisness. But before she’s even halfway there, a reminder. Hey! You’re still trans. But now Ken’s all in pink (doubt), just like her.

Ken in the back seat of Barbie’s car. They’re looking at each other and screaming.

27:30 – Barbie and Ken rollerblading into the real world in their most ostentatious outfits. There’s a lot going on here. Barbie’s first steps into the real world, closer to her true self. Ken is there, pinks and blues (ROYAL blues) are together. It’s kinda garish and she’s gawked at.

Barbie and Ken rollerblading in outfits that are neon pink and blue, with neon yellow rollerblades, kneepade, elbow pads, and wristbands.

And interestingly, there’s this thing that happens with trans folks, especially trans women, where when a lot of us first start transition we don’t at all know what we like or want to wear, or what looks good on us, and sometimes we end up wearing really weird stuff.

Trying to figure it all out is a process, which I talked about in the trans tuesday on FINDING OUR TRANS STYLE.

But she’s gawked at. Laughed at. Stared at. And I cannot tell you how often that happens to trans people, ESPECIALLY early on in our transitions. See the trans tuesday on STOP STARING AT US (trans people are human beings).

27:50 – Further, she’s sexualized by men. And as an early transition trans woman, yeah, that’s definitely something you likely never experienced when the world thought you were a cis man, and even though you know it exists it’s still a jolt to the system to experience it.

28:25 – Ken likes it. “I feel admired, but not ogled. And there’s no undertone of violence.” Barbie: “Mine very much has an undertone of violence.” While this very accurately describes the way men and women are treated in society in general…

This is ALSO a thing trans women early in transition suddenly have to deal with. The world SAW me as a cis man before, and that did not come with the sexualization OR implied violence that comes with being a woman (ESPECIALLY a trans woman).

28:53 – Barbie responds to the catcalling, “I would just like to inform you, I do not have a vagina.” Do you… do you know what trans women are not born with? I bet you do.

Barbie gestures to Ken. “And he does not have a penis.” If Ken is her false male shell, she likely never WANTED him to have one, as it’s a huge source of dysphoria for many trans women.

29:16 – Ken: “Everything’s like almost reversed here.” VERY much how it feels when you go from perceived cis man to being seen as the trans woman you are. Society turns on its head in the way it treats you.

Come back next week, when you’ll see that, after not liking the response to transness we see in society, we try to pull back… and that leads to all kinds of problems.

Tilly Bridges, end transmission.
tillysbridges@gmail.com

PART 4 is here!

THE INTENTIONAL (!) TRANS ALLEGORY OF BARBIE, part 2

Welcome to #TransTuesday! Here we go, this week Tillyvision dives in by timestamps to talk THE INTENTIONAL (!) TRANS ALLEGORY OF BARBIE (the movie), PART 2! Something’s changing within us, and that’s weird!

Before you read this, you should definitely read PART 1 from last week, which contains context you’ll need, as well as the set-up for my reading of what BARBIE has to say about transness, and the beginning of our dive in by timestamps!

6:40 – EVERYONE in this world is artificial, yet it’s very inclusive racially, by disability, by body type. Contrast that with the Mattel executives you see later, who are all cis men. Their races vary, to show you some progress has been made, but…

…neither I nor this movie are claiming racism isn’t an issue. It very much is. But race is used with the Mattel executives later to show you that while there has been SOME progress, it’s not remotely enough, there’s no disability or body type rep, and cis white men still rule.

7:15 – “Money is not speech and corporations have no free speech rights to begin with, so any claim on their part to be exercising a right is just their attempt to turn our democracy into a plutocracy.” There’s no transness in this, but in a movie about a corporate toy, it’s extraordinary.

7:34 – “I have no difficulty holding logic and emotion at the same time, and it does not diminish my powers, it expands them.” This is another connection to The Matrix, specifically RELOADED, where Neo learns to listen to both logic and emotion to find the answer he seeks.

7:41 – In one of the only actual reflections in the movie, we see only Barbie’s eyes in the car mirror, looking up and surrounded by stars. To me this reads like she’s looking forward to the true person she wants to see there, the stars indicating it’s aspirational and feels out of reach.

Barbie’s eyes reflected in her car mirror, looking up into the sky. There are stars printed on the mirror surface, showing around her eyes.

The thought of seeing the person she wants to see in that mirror gives her literal stars in her eyes, yet even here that reflection is incomplete. SUPERtext.

8:06  – Ken only has a great day if Barbie looks at him. If Ken is the guy society has told Barbie to be, Barbie looking at him is SEEING him. Validating him. Trying to BE him, because society said that’s who she was. He needs her to SEE him for him to exist, basically.

8:30 – With all the “hi Barbies” and “hi Kens,” they’re showing you that they’re all the same. And this is within Barbie Land, which is a lie. The conformity that society wants, and tries so hard to force us into, isn’t the truth.

8:43 – There are no multiples of Allan, he’s just Allan. And he’s kind of ostracized by everyone, right? Look what awaits you if you’re a gender non-conforming man, Barbie. Isn’t it better to be a Ken?

9:45 – When the Kens all want to do the beach off (which will never not crack me up), that’s all toxic masculinity in action, right? Albeit delivered in a comedic way. They all feel they have to PROVE their manliness. ACT the part. And Barbie feels caught in the middle.

Barbie stands between Ken and Ken during the attempted “beach off,” keeping them apart.

Which is how trans women pre-transition feel, because it’s all an act. A costume. A role we never asked for and don’t know how to play. And we’re generally very, very bad at it. Notably, Ken is wounded from this attempt.

So what does it say to you that when the shell of a fake man is wounded from trying to play the part, that Hari Nef, a trans woman, is the doctor who treats him? TRANSITION CAN TREAT THE PROBLEM AND HEAL WHAT HURTS YOU.

SUPERtext.

Hari Nef as Doctor Barbie in the very pink ambulance/hospital set

11:16 – It’s the dance party at Barbie’s house, and there’s some really important stuff going on here. Hari Nef, our only true trans representation in this movie, is the DJ. She’s the one in control of the music.

Not only that, but look at the record itself, on the pink turntable. Remember again from the beginning, pink and blue together is indicative of transness.. And what song is on that record?

Hari Nef DJing the party, holding headphones to her ear as a record plays and the other Barbies dance

Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night.” And if you look at the lyrics… you are about to encounter a whole lot of metaphors for transness and denial and acceptance, friends. It’s an incredibly trans song.

Because the entire thing is about bluster, about hiding the deep sadness you feel, putting on a brave face… faking it. Until, all of a sudden, everything changes. And now it’s not about that at all anymore.

Baby, you can find me under the lights
Diamonds under my eyes
Turn the rhythm up, don’t you wanna just
Come along for the ride?

Under the lights means everyone’s looking at you. Those “diamonds” under her eyes are tears, which the song itself later confirms. But ignore all that, just find the beat and go with the flow. PEOPLE ARE LOOKING, YOU CAN’T LET THEM SEE HOW SAD YOU ARE.

Oh, my outfit so tight
You can see my heartbeat tonight
I can take the heat, baby, best believe
That’s the moment I shine

These wrong clothes constrict and confine me. My heart is racing. People are going to notice I’m not wearing them right. But it’s okay, it’s okay, I’ve done this before. I’ve done this all my life. I can do it again, it’ll all be fine.

‘Cause every romance shakes and it bends
Don’t give a damn
When the night’s here, I don’t do tears
Baby, no chance

Her romance with Ken, the guy she doesn’t want (to be) is shaking, it’s bending… she knows that’s not what she wants. But no matter! Put that brave face back on, pay no attention to what you want, be who you’re “supposed” to be.

Watch me dance, dance the night away
My heart could be burnin’, but you won’t see it on my face

No matter what my true desires are, I can’t let them show. I can’t show what’s in my heart, because it’s not what people expect or what they want to see.

Watch me dance, dance the night away
I’ll still keep the party runnin’, not one hair out of place 

KEEP UP APPEARANCES, BEHAVE AS EXPECTED. Then no one will suspect anything, and you won’t have to confront that empty pit in your soul, the darkness you know is in there telling you everything is wrong.

Lately, I’ve been moving close to the edge
Still be lookin’ my best
I stay on the beat, you can count on me
I ain’t missin’ no steps

She’s getting closer to realizing and accepting the truth, but no, NO! We can’t let ourselves do that, we have responsibilities and obligations to society! No no, ignore it, keep doing what you’re expected to. Ignore that edge! Don’t take the leap! (THE MATRIX does this too)

When my heart breaks (they never see it, never see it)
When my world shakes (I feel alive, I feel alive)
I don’t play it safe
Don’t you know about me?

This is the turning point. Nobody has seen the heartbreak of living a lie, but the ground is no longer stable. It’s rocking and breaking because the truth is emerging, and IT MAKES YOU FEEL ALIVE FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER. No more playing it safe. Break free.

This song is SUPER transy, and is very much about that moment of realization when your world DOES shake, and it’s the most amazing and affirming thing you’ve ever felt, choosing to drop the act and live your truth. 

That the one out trans person in the cast is playing the music is a CHOICE. The record colors are a CHOICE. Look at what it’s telling you, how it’s confirming what the song is implying. Even more, in this crucial moment in a trans person’s journey, Hari Nef gets another vital line:

13:28 – “This is the best day ever!” For a trans person, yeah it is (at least up until that point). Because it’s the moment your freedom and self-actualization begin.

Given ALL of this, it’s absolutely no surprise that this is when the movie’s most iconic and meme-able line hits:

Barbie dancing with the caption, “Do you guys ever think about dying?”

13:38 – “Do you guys ever think about dying?” It stops the party cold. And in the metaphor of “Dance the Night,” the “party” is going with the flow, doing what’s expected of you, conforming to expectations. That all STOPS.

And this is where I want to remind you of the multiple meanings “dying” has. Because:

Transition is very much about the death of the false self for the birth of the true self.

Transition is very much treated like a real death by cis people who don’t accept us.

Death is metaphorically, throughout history and cultures, a symbol of change. One door closes and another opens. One thing stops so that another may begin. It’s a TRANSITION from one thing to the next.

Do you ever think about changing everything about yourself? Do you ever think about leaving your false old life behind? Do you ever think about becoming your true self? Do you ever think about starting a new chapter? Do you ever think about TRANSITION?

And ALL OF THAT is wrapped up in this one line that hits at Barbie’s crisis point. She’s waking up to her truth and it is CHANGING REALITY. Or rather, her perception of reality. She’s realizing that the reality she thought was all there was… was. a. lie. 

She’s in a reflective outfit. There’s no clear picture reflected, and what it reflects changes as the world and lights around her change. SHE is changing.

You do NOT have to conform to gender roles or stereotypes. You do NOT have to be whatever gender someone told you that you were based on your external genitalia. You do NOT have to look or act a certain way. You only have to be who you truly are.

13:56 – “I don’t know why I said that. I’m just dying to dance.” Ha ha, I didn’t really mean it. I mean, yay being a conformo! Hooray cisness! Notably FAKING being part of the status quo gets the party going again.

We then get the shot of the dance floor mixed with the disco ball, where you can see the reflections in it are all warped. Again, Barbie’s world is changing. And LOOK at those colors, all those pinks and blues right up against each other. Transness!

An overhead shot of the dance floor, showing concentric blue and pink circles with barbies dancing on them. The center circle has been replaced by a disco ball, showing a warped reflection of the area

14:31 – Ken wants to kiss Barbie but she’s just smiling. This is the first time we’ve seen these two alone together, a famously romantic couple for half a century. And remember, in the Matrix, every kiss was a moment of vital self-acceptance between Neo and the woman he was inside.

BARBIE DOES NOT KISS HIM. He leans in and she, pointedly, does not. She is REJECTING the man she never knew how to be, never wanted to be. No thank you, please, leave me alone.

Ken leaning in to kiss Barbie in the moonlight, but she’s standing perfectly straight and not kissing him

14:45 – Ken: “I thought I could stay over tonight.” Barbie: “Why?” Ken: “Because we’re girlfriend/boyfriend” Barbie: “To do what?” Ken: “I’m actually not sure” Barbie: “I don’t want you here.” I. DON’T. WANT. YOU. HERE. (you man) SUPERtext.

16:04 – Barbie’s startled awake, not joyous like before. She’s back in pink, the lies and doubt about what women are supposed to be… and she’s not even fake smiling. It’s not right. It doesn’t fit. Because she’s not THAT kind of woman. And so everything is now WRONG.

Her hair when she wakes up, the shower, the food. THE WORLD IS WRONG. REALITY is wrong. This is (a comedic version of) what it feels like when you have dysphoria, but the world says the problem is YOU and not that the world has made no place for you in it.

And for the first time, we see Barbie IN that royal blue I mentioned, which remember stands for CONNECTION. And that’s what she’s experiencing here, connection with her true self, for the first time. And the world doesn’t treat her right.

Barbie in a royal blue and white dress, and royal blue headband, standing in her pink kitchen

16:41 – Her fake toast is burned.

16:48 – She gags on fake milk which now shows as expired.

17:03 – She floats down to her car like before, but falls.

All the things that should bring you joy make you miserable and go wrong. SHE IS EXPERIENCING GENDER DYSPHORIA AFTER WAKING UP TO HER TRANSNESS.

17:21 – Barbie’s feet flatten for the first time. She’s shocked and weirded out, because her BODY IS CHANGING TO ONE SHE LIKES BETTER and she has never ever experienced that before! (do you SEE how trans this is?)

Barbie’s feet, flat and no longer stuck in the high heel position, on a footrest under the bleachers

18:10 – Barbie shows the other Barbies her flat feet and LOOK at those responses. Screaming, yelling, mock barfing. Do I even need to tell you how society responds to trans people when they learn about some of the body changes we might need??

18:33 – “You’re malfunctioning.” Again, this is how cis people have treated trans people in our society for a very long time. “Anomalies,” “disordered,” “wrong.” Again see the trans tuesday on TRANSMEDICALISM for just how deeply cis people felt (and forced US to feel) those things.

18:43 – “You’re going to have to visit weird Barbie.” Barbie: “I have never visited weird Barbie.” “That’s because you’ve never malfunctioned.” We don’t talk to our subconscious, and in fact ignore what it has to say, when we don’t want to know what lurks within.

18:53 – “I heard she used to be the most beautiful Barbie of all, but then someone played with her too hard in the real world.” The way you’re treated impacts your thoughts of self, even in your subconscious. 

This is how implicit biases creep in. See the trans tuesday on IMPLICIT QUEERPHOBIA as a starting point.

And then see the trans tuesday on INTERNALIZED TRANSPHOBIA for just how insidious societal biases can be, and all the ways they mess us up.

That’s all for this week, and we’ve still only just barely gotten started. Next week, we’re gonna try to do something about this part of ourselves we’ve just realized, and maybe it’s not gonna go the way we think.

Tilly Bridges, end transmission.
tillysbridges@gmail.com

PART 3 is here!

TRANS REP IN MEDIA 2023 PART 3 (tv part 2)

Welcome to #TransTuesday! This is the final part of TILLY’S 2023 TRANS REP IN MEDIA! This week we’re finishing the talk on television, and will then look at the bigger picture overall, including numbers from the movies discussed two weeks ago!

If you haven’t yet, be sure to read TRANS REP IN MEDIA 2023 part 1: Movies.

And TRANS REP IN MEDIA 2023 part 2: TV part 1

We’re diving right back in to finish our talk on TV, and of course talking about them means that there will be some spoilers!

Our Flag Means Death s2 – 1

Jim is still on the show and is still nonbinary, and is played by the nonbinary and delightful Vico Ortiz.

Our Flag Means Death poster, showing the crew around a saluting Captain Stede, with the text “getting their ship together”

Sadly this show is now canceled, which happens to openly queer shows all too often. I talked about that a lot back in the TRANS REP IN MEDIA 2022.

This is something the remarkable Mo Ryan also covered… back in 2017! And it’s still going on.

Perry Mason s2 – 0

Poker Face s1 – 0

One episode has a dj pretending to be a right wing bigot. As part of his shtick, he says “what I do in the bathroom definitely isn’t gender neutral.” Is this a joke at trans people’s expense? Is it a joke about people who joke about trans people? Unclear.

But it made me uncomfortable even in context, so I’m counting it as a joke about trans people.

Quantum Leap s1 – 3 + many

This show also got an honorable mention last year when we were partway through it (we are now presently partway through s2).

Quantum Leap poster showing Raymond Lee as Dr. Ben Song, surrounded by things from different periods in history

Ian is a main cast member, and is played by the nonbinary and superb Mason Alexander Park. Ian uses they/them pronouns, and in season 1 has a line about gender being an artificial construct and not what everyone assures you is the truth!

It BLEW MY MIND when I heard it. And then I discovered that line was in there because it was suggested by trans writer Shakina, who’s on the writing staff. DO YOU SEE WHAT HAVING TRANS PEOPLE ON STAFF CAN DO??

Further, episode 12 of s1, “Let Them Play,” was written by Shakina (who also directed and guest stars), and is all about trans kids in sports. It’s an AMAZING and direly needed episode. So much so, I did AN INTERVIEW WITH SHAKINA about it when it came out early last year.

The episode features a teen trans girl and a lot of other trans teens in background roles, and you absolutely need to see it, it’s on Peacock and works mostly on its own even if you’ve not seen any other episodes of the show.

As I mentioned, s2 is only partway through release, but Ian remains a main cast member and I know Shakina is writing another episode this season that will feature a trans character in a binder. Keep an eye out.

Reservation Dogs s3 – 1

Nonbinary actor Elva Guerrera plays Jackie (though Jackie is cis). I missed them last year because I didn’t know they were nonbinary! Another example of how if they don’t make it clear the character isn’t cis, you’re going to miss it if you don’t look up every member of the cast.

Cheese still introduces himself with pronouns and kind of gets made fun of for it. At one point someone trying to get his attention says “hey, he/him/his” as if it’s a nickname.

But then later another cis man replies by saying his pronouns are the same and that’s not treated like a joke at ALL. So I think this one is too unclear for me to count as a joke at trans people’s expense.

However the “man moon” joke about men with periods from last season got a callback, and that definitely counts as a joke at our expense (hey, some trans men have periods, and they’re still men. That’s not funny, it’s just life.)

Sandman s1 – 1

Mason Alexander Park appears again, playing Desire, and “they/them” pronouns are used.

Secret Invasion – 0

Aliens called Skrull can shapeshift, and sometimes they swap genders, but nothing is said about it or done with it in a story sense.

Shrinking s1 – 0

Silo s1 – 0

Technically none, but the entire season is a REMARKABLY strong trans allegory, so much so that I wrote a NINE part series of essays on it. Check it out in the trans tuesdays on THE UNINTENTIONAL (?) TRANS ALLEGORY OF SILO S1.

Somebody Somewhere s1 – 1

Fred Rococo! A trans man played by trans man Murray Hill, and he steals every scene he’s in. In one episode a waiter brings him a drink and says, “sir, uh, ma’am,” and then stumbles over his words. Fred says “Right the first time” and leaves him a big tip.

Somebody Somewhere poster showing Bridget Everett in a flannel, smiling in front of a cornfield, with the text “a coming of middle age story.”

THIS is how you do a joke about trans people that’s not at our expense. This joke is clearly about the waiter’s perception of trans people, and it’s not cruel (even if it is a little uncomfortable).

In a later episode, we see Fred has a bomb shelter converted to Fred’s Poker Palace and there’s a progress flag hanging inside.

Somebody Somewhere s2 – 1

Fred Rococo is back and as great as ever, and in episode 2 his fiancé talks about having to come out to her parents and tell them he was trans. He and his fiance get married in the season finale, and his wife thanks her dad for coming, implying he’s come around.

Star Trek Picard s3 – 1*

Jin Maley plays Kova Rin Esmar. Jin is nonbinary, but the character isn’t mentioned as such, and I don’t think Kova’s pronouns were mentioned or used. It’s a small role.

Star Trek Strange New Worlds s2 – 1*

Nonbinary actor Noah Lamanna plays the new transporter chief, Jay. Jay is not mentioned as nonbinary, and looking back I’m not sure if they even had any lines.

The episode Ad Astra per Aspera is a very blatant and wonderful trans allegory and meant the absolute world to me. It will also be getting a write up in a future trans tuesday. It’s my favorite episode in all 800+ hours of Star Trek now.

Succession s4 – 0

Ken makes a, “we’re going to give your guns hormone therapy” joke.

Ravenhead, a Tucker Carlson type on a pseudo Fox News, is on a right wing rant about liberals and says “…your son, she’s now your daughter…”

Superman and Lois s3 – 0

Ted Lasso s3 – 0

The character of Zava says, “Time is a construct, like gender and some alphabets.” Which I was actually really happy with, until it’s then revealed that he kind of spouts nonsense and nobody believes most of the things he says. Not counting that one as a joke though, too obtuse.

BUT there are multiple instances of cis women saying things like “suck my dick” or “I’ll just give her the tip” or “well there goes my lady boner.” I feel like there were more than just those three, but those were the ones I wrote down.

So I’m counting it as three jokes about ha ha wouldn’t it be funny if a woman had a penis. Also very very tired of these, how about we all stop making these jokes please and thank you.

Also there’s something dismal in the fact that everyone points to Ted Lasso as a show about kindness, and how warm and wholesome it is (and they’re right), and even THAT show implicitly finds the idea that trans women exist to be hilarious. Fucking ouch.

Undone s1 – 0

Upload s3 – 0

RIGHT IN THE SEASON PREMIERE they continue the joke from last season about how hilarious it would be for a man to be pregnant. and again, this show is a comedy and it’s all played for laughs, this isn’t a poignant moment.

Upload poster of Andy Allo as Nora looking into a VR headset, and the back of the headset is displaying other cast members in a virtual world

They’re not exploring the idea or even acknowledging there are trans men who can get pregnant. The long, protracted scene with jokes about this from s2 was one of the worst bits of laughing at the very idea of real things trans people can be.

I was utterly dismayed they immediately brought it back to do it again. In another episode the rich executives who own the digital world people can upload to when they die is addressing the group and says something to the effect of “ladies and gentlemen and other gendered people”.

I honestly didn’t go back to check and get the exact wording, because this show is skating on thin ice in terms of jokes about trans people already. but the crowd didn’t seem to have anyone remotely non gender-conforming in it, and certainly none of the speaking characters were.

So if it was an attempt to be inclusive it failed as there was no apparent inclusion, but it feels the much more likely scenario is this was yet another pronoun joke, which the show has absolutely done before.

In another episode a man wants to wear a fanny pack in which he carries things like ointment and lip balm, and that’s treated as hilarious, which feels half a step from “men with purses are hilarious.”

And then in the same episode a man appears in a version of the Princess Leia slave bikini and other men remark that it’s objectifying but he’s owning it and subverting it.

and on another show I might think this was legit, or even not really commenting on anything at all, but on this show it’s already set me up to think the worst with things related to gender so… I don’t know.

Because there’s also a running gag about how funny it is that one guy really platonically loves another, and every time he says “I love you” it makes the other one uncomfortable and he tells him to stop.

And it’s always 100% played for laughs, so it feels like that’s also making fun of the idea of men having emotions. I like a lot of what this show does, but in a lot of ways its views on gender feel really regressive and possibly harmful.

Like in one scene a lady is experiencing misogyny from men at work and her reply is… to threaten to seduce the men’s parents, make them fall in love with her, ruin their marriages, and then dump them. In what world… I mean, what the heck?

What We Do in the Shadows s5 – 0

The Witcher s3 – 0

The Witcher: Blood Origin – 0

Yellowjackets s2 – 2*

Trans woman Nicole Maines plays Lisa and recurs through the entire season.

Yellowjackets poster, showing a closeup of a woman’s face, she has a bloody nose and a tear is falling from her eye. Near the tear a yellowjacket wasp crawls on her face.

At first it seemed like she was gonna fall into the super harmful “trans women are violent and dangerous” trope (she was overseeing a character who was abducted and tied up), but they actually deftly avoided that.

Then I thought she was going to fall into the “trans women are killed/victims of violence trap,” but they deftly avoided that, too. I again thought she was going to be killed in the season finale, but that didn’t happen either.

It’s interesting that the show kind of set it up (intentionally or otherwise) to make you think the character would fall into these dangerous tropes but then swerved and surprised you… especially given that the character is never ever mentioned as trans.

Were they expecting the audience would know, as Nicole Maines is one of the few trans actors many people know by name? Was it all chance? I have no idea. For all we know the character of Lisa is cis, so it’s impossible to say.

Lisa was a smaller role, but one of the main cast, Liv Hewson, is nonbinary. They play Van, who is cis.

So what do we have? Across 31 movies and 44 seasons of television, I found:

31 trans people – but two of them were in two different shows, and two were in multiple seasons of the same show, which brings it down to 26 unique trans people

20 confirmed trans characters – but two of those were in multiple seasons of the same shows, which brings it down to 18 unique trans characters.

AND 16 JOKES ABOUT TRANS PEOPLE.

That’s a little bit more trans rep and slightly more jokes about trans people than last year. Maybe a very slight improvement, but overall just about the same.

And a lot of the good rep that came from Heartstopper, and Quantum Leap. If I didn’t see those two shows, which totaled 7 unique trans actors, think about how much worse those numbers would be.

A large majority of the good trans representation I saw in an entire year was from two specific shows. If I didn’t happen to see those, look where I’d be. Here’s a choice quote from the aforementioned Mo Ryan article:

“Hollywood is way too quick to pat itself on the back for the smallest and most overdue steps forward when it comes to diversity, inclusion and representation — and the industry is far, far too quick to let the backsliding begin.

“And when that backsliding does begin (as it has many times in the past), many who mouth easy platitudes — instead of doing the real work of increasing the diversity of the industry — very easily and even reflexively turn a blind eye to the return to the status quo.

“(If that status quo was ever even seriously challenged — and at too many networks and studios, it is not. Still.)”

The broader representation in the medium is depressing. I don’t know what else to say about the grim state of things here, so I’m going to close this one the exact same way I closed the 2022 Trans Rep essay:

Trans people are human beings, and our media needs to do MUCH better at trans representation. Art can change hearts and minds, and when all out war is being waged against our right to exist, we need it now more than ever.

And as a reminder, cis friends, we trans writers, directors, and actors are out here! Hire us! Help us get through the door and get our stories told. We need you to help make it happen!

Together we can turn this thing around, and lots more good trans rep can change hearts and minds, and make a real world impact in the lives of trans people and cis people alike. And also like, we’re amazing, and you definitely want to work with us. Just ask me (I’m available!) 😉

Tilly Bridges, end transmission.
tillysbridges@gmail.com

TRANS REP IN MEDIA 2023 PART 2 (tv part 1)

Welcome to #TransTuesday! This is the second part of TILLY’S 2023 TRANS REP IN MEDIA! This week we’re discussing the first part of trans rep in television! Good, bad, and in between! Let’s see where things are at.

If you missed last week’s talk about TRANS REP IN MEDIA 2023 PART 1 (movies), you may want to start there.

Let’s dive in to TV and see if the rep will get any better. I’m only including things we saw an entire season of. Shows that are still only part way through their seasons are not included, because until the season’s over I obvs can’t know how many trans people appeared.

CAUTION: Once again, to discuss trans rep in these shows it necessitates talking about them, so there will be some spoilers!

Abbot Elementary s2 – 0

In one episode, a kid goes through his sales pitch for selling chocolate for a fundraiser and says, “hello sir or ma’am or otherwise identifying human.” Which is basically a reworded pronoun joke, and guess what I am also just so tired of?

Ashoka s1 – 0

Bad Batch s2 – 0

The Bear s1 – 0

The Bear s2 – 2*

Trans woman April Lichtman plays a culinary school student who has a couple background lines, but the character doesn’t have a name and isn’t mentioned as trans. How many of YOU knew she was there? I wasn’t even sure until I looked her up afterward.

Non-binary actor CG plays a chef, but the character’s gender is never mentioned.

However, there’s also a scene where Tina and Ebrahim misgender each other for fun when they meet up again after being mad at each other. I don’t really understand this or why it’s meant to be funny, but the characters think it is. Misgendering: not funny actually.

Blue Eye Samurai – 0*

So the show is about Mizu, a half-Japanese, half-white woman with blue eyes who’s hated for who she is, in a very xenophobic society. It’s very much about being physically different and being treated as a monster for it. And it’s a pretty stunning trans allegory.

Poster for Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix, showing Mizu holding a katana that is dripping blood

And her mission is to kill the four white men in all of Japan that might have fathered her, because she blames them for “making her a monster.” As part of hiding, she disguises herself as a man, which includes chest binding that you see in multiple episodes.

We learn that her mother forced her to pretend to be a boy “for her own safety,” since people were looking for a blue-eyed girl. She had to pretend to be a boy to escape the violence she’d experience as herself, which is basically what BOYMODING is.

This includes a scene of her cutting all Mizu’s hair off. We also see a flashback of her as a kid binding her chest when a bully said she looked “soft”. This is her mother and society forcing her to play the role of a boy and man, rather than be her true self.

Ringo, her apprentice and the show’s comic relief, at one point vows to not “tell anyone you’re a gir-” and Mizo stops him with her sword to his neck before he can finish saying “girl.” Mizu also always wears a scarf around her neck, as a trans woman might, to hide an Adam’s apple.

Her mission of hunting down the people who “made her a monster” reads a lot like a self-hating trans person, who hates who they are and wants to cut their transness out of their lives.

There’s a portion where she found happiness living as a woman, with a husband, but for story reasons that are immaterial here, they weren’t intimate for a very long time. But once they were, he realized something was different about her and says, “I want to see all of you.”

Now in the show this is about her remarkable prowess with a sword, but he also literally says to her, “Show me your blade.” Which, I mean, as euphemisms for a pre-op or no-op trans woman go… is pretty dang specific.

Because once she DOES show him her prowess with the blade, he becomes afraid. He turns on her. She shows her true self, a WOMAN, who is good with a sword, and she is instantly cast out and hated by those who claimed to love her.

There’s a scene in the finale where Mizu rises in front of flames, and there’s a picture of a phoenix on the wall behind the fire. And the entire concept of the phoenix is incredibly transy – one version of you dies so that another may rise from the ashes.

At the end of the finale, Mizu and Akemi, another woman on the show who has had her father and other men controlling her entire life, are both free of those men and have captured and controlled the men who tormented them.

And that very much reads, to me, like a trans woman overcoming the shell of the man she was forced to pretend to be, locking him down so that SHE was finally in control.

The show is really important in the ways it deals with racism and multi-racial people, and gender and sexism. But to me, the entire season story and Mizu herself ALSO read REALLY strongly as a transfeminine allegory, in a whole lot of different ways.

As far as I know there weren’t any trans people working on the show, but what’s the standard refrain I’ve said so many times? People may be trans and not know it yet, but ALSO it could just be coincidence because TRANS STORIES ARE HUMAN STORIES.

Fall of the House of Usher – 1*

Episode 2 features non-binary actor JayR Tinaco as Faraj. Faraj’s gender never comes up, and they meet a grisly fate (as do like 17627917 cis people). Just want you to understand their death wasn’t a case of burying your queers so much as being on a show where everyone dies.

Flash s9 – 1*

Nicole Maines’ Dreamer from Supergirl guested on an episode, but she’s not mentioned as trans. And so if you never watched Supergirl, when the character showed up here you’d have no idea she was a trans woman.

For All Mankind s4 – 0

Foundation s2 – 1

Nonbinary actor Leah Harvey plays Salvor Hardin, who is a cis woman. Actor rep, but not character rep.

Poster for Foundation, showing various shots of the main cast in the center, with spaceships and a planet in the sky behind them, with explosions and military conflict happening on the ground

There’s a group of people called Mentalics who all have various telepathic powers, and have banded together because they were treated as monsters and experienced violence in their communities.

And they placed beacons to call out to others like them, so more of them wouldn’t be afraid to come out. They read very very queer, but then it was revealed they were nefarious and evil and my heart fell, right?

Because this kind of thing happens to us all the time. But THEN in the finale you find out they were all being mind-controlled by one evil person and that really saved it for me, undid the harm I thought had been done.

And I think this just illustrates the importance of not judging a story on its representation, even allegorical representation, until you’ve seen the whole thing.

Heartstopper s1 – 1

This show got an honorable mention last year when we were only part way through the season, but now we get to talk about it in full.

Promo poster for Heartstopper season 2, showing the cast in Paris with the Eiffer Tower in the background, the two lead boys center and holding hands, and cartoon leaves blowing by. Text reads “show the world what love is made of”

Elle is a trans girl, played by trans actress Yasmin Finney. It’s mentioned by boys that she used to sit with them at an all boys school and now goes to a girls school. And that’s a pretty GREAT way to mention a character’s trans organically.

In one episode Elle mentions one of the teachers always deadnamed her and was a transphobe. BUT. The show also deals with homophobia experienced at the boy’s school so given that, I think it’s okay. It tonally fits right in with what the cis characters are going through.

Heartstopper s2 – 4!

Elle is a main character again, and they even reminded the audience she’s trans when ANOTHER trans girl (there can be TWO?!?!) tells her it would be so nice to go to this very queer art school they’re checking out.

Because then instead of being “the trans girl” they could just be themselves. That trans girl was played by trans actress Bel Priestley. The episode also features trans man Ash Self as Felix. They both appear again a few times throughout the season.

Also at an art show that Elle has a piece at, the art school’s principal is played by trans woman Rebecca Root. There’s also a teen cis boy, Isaac, who is coming to terms with being either asexual or aromantic (or both).

While neither of those is part of transness, it’s still part of the queer community and I think this is the only character in anything we watched this year that was either of those things.

Justified: City Primeval s1 – 0

The Last of Us s1 – 1*

Bella Ramsey plays Ellie. Bella is nonbinary but Ellie is a cis girl.

Leverage: Redemption s2 – 0

Loki s2 – 0

Sylvie was a great trans allegory in s1 but I didn’t get that vibe from her as much in s2. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t there, but nothing jumped out at me right away.

Mandolorian s3 – 0

Monster High s1 – 1

Frankie is one of the three lead characters and they are non-binary and introduce themselves with they/them pronouns. Caveat: Susan and I are writing for Monster High in season 2. That doesn’t make me biased in reporting on Frankie, but I wanted to be transparent.

Poster for Monster High, showing CGI animated teenage versions of famous monsters in a high school setting

Frankie is played by nonbinary actor Iris Menas, and they’re wonderful and I adore Frankie so, so much. They’re my favorite character, both to write and to watch.

Mrs. Davis s1 – 0

There’s one joke in the finale about the algorithm that runs everyone’s lives, which is explicitly woman-coded through the entire show, using her power to “swing her big dick around” that just seemed… weird and out of place.

See it’s funny because it’s a woman’s voice and a penis, but they’re together! Ha ha can you imagine? Y’know what, many people can.

My Adventures with Superman s1 – 0

In the episode with fifth dimensional imp Mxyzptlk (yes I can pronounce that, let me remind you I’m a huge Superman nerd), there is a league of Lois Lanes from across the multiverse. One is “Lewis Lane” and appears male but still wears earrings.

It’s not mentioned if Lewis is a butch cis woman, or a trans man or nonbinary, and I don’t think the character had any lines, so I don’t think I can count this one. It was still nice to see, though.

Never Have I Ever s4 – 2

Alexandra Billings returns as the school counselor, who’s still not mentioned as trans. But it’s at least a bigger role than the previous season she was in.

Promo poster for Never Have I ever, showing a very racially diverse cast of teenagers on a pink background. Text reads “still nerds, still virgins”

The character of Fabiola’s has a theyfriend named Addison who appears, and they/them pronouns are used to refer to them and they’re played by a nonbinary actor.

But then in the same episode someone calls the country of America a “she” and a teacher says it’s “nice to be reminded of America’s pronouns.” Another pronoun joke, how novel.

Oh, and in another episode a drunk student calls a cis woman “sir.” Misgendering: still not funny.

Only Murders in the Building s3 – 0

Going to cap it there for this week, but there’s a lot more to talk about! So please come back next week for the rest of the trans rep in tv discussion, as well as a look at movies and tv overall!

Tilly Bridges, end transmission.
tillysbridges@gmail.com

PS: Part 3 (aka movies part 2) is here!