TRANS:GRESSIVE
Amanda Kramer's Please Baby Please (2022) and the beauty of unapologetically trans representation in film + a queer art spotlight.
Set in an idealized, technicolor 1950s Manhattan, Amanda Kramer’s 2022 film Please Baby Please follows typical beatniks Suze and Arthur, a newlywed couple that both experience a gender and sexual awakening upon exposure to a spunky, greaser gang.
The film has been described as “West Side Story meets Kenneth Anger” and all I can say is that even upon rewatching, I’m still thoroughly disappointed. Maybe this has more to do with the state of trans representation in modern cinema and less to do with this director’s creative vision — or maybe the truth lies somewhere in between.
Please Baby Please wasn’t bad, it was actually quite good, but it just wasn’t what I wanted. I want more. I need more. Kramer excelled in her goals, but this film was just not for me. It felt like a chore.
So, I wonder, why would a film that seems so chemically designed to be my exact bread and butter be so BORING? Why would such a fun concept and execution leave me feeling uninspired and gasping for more? Well, I think some other questions might need to be posed first.
Why can’t trans films be unapologetically trans?
Why do so many directors, queer or otherwise, tip-toe around subversion?
Why do filmmakers coddle Cishet fears?
Why must every 90 minutes of gender bending cinema include such mild attempts at breaking the binary?
I appreciate the tone and visuals of this film, believe me I do, but we live in a world where only ONE
art house trans film can get the spotlight every year (or every couple years) and this one being the 2022 pick just left me numb, heaving over a barf bag at age 9 after seeing the state of my growing, pubescent body. I felt cold. I felt scared.
I see the references and I applaud them. Hell, nearly every scene in this musical/drama can be cross-referenced for homage and allusion. I guess Please Baby Please was never concerned with being radical, it was concerned with an aesthetic — a feeling, a musing — but I want filth. I want transgressive trans representation.
Trans representation, dare I say, shouldn’t be understood by cis people, and that’s O.K.
I want them to be disgusted by depictions of our lives — but not due to their own close-minded, transphobic brains, unable to comprehend or understand our radical authenticity, but due to the sheer grotesque nature of our absurdity, our vile, sick gender queer performances.
⋆。゚☁︎。⋆。 ゚☾ ゚。⋆ *ੈ✩‧₊˚❀*ੈ✩‧₊˚⋆。゚☁︎。⋆。 ゚☾ ゚。⋆ *ੈ✩‧₊˚❀*ੈ✩‧₊˚♂
✰ I want to see trans nightmares, trans fears, trans erections, trans euphoria — I want my organs and limbs to explode in this new era. ✰
♂ ⋆。゚☁︎。⋆。 ゚☾ ゚。⋆ *ੈ✩‧₊˚❀*ੈ✩‧₊˚⋆。゚☁︎。⋆。 ゚☾ ゚。⋆ *ੈ✩‧₊˚❀*ੈ✩‧₊˚
I know it might not seem like it, but this isn’t a dig at the film, this is a dig at the state of trans representation. Where is todays “New Line Cinema” — giving the likes of queer experimental filmmaker Gregg Araki the recognition and distribution they deserve? Is Vimeo the answer? Are midwestern film programs with 1 queer faculty member the solution? Will independent publishing save us all?
With the state of greyscale Marvel flicks and mass produced streaming service shows, it’s hard to find inspiration these days. However, I have this craving, you see. I have this ache. This burning desire for films like Polyester. Hedwig. But I’m a Cheerleader. Bound. Nowhere. To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar. Jawbreaker.
I need nuclear playgrounds for gender confusion. Trans wastelands for spiritual, emotional, and sexual decomposition. I want a viscous, neon green ooze, a worldwide televised metamorphosis founded in extraterrestrial, intergalactic trans love.
Please Baby Please, from my perspective, feels like a cis film. I know changing the course of trans representation was not Kramer’s intention with the film, nor did I expect it to be, I think part of me was hoping to find solace in this film. In a time when the American republican party is declaring war on trans bodies.
No matter which way you look at it, these characters feel like they are playing dress up. Our lives are not a costume. Gender can be explored by anyone and I don’t mean to sound so bitter, I judge my own place in trans conversations daily and understand the privileges I have in many ways that I allow me move about society, but that doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to see the flaws in a particular piece of media and point them out in such a frivolous way on the internet — especially when a film sparks such a fire in my bowels like this one did. 🔥💩
This film serves as a love letter to queer cinema, but it ultimately left me feeling empty and uninspired. I don’t expect every queer film to be my exact revolutionary cup of trans tea, but you can’t blame a boy for wanting the whole world.
DEPICTIONS OF TRANS JOY
TRANS JOY is important, Period. Let’s share love! Enjoy some photography, art, music, movies, and community engagement that inspires me as a trans filmmaker and creative!
MUSTACHIOED MUSES: Dorian Electra, Landon Cider, and Vico Ortiz
BLOCKBUSTER RENTAL: Bros Before (2022)
Written and Directed by Henry Hanson.
Starring Radcliffe Adler, Meadow Meyer, and Marten Katze.
Synopsis: Billy and Elijah are two trans bros who just happen to enjoy jerking off together - in a straight way. But when Billy starts dating a woman, Elijah must come to terms with his feelings for Billy and his own burgeoning homosexuality.
*Available on Otherness Archive, a visual archive documenting queer films and its pioneers, as well as a space for contemporary filmmakers.
PLAYLIST SPOTLIGHT: Lust Sick Puppy and June Henry.
✰ COMPUTER LOVE ✰
ZAIN CURTIS (@happydevilboy) he/him MULTI-MEDIA ARTIST
GENEVIEVE KUZAK (@sadisticboyhunter) he/him PHOTOGRAPHER
FRANCES COWBOY (@francescowboy_) she/her he/him ARTIST/MUSICIAN
THE VIDEO VULCAN (@thevideovulcan) she/her QUEER VHS COLLECTOR
VHS COLLECTORS TO CHECK OUT
: Rainbow Video (@rainbowvide0), Lunchmeat (@lunchmeatvhs), Alyssa Anonymous (@alyssa.anonymous), Crumie Cory (@crumiemedia), Nerd Burger (@nerdburgercazz).
✰ IN THE REAL WORLD ✰
Pure Imagination: UK-based Queer-Inclusive Performance Art Collectives (@pure_imagination)
*Honorable Mention: Bristol/London-based surrealist puppet troupe BEANPIG PUPPETS (@beanpigpuppets)
Immodest Opulence: Virginia-Based Queer-Inclusive Burlesque and Variety Productions (@immodestopulence)
Comment below info about YOUR local queer art scene!
Let’s start a database. ♡
Thanks for coming with me along for the ride on this lonely highway in cyber-space!
Stay gold Ponyboys!
XOXO
Wren ✰
(a.k.a Lady Boner)