Random but nice

[jethrien]

In the last couple weeks I've read not one but two books that featured transexual major characters. (Probably not a total coincidence, they're both from the same publisher--Fly into Fire, and a story in the anthology A Series of Ordinary Adventures, which I haven't finished yet.) In both cases, it's treated very matter-of-fact. Not a plot point, not a shocking reveal. It's a major and important part of each character's backstory, but only in the sense that it informs the person they've become, not in the sense that it defines them. Renna is a reluctant heroine, impulsive, scared, and generous, who happens to be trans. Cynthia is an artist recovering from the death of her partner, quiet, shy, and protective, who also happens to be trans. They each worry a little about how people will react to their histories, but it's not a driving motivation--Renna cares mostly about helping a group of refugees escape from an oppressive government while Cynthia cares mostly about taking care of an egg she found and piecing her life back together. They're normal people in extraordinary circumstances, and the fact that they're trans is important but only about as important as if they'd been, say, adopted. It's refreshing.

Comments

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I have had a nice experience with gay characters on The Wire which I just started watching. One of them is a drug-dealing scumbag, whose sexual proclivities are mocked by the other drug-dealing scumbags because they don't like him and harping on his being gay is just part of that. But his character isn't any different or better than the others. He just happens to be gay. Ditto one of the cops who is a lesbian. She has issues for being a cop and she and her partner have to deal with it. Their life is so...normal. So unmelodramatic. It's also, by far, the most diverse cast I've ever seen in any production outside of shows on BET and the old UPN.

There's also a show on DirecTV now with Chloe Sevigny as a hitman undergoing gender reassignment which is almost irrelevant to the story. I hear great things.