“It reiterates the stereotype [trans] is a costume” - Mrs Doubtfire and Seattle Times

[CountZacular]

The Mrs Doubtfire musical is set to launch in West End in May. I noticed it trending on Twitter earlier and saw this review (2019) doing the rounds in support of why trans people shouldn’t watch it. I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but I’m completely astounded the hypocrisy is lost on them.

https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/theater/mrs-doubtfire-roundtable-intro/?amp=1

A couple of quite incredible quotes:

”I didn’t see “Mrs. Doubtfire” in [movie] theaters. I actually watched it for the first time this week. And I thought: “Oh god. This is really bad.” I guess the important thing to remember is that this is all constructed from someone’s imagination of what someone like me must be — and they’re doing it without any direct experience.”

“The “man in a dress” trope is one that always comes up because we have these cis actors playing trans women — and then they show up to accept their award in a beard. It reiterates the stereotype that this is a costume that you get to just put on and take off, instead of bringing to light that this is our lives. I think in 2019 there have already been [at least 22] trans murders. It’s a funny joke when you’re at The 5th Avenue Theatre and you paid hundreds of dollars to go, but it’s not funny when your sister dies. Where do we start to draw the line?”

Mrs Doubtfire certainly isn’t trans- but I can understand it being a sore point (and throwing up insecurities) for trans people because it plays for laughs the idea of a man dressed as a woman. Which deep down may be an anxiety for some transwomen.

which (as has been noted pt a previous poster) makes drag very questionable- every Lily Savage, Danny La Rue (remember him?) every stag do where blokes dress up as women- it’s probably as much a sore point to transwomen (there is much less comparable for transmen) as it is for feminists.

i dont really know how- if you’re trans- you can separate out drag queens (men dressed as women for entertainment purposes) from films like Mrs Doubtfire and Tootsie.

When you look at trans representation in mainstream movies over the years there’s a lot of problematic ideas (trans characters often portrayed as dangerous, deceitful, murderous, deep mental health issues etc) I can understand and sympathise up to a point. Male characters dress as women for deceitful reasons/ personal gain- that must feel uncomfortable. But characters portraying themselves as something they are not is a standard dramatic device.

digging into all this would probably make an interesting article in the right hands, but I don’t think this is the right criticism of Doubtfire (of which I’m not a fan)

Anyone who thinks Mrs Doubtfire is trans is just showing themselves up to be very, very, very, very stupid.

Male characters dress as women for deceitful reasons/ personal gain- that must feel uncomfortable

But also very real? Men who 'dress as women' are always doing it for personal gain though the specific gain varies. Pretending to be a woman, and entering female spaces as a result, is never OK and is always an act of aggression IMHO. Men putting on a dress and saying 'I'm a man in a dress' is fine and quite different.

Love Mrs Doubtfire, deffo one for the kids!
we have drag but Mrs D isn’t okay? Please.

It's funny you bring this up. My friend is a drag queen and he's actually been accused of transphobia a lot because of this so yes. Many of them consider drag to be transphobic.

Yes, drag is transphobic. It's not misogynistic at all though.

The contributor who was labelled (for want of a better word) “intersex” is a trans woman. Who has blogged extensively about transitioning & who’s written about trans issues for/on Medium.

I can’t see the VA having forked out for a chromosome analysis in the last year so am left with the hugely uncomfortable conclusion they’re unlikely to be being honest about this. That said, there is a possibility they’ve genuinely been confused/misled by the “1.7% of people are intersex” lie & are making the statement in good faith, fully believing that if they could access testing it would confirm they have a DSD.

None of the contributors were going to be able to say the show’s fine so I’m impressed they got as much positive feedback as they did. Person who wrote the article clearly wasn’t so impressed - how annoying for them that there was some nuance instead of a universal call to rally the pitchforks + flaming torches mob.

So, a male presenting as a mockery of a woman in 'woman face' is not the problem for some people. What seems to upset those people is if someone imitates the male who is imitating a woman. You can dis women all you like, apparently. Misogyny fine.

So, if we continue that line of thinking, the corresponding problem for Justin Trudeau in his 'black face' would be having been offensive to the minstrels.