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this is taking more replies than i thought. fuck it, heres a screencap of the review on letterboxd:

dogshit movie. masterclass in transmisogyny.

the opening song tells us this is a story about violence and love, and it delivers on that promise: in this movie, masculinity is violence; a violence which Emilia (Karla Sofía Gascón) wishes to escape through transition. the film firmly states that Emilia's wish is a doomed one. she was born violent and violence will always be a part of her.

this is an idea inherent to transmisogyny: male bodies are violent, and therefore transfem bodies are violent. "abuser-bodied" is a term used to other us and justify our exclusion from queer and women's spaces. the film Emilia Perez sets out to repackage this idea in a veneer of shitty music, crime and family drama, and toothless takes on too many social issues to count.

the film is apparently interested in many topics; drug trafficking, kidnapping, murder, corruption, sexism, ineffective justice systems, etc. it takes time out of its two hour length to mention all of these, but not to say anything about them. midway through the film, lawyer Rita (Zoe Saldana) sings a #deep song about how all these corrupt politicians are "going to pay, to pay, to pay, to pay"—the implication being that they are going to pay for their crimes—but Rita has no intention of making then do so. the reason she's in this ballroom with them is to ask for their money for her and Emilia's charity—shes not making them pay, she's asking them to. the film wants to act as if it's commenting on social issues here, even though its completely uninterested in doing so...

...though its completely uninterested in doing so. instead of highlighting social issues, it unintentionally paints Rita as a corrupt, hollow sellout. she knows these people, knows where their money comes from, but gets into bed with them anyway. her performative rage at the system is a hollow edifice that appeals to liberal Academy voters, and no one else.

considering what the film is interested in saying, i almost prefer that approach. in a widely (deservedly) memed-on song, Rita is introduced to the world of gender-confirming surgery in a spectacle meant to elicit the macabre, the exotic amd erotic. a doctor sings "man to woman, penis to vaginaaaaaa" while Rita excitedly dances and asks for more. The doctors voice is made robotic, calling to mind cyborgs and robotic women; robotic women like Emilia is soon to become.

Rita later attempts to convince a reluctant doctor to perform those surgeries on Emilia. in a tone of profundity, she claims, "if you could only see what he's shown me."

Note the masculine pronoun. Not only does Rita continually misgender Emilia during this conversation (for which Emilia is not present), but the two of them have only had one on-screen conversation: their first meeting, in which Emilia shows Rita her boobs and says in a raspy, hyper-masculine voice, "I wish to be a woman."

So what is Rita talking about here? The only possible answer is the range of strange, wondrous surgeries she has just been informed of, or the fact that trans people exist, both of which this doctor is well aware of. I suspect the film is gesturing at some nebulous idea of the unloveable other showing us true beauty through their resilience, but frankly that is a reach. The film chooses not to say what Rita is talking about here, likely because the film itself has no idea. What we are left with in that gesturing absence is that the surgeries, the act of changing your body in a way that others...

...find both disturbing and fascinating, is not only the sum total of trans existence, but is itself somehow meaningful; aren't the trannies brave for mutilating their bodies this way? For choosing to make themselves an artificial mockery of womanhood in order to be true to themselves? Isn't there beauty in their struggle to be recognized as something they clearly are not? It's a dismal, patronizing view of transfemininity. But before the conversation ends, a song breaks out in which Zoe Saldana, not Rita, turns to the camera and proclaims to the audience that she will always have our backs. Forgive me if I don't fall at her feet in gratitude.

the specter of Emilia's past, as a cartel boss and as a man, hangs over her constantly in a way the movie does not seek to challenge. she tries to change her ways: fake her death, become a woman through extensive surgeries, and use her money to help those affected by cartel violence. but of course, when her formee wife, Jessi, tries to move on from the husband she believes is dead, Emilia immediately sinks into her "male" voice and physically assaults her, then sends goons to beat and threaten the boyfriend's life. this results in Jessi and her boyfriend kidnapping Emilia during the climax of the film. As Jessi begins to suspect who Emilia really is, she asks "who are you?"

her reply of "Emilia," is drowned out by Jessi singing her deadname. immediately after this, we see Emilia for the last time as she is thrown in the trunk of a car, and all three of them perish in a burning wreck. Emilia cannot escape her manhood, the violence inherent in her body. everyone weep for her; what a tragic figure, the tranny.

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but Rita has no intention of making them do so. the reason she's in this ballroom with them is to raise money for her and Emilia's charity—shes not making them pay, she's *asking* them to. the film wants to act like it's commenting on something here, but its uninterested in actually doing so. (/x)

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it takes time out of its 2-hour length to mention all these, but not to say anything about them. midway through the film, lawyer Rita (Zoe Saldana) sings a #deep song about how all these corrupt politicians are "going to pay, to pay, to pay"—implying that they are going to pay for their crimes—(x/x)

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Emilia Perez sets out to repackage this idea in a veneer of shitty music, crime and family drama, and toothless takes on too many social issues to count. the film is apparently interested in many topics; drug trafficking, kidnapping, murder, corruption, sexism, ineffective justice systems, etc.

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the film firmly states that Emilia's wish is a doomed one: she was born violent and violence will always be a part of her. this idea is inherent to transmisogyny: male bodies are violent, therefore transfem bodies are violent. it's used to other us and justify our exclusion from queer/women's spaces

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Thought Slime’s monster @slimemildred.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

My review of Emilia Perez: TL;DR dogshit movie. masterclass in transmisogyny the opening song says this is a story about violence and love, and it delivers on that promise: in this movie, masculinity is violence; a violence which Emilia (Karla Sofía Gascón) wishes to escape through transition (1/X)

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Maximum possible solidarity

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okay thats it for now. i have many thoughts about this show so i may start a new thread later

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this is why, when questioned on her antagonism towards Cait in s1, Vi's only answer is that "you topsiders just dont understand" as if hatred of their rich oppressors can be nothing more than empty, juvenile rebellion—rebellion which actively prohibits what the show considers to be actual progress

the existence of the massively wealthy is predicated on the existence of poverty; it is not a result of poor people being meanies.

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the show fails to ask why, if it is such an easy task as to be completed in less than ten years, this wasn't done before. it fails to understand why poverty exists; that it is created and enforced by the systems of power that the rich and the government benefit from.

if she had not ignited the overt violence that had been simmering under the surface for years, the government would have ended poverty within a decade. literally ended it. in this timeline, the undercity shares in the riches of Piltover, and everyone is alive and happy! hooray!

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Arcane has no understanding of why poor people exist in the first place. there is an episode late in s2 where we see what would've happened if the poor people did not fight back against their oppressors. in an alternate timeline where Vi never started the story, we see that everything is perfect.

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i must reiterate, the heroes of our story literally have a #️⃣EpicCopMontage where they gas the poor people of the city in their search for a single terrorist. we are meant to find this heroic, as demonstrated by the badass music video montage used to communicate this.

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the show is very pro-cop. the lesbian otp are obv cops, which the narrative treats as heroic despite the atrocities they commit in that position. never is this highlighted more than early in s2 when Cait and Vi weaponize the life-saving ventillation system of the undercity to use the gas as cover.

in episode one, we see Claggor for the first time, then immediately cut to a plate full of cupcakes. "gee," i thought, "i wonder where this is going." very next shot, he is stuffing an entire cupcake into his mouth. in every other fat character, fatness is used to highlight that evil/greed/gluttony

physical difference, including both fatness and disability, is used as visual shorthand for evil. there are two #️⃣Goodguy fat characters, Claggor and Benzo, and they both die in s1e3.

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of having gained wisdom through sacrifice. neither one is shown to be disabling to its respective character. theyre aesthetic choices in a show enamored with aesthetics over all else.

one of the main characters breaks his leg. other than that, there are no positive depictions of disability. Jinx loses her middle finger, and thats played as a gag. Cait loses an eye in the last episode, which is simultaneously a punishment for her previous slide into fascism and a symbolic mark...

Ableism. every single villain, criminal, or minor antagonist is disabled in some way. every single one. - there is one protagonist who is disabled. he later becomes a villain. - there is one minor antagonist with a missing arm who transitions to minor ally to more or less good in the final episodes

i just did something i promised myself i'd never do and intentionally watched a scene from Arcane, to see just how bad the transmisogynist joke in the first episode is -- and people are absolutely 10…

Transmisogyny. I cant tell you how weird it was to see a "tranny hooker" joke in episode one, right off the bat. check out thus tumblr post for a full break down: www.tumblr.com/tgirlranting...

tumblr.com

butch tgirl rants

okay completing my arcane review now that ive finished the show. Spoilers ahead.

A screenshot from Arcane, showing a hyper-muscular caricature of a trans woman sex worker striking a feminine pose.

charatzu @charatzu.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

shakespeare if it was written in 2024: - titus ANDROGYNOUS - much ado about NEOPUSSY - julius SHEsar - HAMLET

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charatzu @charatzu.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

at time of writing i have just finished e1s8, and believe me when i tell you that every single villain/evil-coded character is disabled in some way. there is exactly 1 (one) disabled protsgonist and he appears to be on a villain arc

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charatzu @charatzu.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

maybe a hot take but arcane kinda sucks actually. how did i never see a single post talking about the incoherent writing, dogshit politics, transmisogyny, fatphobia or ableism in the YEARS since season 1 came out? 's'pretty tho

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Benjanun Sriduangkaew @ Persephone Effect out now @benjanun.bsky.social · 18/10/2024

My latest book, co-written with @devi.bsky.social, is a mecha cyberpunk retelling of Hades/Persephone: lesbians, giant monsters, cannibalism, Greek gods as you've never seen them before, and a delightful amount of blood. Amazon: www.amazon.com/Hades-Calcul... Itch: mariaying.itch.io/the-hades-ca...

Cover art of THE HADES CALCULUS with yellow background depicting a severe, butch woman with black hair, golden eyes, and cracks of light running through her face.

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Here Be Dragons @sharag234.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Same, lol. 😂😂😂

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Atticus 🚀 @astroshot.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

I made this phone background for my partner! #moomin #moominvalley

Image shown is an illustration of the characters Snufkin and Moomin from Moomin Valley embracing on a flowery hillside during Sunset. Moomin is wearing a white flower crown made by Snuffkin from the surrounding flowers. The two smile, peacefully closing their eyes in the embrace.

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e(Ag)le 🦅 @silvereagle.dev · 23/11/2024

I can't with Resist Libs "LOL a cat with Fuck Trump glasses!" ok but vulnerable people need your hel- "I'm a fact checker!" trans people need your suppo-- "Cheeto Mussolini LOL" countless are suffering and need mutual ai-- "Let's read a banned book!" can you just wear a mas-- "MAGAts!! hahaha"

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The Transfeminine Review @thetransfemininereview.com · 13/11/2024

THIS IS A CALL TO ACTION. Censorship affects all of us, and if Project 2025 gets its way, the entire trans publishing industry is at a significant risk of criminalization. In this article, I lay out the problem and the stakes, and suggest a broad action plan with dozens of potential response ✊

thetransfemininereview.com

The Trans Literature Preservation Project: A Practical Guide to Resisting Censorship

Project 2025 wants to criminalize trans literature. Here’s a game plan for keeping our stories alive.

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The Transfeminine Review @thetransfemininereview.com · 14/11/2024

Anyway if you’re looking for a fun place to start your microlibrary, here’s a list of fifteen black transfemme novelists you should read ✨

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charatzu @charatzu.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

Your site is an amazing resource!