Be Bold When Casting!
The job of art is to evoke feelings — whether something is ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Art is subjective, but if it makes you feel something then it is art.
Art is great at combining that feeling with pushing the audience out of their comfort zone. This can be a great way to create reactions whilst exposing the viewer to something that might be new to them.
I get a lot of castings through and I tend to sort them out based on whether I think it would be okay for me to tell ‘that story’. For example if a casting calls for a particular ethnicity, other than white, then I don’t audition: it isn’t my story as a caucasian person to tell. I try to extend that to codings as well: if the character is an elf/orc/alien but they are coded like a Latin person or a Black person then, again, it isn’t my story to tell.
In that vein, non-binary characters are having a bit of a moment in media. I see at least one non-binary character casting come through a week, at a rate probably 10x higher than I see a casting for a trans woman like myself.
On the one hand, I think it’s wonderful to see representation for my non-binary siblings. That said, I have a more cynical view of the sudden interest studios are taking in NB characters.
For a moment, I’d just like to clarify: there is no right way to be non-binary. There’s no right way to be trans or cis. Some NB people choose new pronouns, neutral names, update their formal documentation (where possible) and embrace an appearance that is neither overtly male or female. Similarly some NB people come to their identity and don’t change anything — it’s just something they’ve realised about themselves, but they don’t want a new name or new pronouns. That’s fine: both paths and everything in between is wonderful and the more people being their true selves the better.
The transgender community (including the NB community) coming out of the shadows poses a brain-teaser both for studios and the brands, corporations and backers who are funding their projects. They know there is something going on in the gender-identity space, and they want in to show they are relevant and modern, but they also don’t want to upset ‘The Normals’ too much.
I think their answer to this conundrum is a big reason why there are so many more NB character castings than there are for trans woman or trans men. Trans women, particularly, upset people. That is especially true in the UK right now, which is in the grip of a ridiculous moral panic about trans people and our rights.
So rather than push an art form to help the audience experience something they may not have before, and to evoke nuanced feelings through that performance, I think the studios are saying:
Non-binary people? Hmm… better than the trans-whatevers, but are there NB people who maybe don’t emphasise the pronoun thing, and don’t dress like that? Ideally ones who are more female? I mean they should still be non-binary… just, yanno, girls?
This is absolutely, 100% nothing to do with those NB people who were assigned female at birth and who don’t want to change their appearance or their pronouns. Those choices are completely valid, and deserving of representation, and those persons don’t need my permission for any aspect of their lives.
I’m laying my criticism at the doors of the studios who seem to see strongly female-coded non-binary actors as a way to square-a-circle: LGBTQ people will be glad of representation of any kind, and ‘The Normals’ will just see a girl. Maybe a bit of a tomboyish girl, but they can still easily pigeon hole that person as a girl rather than recognise their correct non-binary identity.
When was the last time a NB character was portrayed by a NB actor who was assigned male at birth? It’s not that it never happens, it’s just rare. How many castings call for a trans character where the story isn’t about trans stuff? I think I’ve seen one in the last 6 months, and I have agents in London, Toronto and LA.
I say again, this is no reflection on NB people of any appearance. Non-binary people are absolutely deserving of representation in media. My gripe is that a particular kind of NB actor who is seen by others as ‘safe’ is being used as a totem of progressiveness — a symbol of how modern the media producer is — in place of a host of other identities that are still being marginalised, and representing those identities will help to melt the ice around their marginalisation.
It’s a little bit like the early 90s, where every family-comedy that needed a ‘gay guy’ got Harvey Fierstein. It’s not Harvey’s fault — there’s absolutely nothing wrong with him: he’s a good actor and I’m glad he got the work, but he was being used as the safe substitute. The studio looked progressive, but in an incredibly safe way. The audience knew Harvey, they knew he was a non-threatening, funny, gentle, gay man. Win-win.
It also meant that after the movie, the audience could go back to opposing same-gender marriage and removing LGBTQ teachers from schools. Nothing in their worldview had been challenged and nothing new had been revealed to them. That isn’t Harvey’s fault, but it is the studios who got what they wanted.
It feels like this is happening with non-binary identities too. Where are the trans masculine and trans feminine characters? Nowhere. They’re upsetting. Apparently seeing a female videogame character with a masculine voice would be the end of society… so the studios don’t do it.
My message then is a simple one: be bold. If you’re a creative working in the media industry, when you script your next PS5 game or that new big Cartoon Network show, please go big and challenge your audience.
By all means cast feminine non-binary people, just don’t stop there and think it’s job done! There’s a whole spectrum of non-binary identities to explore and to challenge your audience with. On top of that, you’ve got the entire transgender community to take inspiration and cast from!
I got my gender-questioning metaphorically kicked out of me after I left University. Whilst there, I was wearing makeup and heels to class… but after? Gone. It took years of psychotherapy for me to understand myself and see I was a trans woman. Since then I’ve been medicalised to the nth degree and there is still a fierce argument in my country about whether I’m a normal human or mentally ill person who needs pity. I transitioned in the first half of the 2010s and I still have to correct my nurse about my gender (trans woman, not trans man). I still have to explain why I’ve not had this or that surgery.
Woe is me, poor princess, right?
Well — you know what I want? A children’s TV character who is trans and doesn’t have to go through any of that. A character is allowed to just be happy and be a part of an adventure and their being trans is just part of who they are.
I don’t want young people to go through the shit I went through. I want them to come to their own conclusions about themselves, explore those ideas and embrace or reject them as they choose. Being trans is great, so is not being trans. Fine choices, both. No bad options there.
That won’t happen until the audience at home are challenged. We say ‘representation matters’ because, for example, a soap opera might be the first time a viewer is knowingly exposed to an LGBTQ person! That representation is likely to be an important part of how that person will expect to interact with an LGBTQ person if they meet in real life.
Studios: don’t use what you consider a ‘safe’ image of a non-binary identity (ie a tomboy) as your only representation. Use AMAB non-binary people, too! Cast trans people! Have a male character with a female-coded voice! Cast a beautiful woman with a male-coded voice! Push the audience a bit and take them somewhere they’ve not been before!
What’s the worst that can happen? Some snowflake like John Cleese cries a sad cry because a bloke-character sounded like a lady? Who cares what he thinks — if that’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to him he’s done well! Moms For Liberty throw their toys out the pram? So what? Nobody in their right mind should give a tinker’s cuss about them.
Be bold. Be diverse. Ask ‘why shouldn’t the character be…’ instead of ‘why should they be…’ and push the boundaries of that decision. Don’t fall back on the safe choice because when you do that you’re painting with just one oil out of a box of paints! By all means do use that one colour, but put others on the canvas too!
You’ve got a whole rainbow to paint with, so start painting.
Girls will be boys and boys will be girls, it’s a mixed-up muddled-up shook-up world except for Lola…
The Kinks — Lola (Official Audio)
[Fun fact — despite recording this song about an encounter with a trans woman back in the 1960’s, in the 21st Century the Kinks have thankfully repeatedly clarified that it wasn’t based on any real situation. And even if it was real, then they didn’t sleep with her. And, anyway, even if they did it wasn’t them, it was their manager! Thanks for clearing that up, boys. We were all worried sick.]
