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I've been asked to be on a podcast about X Files, specifically the Darin Morgan episodes. At first I thought this would be easy as episodes like Clive Bruckman's Final Repose, Humbug and Jose Chung are some of my favorite episodes of TV ever. For some reason I was also asked to watch David Harbor's Frankenstein's Monster's Monster, Frankenstein in preparation for the podcast.
Then I went to did my research and realized that Darin Morgan also did the episode of TV that made me cancel Netflix, stop watching tv and get into audio dramas instead. That episode was sort of a 'straw that broke the camel's back' situation, but still it was that episode. I was sick of getting into a show and then, over it's long run, the show doing something shitty like being homophobic or transphobic.
I don't know if we'll really get into this episode or how the podcast will go in general. But, if we do someone might ask me the question 'is this episode really transphobic?' If they do I will need a well reasoned response. Hopefully, we'll just take that as read and skip to his season 11 episode where the villain is named checks notes Dr. Q. They. WTF Darin, issues much?
Since I am analyzing this pile of personal issues masquerading as a plotline, I am also going to put my thoughts here. Maybe writing them out will help me get them settled in my mind.
What a man says in jest often lies close to the truth
This episode is about playing with stereotypes. At it's heart, it's about having a 15 minute conversation where they tell us, not show us, the plot and themes while standing on the grave of Kim Manners. Kim Manners is a legend in the world of genre TV cinematography and is responsible for the unique look of early Supernatural episodes. He's often listed as director, but his signature style involves specific things to do with lighting and camera work, so I tend to refer to him more as a cinematographer than director. This Kim Manner info is a digressions, but it's a bit odd that it's happening during the scene.
A prominent and oft-referenced character in this episode is Annabelle, a trans woman who is played by a drag queen who identifies as male. I've done some digging, including reading his own bio on his own website, and see no sign that he is anything but a cisman. Annabelle is a sex worker who immediately outs herself just in case they didn't make her clockable enough.
I am not going to argue that it's inherently bad for a cis person to play a trans character. It sucks that Hollywood pretty much never casts trans people for trans roles, instead they opt for casting the most gorgeous people in Hollywood to try to buy some acceptance for the character, like the Scarlett Johansson debacle that wont die. It's a symptom of a fucked up trend and in a perfect world it wouldn't matter much. But this is an episode about leaning into stereotypes and their transwoman is played by a guy in a dress. Who is a sex worker, talks crudely and hits like a guy.
White men area also stereotyped in this. The poor lizard creature is bit by a man and is cursed to become one. He feels completely absurd compulsions to get a job, save for a mortgage and watch porn after work.
So, what is the differences between the comedic stereotyping of a black transwoman and a middle aged white guy?
First, the stereotype about the white person is something the audience is supposed to find ludicrous. Mulder finds it ludicrous and illogical. At the same time Mulder accepts Annabelle as an ordinary feature of life. He refers to being trans as a 'common medical procedure'. There ... is a lot to unpack in calling being trans a 'common medical procedure', but let's put that aside. That stereotype of black transwomen is one lots of people do believe and they are killed over it.
People aren't killed for being white. 14 black transwomen have been murdered for being who they are so far this year. A POC transwoman has a life expectancy in the US of 35. The rate at which they are killed and lack of access to medical care are large factors in this.
Want to make fun of me for being white? Go right ahead. I live in Oregon, but was born in Connecticut. I snowshoe for fun. I am super white. I feel absolutely no anxiety eating lefse with local honey and a touch of hand harvested sea salt from the nearby Norwegian food cart. Making fun of someone who has a good chance of being killed for similarly just living their life is not the same thing. Imagine trying to be a part of a community when your demographic is being murdered at such a high rate.
Aaaaaand getting back to the narrative, it turns out that Mr. Guy Mann is acting weird because of some weird paranormal stuffs, but not Annabelle. The episode, on many levels, points to the stereotype of the white man being not valid but points to the stereotypes about Annabelle being valid. So, men murdering women aside, it's still shitty. The writer is rejecting the stereotype of his demographic and reinforcing the stereotype of another demographic.
It's also shitty because because it's got 'you couldn't clock that transperson' as a punchline in the middle of the show. Mr. Guy Man didn't even have a concept of life or death or many other human concepts until a day ago. There is no reason for him not clocking a transperson to be worthy of note, much less lead to a side conversation about orchidectomies. The writer just wanted to go on about trans women a bit more.
Now, as hard as I am being on this show, I could be harder. Oh, trust me, the metaphors and some of the logic lines here are really disturbing when you take a hard look at them. But I am going to assume that Darin didn't intend some of that stuff, this whole episode is a mess of his own issues, rejecting stereotypes about himself and reinforcing ones about other people.
I don't want to be negative about an X Files episode, especially a Darin Morgan one. I am not into Cancel Culture (With one exception, ask if you are curious). I think a lot of creators lose perspective when working on projects and don't realize things that are obvious to an outside POV. Showing your ass without realizing it is part of being a writer. Some of my favorite media is hashtag-problematic. I want to err on the side of being lenient, but I can't when a massive pile of issues and hatred is masquerading as a plotline.
Rather than tear into this X Files episode I'd rather talk about how it's very possible to have a good 'metaphor for trans' episode involving were-creatures. Just like a lot of camp villains are queer coded and parts of queer culture are into Loki and others, some parts of NB and Trans culture are into monsters are they are often coded as gender non-conforming. Also, only being yourself in a places outside mainstream society on a regular schedule? Sneaking around, being paranoid about unsightly body hair, worrying about left objects, actual transformations, there is a lot to work with here. The is tons of fodder for drama, comedy, horror, romance, etc! There is potential for a good plotline there. Instead we got some white boy taking out his phobias on one of geek culture's most beloved franchises.
Some say that werewolf myths are about puberty. Some trans people talk about going on HRT like it's a second puberty. There are things to be careful in a storyline like that, but it could work.
I could be sitting here rhapsodizing about a very good X Files episode rather than sitting here worrying about whether I am going to have to defend 'transphobia is bad' to a bunch of strangers next week. I don't know these people. I don't know if we can take 'hatred is bad' as read or if I am being stuck in a room with a bunch of TERFs. If I am, will I be able to express myself well?
I looked up some reviews of the episode to see if I'd overlooked anything obvious. I hadn't. Most of the articles were pretty tepid and didn't actually back up their points. The first comment to a lot of them were 'I don't think there was any trans metaphor going on here' or something along those lines. What if I am smacked with a clearly batshit statement like that? It's not subtle. We aren't dealing with clever theming or careful shots framing one character as good/angelic and the other as evil, or a difference in focus. It's two guys in a cemetery being over the top overt about the themes ... in a poorly lit shot standing on the grave of over of the lighting greats.
If you'd like some humor about trans people that isn't shitty and playing into dangerous stereotypes, I recommend The Darkness by Contrapoints. It's a video essay on dark humor, and it's worth a watch if you haven't. I am going to watch it again before the podcast in hopes that her ability to make words good will help me if the issue comes up.
Then I went to did my research and realized that Darin Morgan also did the episode of TV that made me cancel Netflix, stop watching tv and get into audio dramas instead. That episode was sort of a 'straw that broke the camel's back' situation, but still it was that episode. I was sick of getting into a show and then, over it's long run, the show doing something shitty like being homophobic or transphobic.
I don't know if we'll really get into this episode or how the podcast will go in general. But, if we do someone might ask me the question 'is this episode really transphobic?' If they do I will need a well reasoned response. Hopefully, we'll just take that as read and skip to his season 11 episode where the villain is named checks notes Dr. Q. They. WTF Darin, issues much?
Since I am analyzing this pile of personal issues masquerading as a plotline, I am also going to put my thoughts here. Maybe writing them out will help me get them settled in my mind.
What a man says in jest often lies close to the truth
This episode is about playing with stereotypes. At it's heart, it's about having a 15 minute conversation where they tell us, not show us, the plot and themes while standing on the grave of Kim Manners. Kim Manners is a legend in the world of genre TV cinematography and is responsible for the unique look of early Supernatural episodes. He's often listed as director, but his signature style involves specific things to do with lighting and camera work, so I tend to refer to him more as a cinematographer than director. This Kim Manner info is a digressions, but it's a bit odd that it's happening during the scene.
A prominent and oft-referenced character in this episode is Annabelle, a trans woman who is played by a drag queen who identifies as male. I've done some digging, including reading his own bio on his own website, and see no sign that he is anything but a cisman. Annabelle is a sex worker who immediately outs herself just in case they didn't make her clockable enough.
I am not going to argue that it's inherently bad for a cis person to play a trans character. It sucks that Hollywood pretty much never casts trans people for trans roles, instead they opt for casting the most gorgeous people in Hollywood to try to buy some acceptance for the character, like the Scarlett Johansson debacle that wont die. It's a symptom of a fucked up trend and in a perfect world it wouldn't matter much. But this is an episode about leaning into stereotypes and their transwoman is played by a guy in a dress. Who is a sex worker, talks crudely and hits like a guy.
White men area also stereotyped in this. The poor lizard creature is bit by a man and is cursed to become one. He feels completely absurd compulsions to get a job, save for a mortgage and watch porn after work.
So, what is the differences between the comedic stereotyping of a black transwoman and a middle aged white guy?
First, the stereotype about the white person is something the audience is supposed to find ludicrous. Mulder finds it ludicrous and illogical. At the same time Mulder accepts Annabelle as an ordinary feature of life. He refers to being trans as a 'common medical procedure'. There ... is a lot to unpack in calling being trans a 'common medical procedure', but let's put that aside. That stereotype of black transwomen is one lots of people do believe and they are killed over it.
People aren't killed for being white. 14 black transwomen have been murdered for being who they are so far this year. A POC transwoman has a life expectancy in the US of 35. The rate at which they are killed and lack of access to medical care are large factors in this.
Want to make fun of me for being white? Go right ahead. I live in Oregon, but was born in Connecticut. I snowshoe for fun. I am super white. I feel absolutely no anxiety eating lefse with local honey and a touch of hand harvested sea salt from the nearby Norwegian food cart. Making fun of someone who has a good chance of being killed for similarly just living their life is not the same thing. Imagine trying to be a part of a community when your demographic is being murdered at such a high rate.
Aaaaaand getting back to the narrative, it turns out that Mr. Guy Mann is acting weird because of some weird paranormal stuffs, but not Annabelle. The episode, on many levels, points to the stereotype of the white man being not valid but points to the stereotypes about Annabelle being valid. So, men murdering women aside, it's still shitty. The writer is rejecting the stereotype of his demographic and reinforcing the stereotype of another demographic.
It's also shitty because because it's got 'you couldn't clock that transperson' as a punchline in the middle of the show. Mr. Guy Man didn't even have a concept of life or death or many other human concepts until a day ago. There is no reason for him not clocking a transperson to be worthy of note, much less lead to a side conversation about orchidectomies. The writer just wanted to go on about trans women a bit more.
Now, as hard as I am being on this show, I could be harder. Oh, trust me, the metaphors and some of the logic lines here are really disturbing when you take a hard look at them. But I am going to assume that Darin didn't intend some of that stuff, this whole episode is a mess of his own issues, rejecting stereotypes about himself and reinforcing ones about other people.
I don't want to be negative about an X Files episode, especially a Darin Morgan one. I am not into Cancel Culture (With one exception, ask if you are curious). I think a lot of creators lose perspective when working on projects and don't realize things that are obvious to an outside POV. Showing your ass without realizing it is part of being a writer. Some of my favorite media is hashtag-problematic. I want to err on the side of being lenient, but I can't when a massive pile of issues and hatred is masquerading as a plotline.
Rather than tear into this X Files episode I'd rather talk about how it's very possible to have a good 'metaphor for trans' episode involving were-creatures. Just like a lot of camp villains are queer coded and parts of queer culture are into Loki and others, some parts of NB and Trans culture are into monsters are they are often coded as gender non-conforming. Also, only being yourself in a places outside mainstream society on a regular schedule? Sneaking around, being paranoid about unsightly body hair, worrying about left objects, actual transformations, there is a lot to work with here. The is tons of fodder for drama, comedy, horror, romance, etc! There is potential for a good plotline there. Instead we got some white boy taking out his phobias on one of geek culture's most beloved franchises.
Some say that werewolf myths are about puberty. Some trans people talk about going on HRT like it's a second puberty. There are things to be careful in a storyline like that, but it could work.
I could be sitting here rhapsodizing about a very good X Files episode rather than sitting here worrying about whether I am going to have to defend 'transphobia is bad' to a bunch of strangers next week. I don't know these people. I don't know if we can take 'hatred is bad' as read or if I am being stuck in a room with a bunch of TERFs. If I am, will I be able to express myself well?
I looked up some reviews of the episode to see if I'd overlooked anything obvious. I hadn't. Most of the articles were pretty tepid and didn't actually back up their points. The first comment to a lot of them were 'I don't think there was any trans metaphor going on here' or something along those lines. What if I am smacked with a clearly batshit statement like that? It's not subtle. We aren't dealing with clever theming or careful shots framing one character as good/angelic and the other as evil, or a difference in focus. It's two guys in a cemetery being over the top overt about the themes ... in a poorly lit shot standing on the grave of over of the lighting greats.
If you'd like some humor about trans people that isn't shitty and playing into dangerous stereotypes, I recommend The Darkness by Contrapoints. It's a video essay on dark humor, and it's worth a watch if you haven't. I am going to watch it again before the podcast in hopes that her ability to make words good will help me if the issue comes up.
