The Danish Girl

The Danish Girl is a 2015 British American biographical romantic drama film
directed by Tom Hooper.

Set in Copenhagen in 1926, Danish artist Gerda Wegener, painted her own
husband, Einar as a lady in her painting. When the painting gained popularity,
Einar started to change his appearance into a female appearance and named
himself Lili Elbe. With his feminism passion and Gerda's support, Einar - or
Elbe - attempted one of the first male-to-female sex reassignment surgery, a
decision that turned into a massive change for their marriage, that Gerda
realized her own husband is no longer a man or the person she married before.

Unfortunately Lili dies from complications during the surgery.

Actor Eddy Redmayne who played Lili said I hope that in some ways our film
continues the discussion, because us learning to be allies to the Trans
community is so important.

Was it successful?

The Danish Girl has grossed $11.1 million in North America and $53.1 million
in other territories for a worldwide total of $64.2 million, against a budget of
$15 million.

The film had a limited release in the United States and Canada across four
cinemas in New York and Los Angeles on 27 November 2015 before expanding
cinemas in December.

The film earned $185,000 in its opening weekend, averaging $46,250, which is
the sixth-best opening weekend per cinema average of 2015. The opening
weekends audience was 58% female, and 67% were over 40
Criticism?

A transgender actor would have brought immeasurable

amounts of internal power to a role that is otherwise two-
dimensional and vacant in a film that seems to find new ways
to insult Trans viewers time and time again.

The film is a symptom of a culture in which cisgender people, some gay but
mostly straight; take it upon themselves to dictate to transgender
people the terms of their own lives. I have no intention of continuing
such a pattern in this review. Instead, I highly recommend Carol
Grant's excellent analysis of the film in which she explains why the
film is, in her words, "regressive, reductive and harmful."

The Danish Girl argues that transgender existence is just a

switch that gets flipped, this is not true, most trans people
know they are like it from early life

The film has also been banned in countries like Qatar, United Arab Emirates,
Oman, Jordan, Kuwait and Malaysia on the grounds of being immoral
suggesting that transgender is not moral?
 How will justTRANS be different to other similar
programmes?
Firstly, the show will follow the lives of normal transgender people rather than
focusing on the lives of celebrities like I am Cait. It will depict the daily
struggles of a person transitioning but also it will focus on their life after
surgery and see whether they face any obstacles as a new person.

It will look at pressures such as:

Changing name by deed poll and on legal documents such as passport and
driving license. (Is it an easy process?)
Work life before and after surgery are people accepting of you? For
example Sarahs employers at Johnson Matthey Battery Systems worked
with her and helped Sarah plan her transition. Education sessions were
run for her colleagues as well as her customers in Asia and Europe. The
messages she received were all supporting and accepting something she
said was very touching.
School/University Life attitudes of younger people towards Trans
people and do they differ from older people? Do they face prejudice from
other students?

Like programmes such as Boy Meets Girl, it is a constructed comedy produced

for entertainment purposes, therefore will not show what life for a transgender
person is really like as they are acting. Also does the fact its a comedy
suggest its purpose is to mock Trans people? Is it sensible making such a
sensitive topic into a humorous programme?

Similarly Miss Transgender: Britains new beauty queens doesnt show what
normal transgender people are like, it shows individuals covered in makeup
wearing over the top clothing pouncing around on stage, surely this is just
reinforcing the traditional stereotype of a transgender sexual? This stereotype
is also supported by Caitlyn Jenner and her reality show I am Cait but also her
appearance in magazines such as Vanity Fair

Therefore the aim of justTRANS is to subvert the traditional stereotype by

following the lives of normal Transgender individuals and seeing how they live
their everyday lives, seeing the pressures they face and how they aim to
overcome these obstacles. It will also feature peoples lives before and after
surgery rather than just focusing on one of these which most shows tend to do.