Most of all, they want their stories, especially the sensitive ones, to be told with respect. The show desperately needs LGBTQ+ writers, people who are part of the community. The violence and lack of help that the protagonist, Brandon Teena, dealt with is nightmarish for most trans men. Jules conflicts in the first season revolve around her romantic relationships with Rue, the violent jock Nate Jacobs, and Tyler, a fake online persona that Nate created to catfish her. Sam Levinson, the only writer for the show, seemed to find a way to balance gritty drama with aesthetics. But more than anything, it focuses on family and what that means when you get to pick . I said [to Sam Levinson], Jules is the one who gets herself more than anybody else on this show. Queerty is a trademark of Q.Digital, Inc., registered in the state of California. Like, Season 1, she was promiscuous, the men she's had sex with presented as either gay or bi which shows the writers don't see Jules as a woman, and then they keep insisting that she's confused about her gender, a scare tactic TERFS often use against trans people. One of them was Cal Jacobs, Nates father, who didnt know she was a minor. Its every cisgender person dealing with the Trans Person Being Trans, and the trans persons only narrative is transition, which would only ever be showing television shows about teenagers. A weekly roundup of the best things from Polygon, By submitting your email, you agree to our, Euphorias trans consultant on why the series tells authentic trans stories, Sign up for the And then when I cast all these people who are people from my community here in LA and had them come on set for a few days and just dance in a club, all of the ADs and the PAs came over and were like, This is the best extra crew weve ever had in our lives. Raised in Raleigh, N.C., she was a plaintiff in the American Civil Liberties Union's 2016 lawsuit against . Still, its a delicate line to walk, especially when the character is supposed to be underage (though Schafer is 20). Its shown in the series that her mother was unsupportive when Jules was struggling with dysphoria and even committed her to a psychiatric ward when she was only 11. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. The first time looking in the mirror to admire your new appearance and truly see yourself is a moment of supreme happiness to many trans people. Jul 15, 2019 1,662. Bella Hadid Is the Blondest Shes Ever Been in New TikTok Video. In the pivotal scene, Rue came into conflict with Jules because the latter planned to meet with Shyguy118, an anonymous guy she met and fell in love with on a dating app. Marginalized people want stories that represent the length and breadth of their experiences, good and bad. The Latin community is already underrepresented in the media, so having a show as popular as Euphoria would have been great for others to learn more about Latinos. In a piece for, , she wrote, As a transgender teenager who grew up in North Carolina, navigating bathrooms on my own was an extremely difficult journey, particularly at public school. Jules is depicted as mentally unstable, her depiction rooted in negative cliches of what trans people are. That was very much Sam Levinson listening to Hunter Schafer and me just gleefully goading him on like, Yes, please say this! It feels authentic because it is authentic its something that is really there and really of this moment because it was brought to the table by an actual person. Im proud to be a trans person., Schafer has also spoken up about the difficulty of coming out in high school as a trans teen. Its a symptom of what you do to us because were trans. Who thinks that watching 16,000 ultra-violent gun murders / simulated murders and 200,000 acts of violence (American Psychiatric Association, 1998) has fed the fires of our current situation? Its because that narrative was listened to. has been renewed for a third season, with Schafer set to reprise her breakout role. The typical narrative element of transgender representation in thrillers is that these characters are framed through the pathologizing lens of criminal deviance: just as popular as the comic image of the "man in a dress" is the trans killer, popularized by movies such as Psycho, Dressed to Kill, and the Oscar-winning The Silence of the Lambs. Tragically, Kat does not get the chance to recover from this traumatic experience and is instead reduced to a. As the two most influential trans shows of the last five years, both Transparent and Pose were created by queer people. Holidays But they only got to hear it one more time: The series finale aired Sunday (10 p.m. EDT/PDT) after three groundbreaking seasons. In one of the best scenes from last night's episode of Euphoria, Jules the trans high school student played by breakout actress Hunter Schafer drunkenly floats in a pool while reciting lines from Act 2, Scene 2 of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to her recovering drug addict girlfriend, Rue. Despite her struggle to find loving connections and the harassment shes faced, Jules is shown to remain a big-hearted and kind character. I would go on set and see this representation that just felt so true and so right. The results show that this series presents trans characters in a different way than the traditional one, with a more complex approach far from the fetishist view. In this scant screen time, we see Kat struggle with her self-image and self-hatred a painfully predictable and disappointing storyline for one of the few fat women on television. HBO's hit show Euphoria is the latest drama aimed at highlighting the Gen-Z experience. Transgender Americans face barriers within healthcare, which can make it challenging to receive gender-affirming care; according to a study by Lambda Legal, 70 percent of transgender people say they have been victims of discrimination during medical exams and appointments. One topic that often came up was how wild the show was and its most . The young persons guide to conquering (and saving) the world. My job was to take what I know about being an actor and what I know as an advocate and as a media expert, and make sure that both the actors got what they really needed and were seen the way that they really wanted to be seen and heard and that the audience got the benefit of the representation. In this scant screen time, we see Kat struggle with her self-image and self-hatred a painfully predictable and disappointing storyline for one of the few fat women on television. Yet the characters holding these obsessions are humanized by being shown through a sympathetic and honest lens. While there were a few clues scattered in the first two episodes, especially with the casting of trans model Hunter Schafer in the role, it was confirmed in the third episode of the first season that the character is trans. If you haven't heard about Orange is the New Black 's stunning portrayal of a black trans woman in prison, portrayed by the brilliant . Your email address will not be published. I love that they have a trans series regular that is fully formed and shes right there with [Rue]. Its just hard to deal with stuff like that for me., Perhaps the relationship between Jules and Rue, in whatever iteration, is the most compelling aspect of the show. Euphoria and Pose offer two very different trans . But the difference with Hunter is that she was already an activist. Your email address will not be published. Social media and sex and where the two intersect are another . There you have it, Ellie. Editorial: Do no harm, Grossman. In her first major scene in the show's pilot, Jules arrives at a . But its not precisely the new hue thats captivating viewers. That was the real joy of working on it. Interviews with leading film and TV creators about their process and craft. Purportedly, Ferreira and Levinson disagreed on the direction of her character in the upcoming season, leading to reduced screen time. McKay is absent for the vast majority of the second season, a disappearance which remains unexplained. Its bonkers because its a 30-second flash of scenes, but it took an hour and a half to do and a lot more time for us to really negotiate. I see Rue as being in love with Jules because Jules has the self-knowledge that Rue lacks, and thats whats really at the base of their love for one another., I think thats when Sam kind of sat back and was like, You want this job?. Kira. "Euphoria" may be her first on-screen gig, but Schafer is no stranger to attention. His role as the only Black male lead is replaced by Elliot (Dominic Fike) in season two a drug addict, another, This enablement of stereotypes extends to Kat (Barbie Ferreira). Levinson is a heterosexual white man in his 40s and it shows. Almost every episode was followed by a lengthy discussion across social media platforms. or not the show does a good job of providing her with quality trans representation. And the thing is, like the self-harming isnt about Jules being trans, except that of course it is. Then, I came on set and I worked with everybody in the crew. The objective of this article is to explore this second perspective by analyzing the representation of Jules, a trans female character from the American series Euphoria (Levinson et al., 2019-present). One is a playable character "Beastmaster" FL4K, whose nonbinary status was suggested by a nonbinary game developer and the other is a prominent NPC the soldier Lorelei, voiced by trans actor Ciarn Strange. Obviously! Sam did something that I think is really important for artists to think about in telling the very truthful details of his own personal story. Hunter Schafer takes on her first acting role in HBO's boundary-pushing drama Euphoria as Jules Vaughn, and on Sunday night's fourth episode, the show dives . Trans actress Hunter Schafer is the series breakout star: An advocate turned model turned teen drama star, she infused Jules storyline with her own personal experiences. Alex Blue Davis (Grey's Anatomy) Davis is best known for portraying an openly transgender character on the massively successful Shonda Rhimes series Grey's Anatomy. Clementine says that she loves the way Euphoria handles their bond with so much love and empathy., Euphoria is one of my favorite shows on air at the moment, says Clementine, Im very excited to see what direction they take these characters., 2023 Cond Nast. Euphoria. Content warning: This article mentions sexual assault. According to Scott Turner Schofield, Euphorias trans consultant, thats due to showrunner Sam Levinsons earnest desire to listen to trans individuals and fairly and accurately represent their experiences on screen. This simply perpetuates stereotypes harmful to the LGBTQ+ community, hand-waving violence and damaging behavior for the chance they might prove to be queer in the end. An internet sensation. Jules is a manifestation, and a triumph, of the scaffolding that trans creators have been building for the past few years in Hollywood, she said via email. Zendaya and Dominic Fike in Euphoria. Of course, Jules character is complex, and there is no reason that she cannot grow and learn more about herself, but that does not change the fact that there is a noticeable difference in characterization between an episode written by Hunter Schafer, a queer trans woman, and the episodes written by Sam Levinson, a straight cisgender man. 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is euphoria good trans representation