MovieChat Forums > The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again (2016) Discussion > Hope this doesn't come off as Transphobi...

Hope this doesn't come off as Transphobic...

posted 8 years ago by CountVladDracula
12 replies | jump to latest

I’m constantly afraid of being called Transphobic but here I go.. The whole concept behind Dr. Frank N. Furter is he’s a transvestite. That’s a man who still identifies as a man but likes to dress as a woman, it breaks conventional gender roles and expectations of conforming to what is “normal” for that gender. Now if it’s a woman dressed as a man that also works as a transvestite. But here we have a beautiful woman and she’s dressed like a woman. Why would that freak Janet out unless she knew her before her transition and can’t wrap her mind around transexuals? Transvestite / Transexual is not the same thing. And a woman dressed as a woman (even if she was born a man) is not a transvestite.

I don’t mind when women play male roles like Wao Yoka as Dracula or men who have played female roles but in the case of Dr. Frank N. Furter it’s hard to understand what Janet is reacting to if all she’s seeing is a beautiful woman (who is obviously a woman) singing about being a sweet transvestite. We, the viewers, know she’s transexual but Janet does not know that. As she is a post-op trans woman with all the feminine physical features wouldn’t it have made more sense to have her dress as a man to be “shocking” when singing Sweet Transvestite? She’s not exactly breaking gender norm expectations in her wardrobe here.

PS. Reeve Carney is an excellent singer so I gave him credit where it's due. I loved him in Spider-Man Turn off the Dark and Penny Dreadful (Though he didn’t sing in that).

[–] airguitarplayer-258-90337 8 years ago

Perfect

[–] darogr 8 years ago

I believe you are absolutely correct. Cox is just the wrong actor for the part. It's the worst casting decision imaginable. Even a genetic female would have been more interesting.

[–] pistrix 8 years ago

For shame, logic and reason are not permitted.

I most likely will not even bother to watch this as I am so freaking sick of remakes. It is getting so old and uninspiring, unoriginal, and lazy.

I don't understand why not just play the original film.

But yeah the casting makes no sense at all because of who Frank really was.

Just another Political Correctness movie is all.

((Damn the remakes, Save the originals.))

[–] CountVladDracula 8 years ago

It's not even that politically correct because it's taking a fully transitioined woman and treating her as if she's dressing as a woman and really a man. I'm fairly sure most transsexuals find that sort of thing offensive, or at least I would think they might find it offensive.

[–] Whooda_Thunkit 8 years ago

Well said!

I really can't imagine why Laverne Cox took the role, unless she needs the money. Having to play a guy dressed like a woman really has to mess with her head.

It would have made sense if she had been a drag king, Rocky had been a woman, and it had been Janet who felt bad about being turned on by her.

[–] activista 8 years ago

Its good leading role, and it plays around with gender roles----that's possibly what attracted Cox to the part, plus the fact that like any other actor, she wants to expand her range as an actor----I mean actress,duh. Plus there's the fact that the film a remake of a genuine cult classic that's already got a long time audience---and it's not hard to see why she'd jump at the role (plus getting to strut around in all those cool costumes,lol.) I liked the original, so of course I couldn't wait to see what Fox would do with it this time around.

[–] Savage_Pacifist 8 years ago

It's called acting...

[–] kikiwe 8 years ago

Thank you Savage Pacifist!! It is ACTING! Cox is ACTING the part of a male dressed as a woman. It doesn't matter what her real life story is. Stop overthinking it and trying to make controversy where there is none. She wouldn't have taken the part if there was some issue.

[–] DwightFry 8 years ago

"I'm just a sweet transvestite, from Transexual Transylvania-ah-ah!". So I think it works. Plus, if a character was ever all about blurring gender differences, that's Frank.

I have yet to see this (I don't get US Fox Channel in my country so I can't watch the first airing), and to be fair I think it overall looks pretty bad. But I love the idea of Frank being played by a woman, because of the above and because Tim Curry can't be bettered at his own game so the only approach that makes sense is something completely different.

This is not my signature. This is IMDb's automatic translation of my signature.

[–] Tru-Review 8 years ago

I think this was a mistake in casting decisions. Frank was written as a man who dressed in women's clothing but was all man underneath and came across as sexy and seductive which to me this never was having cast someone who had undergone the surgical change already. I am in no way judgemental but I do however feel that if you consider a role for a man and you consider yourself to be female whether born that way or you identify that way you need to decide how you want the world to view and recognize and see you. Yes I do understand there is such a thing as acting but there is also a point where things can't or don't work and for me this didn't work! It is like trying to rewrite any great story that had a role and completely changing the main character... whether you change the race, sex etc it completely changes the entire story and sometimes it just doesn't work. Granted sometimes it does but I don't feel like this was the case. In all honesty I feel like Adam Lambert would have made a much better choice for Frank in this film! He would have come across sexy, had a great voice and been believable as the character because not only is he a great actor but he is also creatively much more like Tim Curry was when he played the part many years earlier! His being limited to the smaller part of Eddie didn't suit him although he did it wonderfully! Tim Curry (after having suffered through his stroke) did an amazing job in what (from what I have heard) might very well be his last acting job which is the entire reason he was in it. Yes he might have appeared to have talked a bit slower but anyone who could possibly pass judgment on that really doesn't understand what it is like to go through a stroke or to have brain damage and to come back from something like that as he did! I find him a brilliant actor and he will always be one of my favorites!

[–] SamKayeHeyHey 8 years ago

I was thinking this the entire time. Came here to see if anyone else thought the same. She was fun, entertaining, and absolutely gorgeous, BUT still not the right choice for this role, IMO.

[–] Tru-Review 8 years ago

I don't disagree with you at all... She is so incredible talented but I just don't feel that this was right. I also feel that there is no right way to say that without someone viewing what I wrote and deciding without knowing me to form judgement and second guessing where my opinion is coming from thinking I am being cruel which I am in no way trying to be. I think Hollywood today has done the typical remaking and recasting of films to the excessive point to where we almost don't recognize characters we once so loved and sometimes things don't actually even need remakes. They do everything from changing the gender of popular characters to even changing the races of well known characters or parts so that after a while it will be lost on people who originated the roles and I hate that unless the original was really that bad to begin with! You wouldn't want a famous superhero changed to conform to what Hollywood wants just to make them fit in with society's standards so why is changing a popular character from a cult classic any different? Yes the role was about a transvestite but that is where the character differs from what the person portraying the part was. The actor was a person who had gone through the change and as I said previously identified herself as a woman and not as a man dressed up as a woman. Even in acting that still would be next to nearly the same as a woman playing the part if the actual person playing the part believed in anything they said! So it cannot be both ways for her. I appreciate what she was trying to do but it just didn't work. That aside it still wouldn't stop me from watching her in other things I just wish this role had been cast differently.