American Experience presents a virtual PAST FORWARD conversation examining the history and effects of transgender representation in media. This conversation is inspired by our new film Casa Susanna.
Panelists will discuss the origins and legacy of gender nonconformity in film, television, and other media, exploring the ways in which these images have been used to caricature trans people and how media can be used toward more equitable ends. They will also examine the effects media representations have on public consciousness, how the public is made to understand normative gender roles through media, and whether media is helping or harming the progress of trans rights in the United States.
Panelists:
Sam Feder (he/they) is the Peabody Award-nominated director and co-producer of the groundbreaking Netflix Original Documentary DISCLOSURE. He has written for numerous Netflix television productions, and is currently developing the queer drama series WEIMAR with Executive Producers Lilly Wachowski and Bruce Cohen. Sam’s films dissect the complex intersections of race, class, and gender in the realm of visibility, forging new ground in the broader understanding of the politics of representation. Sam’s films have been screened at Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, The British Film Institute, as well as at festivals, museums, and art institutes the world over.
Laura Horak (she/her) is an Associate Professor of Film Studies at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She also serves as the director of the Transgender Media Lab and Transgender Media Portal. Her work is focused on the history of transgender and queer film and media in the United States, Canada, and Sweden. She has authored, edited, and co-edited several books, including Girls Will Be Boys: Cross-Dressing Women, Lesbians, and American Cinema, 1908-1934 (Rutgers UP, 2016), Silent Cinema and the Politics of Space (Indiana UP, 2014), and Unwatchable (Rutgers UP, 2019). She is also the co-curator of the 99-film Bluray set Cinema’s First Nasty Women (Kino Lorber, 2022).
The discussion will be moderated by Raquel Willis (she/her). Raquel is an award-winning activist, author, and media strategist, whose work is focused on Black transgender liberation. She has served as director of communications for Ms. Foundation for Women, executive editor of Out magazine, and national organizer for Transgender Law Center. She is the co-founder of Transgender Week of Visibility and Action and currently serves as an executive producer for iHeartMedia’s Outspoken. She is also the president of the Solutions Not Punishments Collaborative’s executive board, and is a WNBA Social Justice Council member. Her published work includes her memoir The Risk It Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation, which is scheduled for publication in November, and the GLAAD Media Award-winning “Trans Obituaries Project”.
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Stream ‘Casa Susanna’: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/casa-susanna/
Learn more about American Experience: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/
Watch other Past Forward conversations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGIBrZBZupY&list=PLmh4YIWteoGhn6gwV1X_UebHijqwPHZ1_
