Fandom Promo: Transparent (TV)

[duskpeterson]

Title: Weaving Together Past and Present: A Transparent Promo

Author: duskpeterson

Fandom: Transparent (TV)

Historical connection: The tale of a Jewish family with an older trans parent (hence the series title), set in modern-day Los Angeles, with flashbacks to earlier family history in twentieth-century Los Angeles and Germany.

Content warning: This streaming TV series has lots of sex scenes, as well as BDSM. There are many dysfunctional relationships, as well as references to past underage abuse (from someone outside the family).

Canon recap: The series is notable for being centered on an older woman's journey into her trans life. It's inspired by creator Jill Soloway's parent's trans journey. (Reportedly, when Jill Soloway learned the news of their parent's transition, a friend told Mx. Soloway, "Congratulations, you've just been blessed by the story gods.") Although the show made the controversial decision to cast a cisgender man as the main character, dozens of transfolk were cast in other roles or hired for the crew.

Historical Connection: As the opening credits hint, the five-season series weaves together past and present family history. The best way to see the series is as a whole, because the past storylines have deeper meaning when they're connected with the present. However, if you're short of time, Season Two's episodes 4 (18:23-20:30), 8 (00:00-7:51), and 9 (20:40-24:30) provide the most powerful flashbacks, set in Germany in the 1930s. Those flashbacks are placed against the background of a piece of LGBTQ history that isn't as well known as it should be.

Characters: Maura, the main character, is the nicest person in her frequently self-centered family, but what I like about the series is that this isn't just a transwoman's coming-out story; it's about the journeys of all the family members. Lesbian, bisexual, polyamorous, and nonbinary storylines also show up. This is a profoundly queer series.

Other information: The show is on Amazon Prime. If you're not a Prime member, you can buy the SD version of each episode for $1.99. The pilot is free, though you have to have an Amazon account to view it. Here's the Season One trailer and here's a clip set in the modern day.

Meta: Honestly, a series about a dysfunctional (though loving) family is a hard sell for me. But the series is beautifully acted, it has a lot of interesting queer topics, the Jewish storyline is front and center, and the historical/retro moments are especially moving.

Fandom Guide: Essentially, this series has no fandom. There are only two - count 'em, two - works at AO3 (one a multifandom vid), and none at FanFiction.net. Given the amount of queer content in this series, I've got to think this absence of fanworks represents anti-female bias. (Most of the main characters in the series are women.) There is a fan Tumblr (which might or might not be by an actual fan) and a fair number of other posts about the series at Tumblr.

But really, this is a series crying out for fanworks. I am dying for more fanfic about Gittel.