Shows like Pose, Tales of the City and Orange is the New Black – as well as films like the Oscar winning A Fantastic Woman — have put trans representation at the forefront of popular culture. But as the new documentary Disclosure reminds us, such victories of visibility have been decades in the making. Executive producer Laverne Cox and director Sam Feder have created an exhaustive visual history of the trans community on screen. From tone-deaf depictions that relied on comedy to harmful ones that encouraged misinformation, the various ways trans characters have been portrayed on films and in television shows are here deconstructed by the likes of Cox, Pose‘s MJ Rodriguez and Angelica Ross, as well as luminary figures from the community like Lilly Wachowsk and Chaz Bono.
A much needed cultural history that even finds time to talk about the pivotal role Sylvia Rivera played in the activist world post-Stonewall, Disclosure is an urgent reminder of the real life effects media can have on underrepresented minorities.
Take a look at the trailer below.
Disclosure is now streaming on Netflix.