PopPolitics.com – by Bernie Heidkamp
When HBO’s “Entourage” made a transgender character the punchline on last week’s episode, I cringed.
Now, to be fair, “Entourage” could be described as a equal-opportunity mocker, as it leaves few characters unscathed. Even the privileged lifestyle of the white heterosexual male protagonists in the story comes across at best, as silly and frivolous, and at worst, as woefully out of touch with reality. Christine has discussed its refreshing self-awareness as well as its shortcomings before.
But when the show is clearly not going to present us with a fully developed transgendered character — let alone a diversity of representations — there’s really little excuse for giving this character such a dismissive role.
Fortunately, if you’re paying attention, transgender lives are becoming visible and vibrant parts of popular culture. Our own Mark Blankenship has discussed the work of performance artist Scott Turner Schofield, who in his one-person show rails again a “system that says we can’t be all of ourselves.”