Priscilla Queen of the Desert: I have so many problems with this film
I really wanted to like this film, but I couldn't. From the little bit I'd seen of it the costumes looked cool and it seemed fun and campy. Unfortunately the few good scenes in this film stood no chance of redeeming Priscilla for me in the face of how much problematic content this film has. Don't get me wrong, I understand that it is a product of it's time but am never going to enjoy a movie with this much rampant transphobia and racism in it. I think my hatred for the racist way Bob's wife is written is so blatant I need not elaborate on it, especially with the recent AAPI anti-racist movement. The transphobia though I think may be easier to miss if you aren't trans yourself so I would like to elaborate upon it.
The way Adam treats Bernadette in the first half of this film makes my blood boil. He literally admits that he makes transphobic jabs and deadnames her for no other reason than he thinks its funny to upset her. If I were her I would of booted him off the bus in the middle of the outback and sped away. The way the film has her react also isn't great though because while Adam deserves to have his ass beat for being a dick to her and was incredibly cathartic to watch it feeds into a nasty stereotype of trans woman and femmes being violent as a side effect of their being born male. (which is gender essentialist bullshit, no one is inherently anything due to the gender they're assigned at birth) And as if Bernadette isn't treated terribly enough in the context of the film, her actor is credited for the role of her deadname "Ralph" on google, which I think the film shows why she hates that name. While the film makes an attempt to redeem Adam later by exposing his own struggles with gender, this does nothing for me. I feel for the fact that his gender expression is a struggle but that is no excuse to lash out at other people. Not to mention that the "homophobe is secretly gay" trope (or in this case "transphobe is secretly trans") has been done to death.
The only characters I have no major complaints about in the film are Tick and his family. It is an unfortunate truth that many people think being queer and doing drag are inherently sexual acts that must be hidden from children at all cost. I'm glad to see that by the end of the film Tick is able to "reconcile his wish and need to be a good father with his life as a drag queen and active member of the LGBT community." It is rare to see accepting children and happy families in films of this time, even if Tick's family structure is a bit untraditional.
That's all I really can say about The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. I have way too many problems with it to say I'd ever watch it again, and I certainly won't be recommending it to my friends, but it did have one or two heartfelt scenes that I enjoyed.
Hi Matt,
ReplyDeleteAt first I did enjoy this movie and I did think that there were issues with it that, like you said, were just products of the time that this movie was made. However you brought some things to light that I had not considered before. I had an issue with a cis man playing a trans woman from the jump but after you pointed out that the actor was credited as "Ralph" on google, I couldn't find any reason for that except for a blatant disregard of gender affirmation and another way to kick Bernadette's character down. I thought Adam was a very tragic character and I still do, but there was no redemption in the end for his relationship with Bernadette. He found out she was staying in that town and he just got on the bus without saying anything to her and continued to deadname her and laugh about it as they drove away. I took this as just his character being a nasty person but it still feels very disrespectful. I guess I had overlooked some of these issues until you addressed them, but I really appreciate you bringing bigger issues to light. Great post.