Abstract
Cinema always represented the society, and any visual representation about ‘not so commonly discussed' topics becomes crucial as they are the image blocks for the future generation. The power of cinema is high among Tamil audience, which is evident from the emergence of two great political leaders who are byproducts of it. It is essential to understand how sexual minorities are represented in a culture-specific society. In India, representation of the third gender was insensitive, and Tamil cinema is no exception. These representations cannot be ignored as ‘just in screen' as screen represents reality. Nevertheless, few fair images are making a significant impact on the audience about transgender. Studying representations about sexual minorities in Tamil cinema is important in today's context, where young minds are exposed to digital platforms. This chapter explains the description of the transgender community in Tamil cinema and analyses its impact on society.
TopDoes It Matter?
A transgender person referred to as a person who has a different gender identity. Such a person’s sex changes over some time. It can be either female to male who refers to as trans-men or male to female who refers to as trans-women. So, why should their life be of any concern to the ‘normal’ men and women? How much of the population do these transgender people constitute so that we have to worry about them? Or is it even worth spending the time and energy to know about them? It seems these questions have never posed to many people in society for a long time. It is only in the year 2014, transgender people have given an identification of the ‘Third gender’ in the landmark judgment of the Supreme Court. It took so many years for the transgender community be recognised.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Gender Equality: Gender equality is defined as making resources or opportunities available to everyone irrespective of any bias in gender. It helps in attaining human rights and sustainable growth and valuing different behaviours.
Cisgender: A cisgender is a person whose gender identity remains the same after birth. It does not change in between like the transgenders.
Cross Dresser: A person who has a liking to wear the dress of the opposite sex is known as a crossdresser. They can be heterosexual but still prefer to wear clothes of the opposite sex. A man who dresses women’s clothes is male to female crossdresser and a woman who dresses as a man is a female to the male crossdresser.
Sexual Minorities: They are a group of people whose sexual identity or orientation or sexual practices are different from the majority of sex in society. For example, heterosexuals are common majority in a society whereas non heterosexuals can be seen as a sexual minority.
Priming Theory: The priming theory was formed before the agenda-setting theory and is an important theory of media effects which states that media messages can influence the decision making of the audience or make them form judgments about a particular group or idea or concept which is showed on the screen.
LGBT: It is an acronym for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender. The LGBT community refers to a group of these people united by a common culture and social movements.
Third Gender: The third gender refers to people who do not belong to either man or woman. They are generally identified and classified by themselves or by the society. This social category is present in societies which gives recognition to three genders.
Visual Representation: Visual representations are representation or demonstration of concepts accompanied by images or texts. It is done for better clarity and understanding of the subject or idea or concept. These representations usually have a strong impact on viewers.