2023-06-22 03:56:21
Megha Mohan and Yusuf Eldin, BBC World Service
2 hours ago
“I haven’t been so excited about acting in a very long time,” says Elliot Page, with a smile.
It’s a good period in his life.
We met at a hotel in Hollywood the week his memoir, which became a bestseller as soon as it was released, was released.
“We just finished the last season of Umbrella Academy where I felt more embodied and focused in my role, being able to start my day as ‘me’, ‘instead of being in my trailer constantly feeling uncomfortable,'” Page adds.
Paige’s character – originally called “Vanya” – transitioned to “Victor” in season 3 of the Netflix superhero series “The Umbrella Academy”, in line with his real-life gender transition.
“It’s always been me,” Victor tells his siblings in a simple scene about his transition.
Victor asks if this is a problem for anyone, and his brothers confirm that it is not, before returning to the original story.
Variety described the scene as touchingly “uncrude”.
image copyrightThe Umbrella Academy/Netflix
photo comment,
Elliott Page says producer Steve Blackman included a touchy scene that reflects the transformation of his character, Vanya, into Victor
Netflix hired trans writer Thomas Page McCabe to incorporate Victor’s role and transgender plot into the show, working with a soft-touch approach to audiences around the world.
Nielsen Media Research, which rates views across all platforms, says: “The series has racked up more than 10.5 billion hours of streaming, making it the 13th most-watched original show of the year.
Soon, Elliott Page became one of the most popular transgender people in fantasy broadcasting (one of the least represented groups in the industry).
According to the “2022-2023 Where We On TV” report by LGBT advocacy group Glad, only 11 of the 596 people portrayed across 100 global TV, film and streaming platforms were transgender men.
And Paige knows he’s one of the most popular trans men in the world, and he takes it seriously.
“As long as I have this special status, I have to make full use of this privilege and my platform to do everything I can to help my community,” Page says.
“It’s been a long, hard road to transition, to get to this point of self-acceptance.”
“Often, I find myself thinking to myself: I was never a girl, I will never be a woman, what am I going to do? I just want to be 10 years old,” he told the BBC.
And then I started realizing: Oh my God, that’s because that was the last time I ever felt like myself, and I was in my body and I knew who I was and I got that spark in me.
“You know what? I feel that spark coming back now.”
In December 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 outbreak, Page came out for the first time as an openly transgender man on his Instagram page.
In a post that quickly garnered more than three million likes, Page wrote that he feels lucky to have made it public.
“There were years of turbulence around that, years of getting close and withdrawing and talking myself out of it,” he says.
Some hesitation was a byproduct of his years of hiding his identity, on the advice of the film directors who shaped his early career.
In his book, he describes the Hollywood he encountered as the 20-year-old star of the iconic independent film Juno, as “fake, empty, and homophobic”.
In Juno, he played a teenager who goes through an unplanned pregnancy.
Page was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in Juno and gained international acclaim.
“The success of Juno coincided with people in the industry telling me that no one should know about my gay identity, because it wouldn’t be good for me,” he wrote in his memoir, Bigboy, “so I wore dresses, put on make-up, and took pictures.”
He describes the level of discomfort during the transitional journey as overwhelming.
“I had to avoid thinking about it. I couldn’t look at the pictures, because they didn’t represent me. I was sick of them.”
At the same time, yellow press writers published columns questioning his identity.
Page says he’s not so sure such articles would be published now, in the age of social media.
“The articles I am referring to were published in 2008. I would imagine if they were published now regarding anyone who would write such a thing would probably be severely condemned.”
Does he think any young transgender person can enter the industry in Hollywood now without connections? Will the person have a successful career?
The page will pause before allowing such content to be posted, “I’m not 100 percent sure. But it might happen in some aspects.”
He paused again and then said, “But we’re still in a time of so much intense hate speech against transgender people, we still have a long way to go.”
He insisted that the community is the answer to polarized online debates about transgender people, and he wants to connect with LGBTQ youth from around the world through his work.
Across the BBC’s multiple languages, we asked gay people to videotape their questions to Elliott.
One came from India, from a pilot named Adam, a 24-year-old pilot whose family denied him sexual reassignment therapy sessions and did not allow him to leave home for over a year.
“This is not just my story, but the story of transgender people all over the world,” says Adam. “So my question is, what is your message to transgender people who are going through tough times?”
The page is visibly moved when watching the video.
“My message is to hold on and love yourself with all your might and to know that there is absolutely nothing wrong with who you are,” says Page.
“Look for support where you can find it, in person or online. Look for narratives that offer something about gay people, or that give you some kind of comfort, it’s just a reminder that you’re not alone.”
“Changing the narrative around trans representation in the media is something I look forward to doing with my production company, Page Boy Productions, in addition to my future acting roles,” he adds.
He hopes his platform will help change people’s sometimes limited perceptions of masculinity.
“Men are usually encouraged to be aggressive,” he explained.
“I hope to redefine those expectations of what it means to be a man and what it means to be masculine and recover from that misconception.”
He says he is not sure how to proceed with his personal life.
“I’m not thinking about having any kids, but honestly, I don’t know, it really feels like I’m living my life for the first time. I’m just happy. I wake up and walk my dog and hang out with friends and I really feel like I’m in my real body now for the first time in my life.”
1687416078
#LGBT #Story #Elliot #Page #Transgender #Journey