Tangerine
Title
Tangerine
Description
Tangerine is an indie film directed by Sean Baker. The film, shot on several iPhone 5Ss, centers around two black trans women sex workers, Sin-Dee and Alexandra, played by trans actors Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor respectively. While Tangerine’s release is a huge step forward for trans representation in media, the fact that the director, writer, and most of the production crew were white, cis men cannot be ignored when analyzing this film as an object of trans culture.
Critical reception of the film has been overwhelmingly positive, with many marking it as a “comedy” despite the serious subject matter that it covers. The story follows Sin-Dee who, after hearing from her close friend Alexandra that her boyfriend and pimp, Chester, has cheated on her with a white cis woman, goes on a journey across LA to find answers. At the same time, it follows Razmik (Karren Karagulian), an Armenian taxi driver who is a regular of trans sex workers in the same area, and how his actions impact his life and marriage. These two narrative threads ultimately collide in the film’s climax, when Razmik and his family meet Sin-Dee, Alexandra, and Chester in a small donut shop. While the film is a huge step forward for trans representation in media, considering the people that made up the production crew, it is difficult to separate their positionality (white, cis men) from some of the film’s more poignant moments. Having a film that is so strongly rooted in race and interracial relations be spearheaded by a mostly white crew is tricky to navigate and makes the film feel less genuine in parts, the steps that Tangerine takes for transwomen cannot be discounted.
Critical reception of the film has been overwhelmingly positive, with many marking it as a “comedy” despite the serious subject matter that it covers. The story follows Sin-Dee who, after hearing from her close friend Alexandra that her boyfriend and pimp, Chester, has cheated on her with a white cis woman, goes on a journey across LA to find answers. At the same time, it follows Razmik (Karren Karagulian), an Armenian taxi driver who is a regular of trans sex workers in the same area, and how his actions impact his life and marriage. These two narrative threads ultimately collide in the film’s climax, when Razmik and his family meet Sin-Dee, Alexandra, and Chester in a small donut shop. While the film is a huge step forward for trans representation in media, considering the people that made up the production crew, it is difficult to separate their positionality (white, cis men) from some of the film’s more poignant moments. Having a film that is so strongly rooted in race and interracial relations be spearheaded by a mostly white crew is tricky to navigate and makes the film feel less genuine in parts, the steps that Tangerine takes for transwomen cannot be discounted.
Creator
Baker, Sean (director, writer)
Bergoch, Chris (writer)
Publisher
Duplass Brothers
Through FIlms
Date
2015
Format
Moving Image
Language
English
Type
Video
Citation
Baker, Sean (director, writer) and Bergoch, Chris (writer), “Tangerine,” An Archive of Trans Culture, accessed October 13, 2024, https://transcultural.oberlincollegelibrary.org/items/show/20.