An all-encompassing and incredible book covering trans characters in film from the beginning of film history. Both academic and comprehensive but an easy read, the authors take the read through the various trans or trans-adjacent characters in film and engage in an honest look at how the characters were conceived, executed, and received by audiences.

I never felt like the authors dismissed a film out of hand, but gave even some of the most egregious depictions their full explanation. There was never a point where they said "this is bad don't watch it," but fully explained the harm that some of the films caused and continue to cause. I loved the lengthy descriptions of a film's plot so that even the movies I haven't seen, I was able to be fully engaged in the discussion of. The book also gave me language to explain why some films that are hard to watch (looking at you, Cronenberg), are deeply moving.

Because it pushed up until the most recent movies possible, there was some optimism in the portrayal of trans characters, especially when talking about movies like Monica (a personal favorite).

This is a book I will return to again and again, and I highly recommend to anyone whose interest is even slightly piqued!.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my fair review.

A solid look through the history of trans representation in cinema. The book includes discussion of audience responses, interpretations, impact, legacy, etc. of varied films. I found it to be an intriguing read. It jumps around a bit here and there. I also think it would have been cool for there to be an easy list of the films somewhere in the book.

This book is fantastic. It is well-researched and well-written. The discussions of transness and film within this book are thoughtful and nuanced. Each movie is fully discussed and placed within it's own context. It is engaging and easy to read. I highly, highly recommend this book. The topic itself is fascinating and this book fully does it justice.

A truly excellent film study of transness in cinema, from directors through characters through actors through culture. It's an incredibly in-depth look to themes of transness, trans history, and trans people throughout film history. It has a bit of an emphasis on trans women rather than trans men or nonbinary trans folks (this is just meant to be descriptive, not critical -- it's is just a factual thing and is mentioned in-text due to the lack of work about or by trans men until later).

The ARC I read did need a bit of tightening in editing--there were some places where clearly-missing words changed the meaning of sentences, or bits that were clearly revised-in and not integrated well yet (eg. one film describes a new character's actions by name in passing a few times before introducing and describing that character as if this is the first time we've heard of her). These may have all been cleaned up by the final version!

I loved how much it went into detail without assuming prior film knowledge, but also wasn't afraid to get in deep into analyses and inspirations; it was the perfect amount of information for someone who wanted to hear all the in-depth elements but hasn't seen that many classic films. I loved hearing about the lesser-known films, and also liked how the book was determined to both give some of the mass-market films their flowers while also being critical about the harm they often did even if they also helped expand others' minds.

I wished there had been a few more touches on anime, because though Serial Experiments Lain and Ghost in the Shell were both mentioned (for example), I feel like something like Wandering Son (a trans series by an x-gender author) would have been an interesting addition. But I imagine the authors had to choose what areas to leave on the cutting room floor, too.

Great read.

this book was incredibly well-researched and well-written. i added so many movies to my watchlist on letterboxd throughout reading this.

i think that this book is so needed and dissects trans cinema throughout history in a way that i really enjoyed. i liked how you didn't have to have watched everything mentioned to be able to understand why it was important.

i'll definitely be recommending this to so many of my friends.

thank you so much to netgalley, the publisher and the author for the arc 🫶🏻

This book was well-written and well-researched. It was clear that there was a passion behind the writing and the care about trans people is clear. The book did a good job of staying on topic and I enjoyed the way it tied the real people behind the famous movies/documentaries into the media that tried to depict them. There was a lot of knowledge to be learned from both beginners and people who have studied trans stories/media before. The writing was engaging and made the learning and reading fun.

Such a well researched and phenomenally written piece of important history. This book has also given me an entire list of films to now go back and watch and do my own deep dives into a couple of iconic trans people that I never would have known about otherwise.

This is a dense read full of film facts and quite a bit of medical history too but so worth the read.

Parts of this can feel pretty dry, especially when some paragraphs are just listing films and directors without much added explanation. That being said, this is still a massive achievement in collating and contextualizing trans cinema and added many, many movies to be TBW.

My heart hurts for all the trans history that I was not aware of as well as all the trans history that was destroyed. And all of these mid 20th century books and papers and films that have almost been entirely lost to time through being out of print or considered “not popular” enough for modern re-releases to keep the stories alive. This is a must-read book of critical film theory and deep-cut film reviews of the history of trans existence in the media. While films like The Queen and Paris is Burning are mentioned, I truly appreciated how authors Maclay and Gardner delved deeper into more unknown (or at least, lesser known) titles from all over the world.

The second I saw "The History and Future of Transness in Cinema" I knew I had to have this book. I do enjoy Media Studies as a field and the history of trans images particularly in horror movies are something I have spent quite some time thinking about and feeling devasted because of it. Thankfully, albeit slowly, there is starting to be a bit more representiation in modern horror (Bit 2019, Hellraiser 2022, We're All Going to the World's Fair 2022, They/Them 2022, Evil Dead Rise 2023, T Blockers 2023), but I also enjoyed reading what came before.
This book is an incredible addition to queer media studies and I really enjoyed reading it! This book does start out a bit academic, but you don't need to be a scholar to understand it and once you get past the first chapter, it all becomes easily accessible. If you are in any way interested in representation in movies then everything described here is easily understandable.
While it is a slow read at times, in part due to the often lenghtly descriptions of a film's plot, that makes it easily accessible if you haven't seen a movie. If you have and you aren't like me, who wants to read every word in a book, you can always skip the summary and get to the analysis faster. I also liked that while a big portion of this text is centered on trans women, as they were portrayed more often in early trans film (although often in very transmisogynist ways), trans man and nonbinary characters also play a role. An incredibly number of topics from documentary depictions, horror, Cronenberg's Media, the Matrix, cis-as-trans casting, Christine Jorgensen, the 1960s, 70s and 80s, and finally The New Frontier of the Trans Film.
So if you want to enjoy a really interesting look into trans media (the good, the bad & the severly transmisogynistic) I can only recommend you check out this amazing piece of queer media study.

A delightfully hard-hitting cornucopia of trans history

This history of trans cinema has not come too soon. As much a history of trans narratives and people on, in and around film, it is not a simple hagiography of all trans representation in film—across the world but predominantly American—it also touches on the troubling representations, the unflattering, the divisive, the ambiguous, offering a nuanced and realistic cultural criticism of trans images on screen and trans people as filmmakers. At the same time, it recounts the history and the context of trans, gay and queer lives, as well as offering pin-sharp portraits of the characters—over-the-top, self-effacing, unbelievable, camp, eccentric, or loveable—to whom we owe these foundational texts of trans and queer experience.

As good criticism should be, this is dense but readable, doing its best to translate the moving image, and that would be a circumscribed, rarefied moving image, on to the page, and I'm convinced. I've got a whole new list of films that I want to revisit or seek out for the first time. Taking a mostly chronological approach, the book shows the development of trans cinema and all that that means, starting with trans narratives vilified by cis male directors in the early twentieth century, to the ownership of her own story and image by Christine Jorgensen, through to the fly-on-the-wall documentaries of the Eighties and the works of Cronenberg and the Wachowski sisters, and to where we are now, with trans filmmakers making trans cinema that explores a whole world of experiences.

A flag waving four and half stars, rounded up to five

Corpses, Fools and Monsters is something like the culmination of the last couple decades of trans cinephilia as it's all here, from "The Matrix" to "Paris is Burning" and many, many more underseen gems. It is structured around the loose concept of "trans film image" (to put it simple those images that shape trans consciousness) which allows for discussion not only of movies featuring trans people and trans characters, but also of ones that, while not featuring such elements, strongly resonate with trans audiences.

Most importantly, though, the looseness of the concept makes the book feel more like oral history rather than an accademic dissertation: what stays in focus is how transness is depicted, even as the book broadens the scope through medical and cultural history. At spots this comes at the cost of clarity of the plots of some of the movies discussed (e.g. "The Crying Game", "In a Year of 13 Moons") but it's a minor issue since the actual points of the authors' arguments stay very clear throughout each chapter.

All in all, the book's goal is to open doors to newer, more truthful and liberating trans portrayals on screen and through reasoning on why some modes of representation fail and some don't, it really succeeds.

"I don't think movies are the be-all, end-all for social change or anything of the sort, but there's something symptomatic in the American psyche where for the most part the only times we've been on screen are to be murdered, turned into a joke, or a tragedy of failed transition. The mainstream isn't interested in our livelihoods or our goals. Its a lost highway of corpses, fools, and monsters."
This was a brilliant dissection of trans cinema history, discussing both the good, the bad, and the complicated of transness shown on screen. Its at times frustrating and at times hopeful, and even amusing. An utterly fantastic book that has given me plenty of films to watch.
I really liked how thorough the chapters were, discussing specific movies within along with specific trans folk behind the screen, primarily directors. Its a clearly well researched book and I have no direct complaints about it. I especially liked the two sections discussing trans folk in genres of horror, as that's my primary genre.
This is an enthusiastic recommendation from me and I will be purchasing copies for me and a couple friends. If you enjoy movies, trans history, or just are a trans person it's a high recommendation. Please read this!

Legitimately wonderful stuff - begins a little academic, mind you (although I’m a sicko who likes that about it) but the latter half is so readable I couldn’t put it down. This belongs in every school, public, and personal library possible. A triumph!

I love cinema. I love reading trans essays and papers. Put that together and I was hooked from the title.

Absolutely essential primer on the history of trans identity in film. Beautifully written and researched, a needed text in the film history cannon. Can’t recommend this enough, especially needed now.

Corpses, Fools and Monsters: The History and Future of Transness in Cinema
by: Willow Maclay and Caden Gardner
due 7-9-2024
Repeater Books, UK
5.0

A cultural and historical critique into the exploration of being trans in cinema. This is a dynamic deep dive, its depth and thoroughness are amazing and fascinating to read.

We begin in the 1930's, the days of studio self censorship, and the Hays Code, when being gay or trans was illegal and punishable by law. Crossdressing was seen as comedy, and not taken seriously. The lifes of many cross-dressers are discussed in depth, as are the movies. It made me realize and see things in the movies I had never saw before. There is so much trans history in film I did not know about. This book follows the films of every year, and how it relates to, or is, trans
I loved reading this. I am hoping to find some of the books mentioned, and to see some of the movies from this book.
Fun, eye-opening and essential reading.

Thanks to NetGalley for sending this e-book ARC for review.
#NetGalley #CorpsesFoolsAndMonsters

If you are interested in cinema, history and the impact of and on trans lives, this is for you. This goes in depth and explains well while you cannot disconnect cinema from real life.

I'm really impressed with this book. The authors do not only list trans films from different ears of cinema but also put them into historical and sociological context. This not only helps the reader understand the importance of trans images in cinema, but it is also a great history lesson.I really appreciate how the authors didn't omit films that had trans characters but also had negative and transphobic connotations; instead, they explained the impact of the film and characters on the viewers and future films.
There's also a chapter focusing on cis actors playing trans characters and how such roles often result in Oscar nominations, focusing on a few such instances, but I think it was missing a more in-depth analysis on why it happens and why it's a problem.

Corpses, Fools and Monsters does not only clearly discuss trans characters; there's a whole chapter focusing on trans allegories in Cronenberg's and other body horror films. And of course there's a Matrix chapter; if I could, I would force every person who misinterpreted Matrix to read this...

Overall, this book is a really well-written analysis of trans images in cinema through the years, and it contains everything you need to know to understand the impact of this film. Highly recommended.

This was such an engaging read about the history and evolution of trans representation in cinema. The authors give historical context for what was happening in the world when the movies were coming out, discuss who the filmmakers were, give plot explanations, and show how language and film images have changed over time.

Big movies like Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs, The Danish Girl, Boys Don’t Cry, and more get coverage within the book. But what I appreciated the most was learning about all of these different trans narrative films and documentaries that I had never heard of before, even with all the research I’ve already done into the history of LGBTQ+ movies. I have such a long list of films that I’m now dying to seek out. Another strength of the book was how the authors discussed how even if a movie isn’t intending to depict a trans character, audiences still take away messages from the film. That can be negative, like even though within The Silence of the Lambs they say that Buffalo Bill isn’t trans, many walked away from that movie with a negative association with trans women being killers. But it can also be positive, like when people have trans reads that help them feel represented within movies that don’t have canonical trans characters.

This isn’t just an encyclopedia of different movies, it brings up discussions of persistent stereotypes, commonly used images, cis vs trans casting, the lack of trans masc films, important figures in trans history, and the filmmakers who are bringing new and unique trans stories to the screen today. It covers so many years of films and so much ground in terms of different topics of conversation.

The book does have an academic tone, but not in the way that makes it difficult to read. The information is portrayed clearly and the connections between the different chapters and topics are easy to follow. I’d definitely recommend this book for anyone who has an interest in trans history or film history. You’ll most likely learn about movies you’ve never heard of before to add to your watchlist.