The countdown to a new season of Doctor Who has begun with the announcement of a 19 September premiere, and while we’ll be seeing the usual suspects, Moffat has once again recruited some famous faces as guest stars. One of the privileges of working with a beloved and famous franchise is the ability to recruit incredible talent — like Maisie Williams of Game of Thrones — to dress up the stage. This season, however, there’s a particularly interesting casting decision for a Mark Gatniss-penned episode: Trans actress Bethany Black has been cast…in a cis role.
Black’s casting is believed to be the first appearance of a trans actor, period, in the entire history of the programme, so she’s already breaking boundaries, but the decision to cast her on the basis of being the best fit for the part, rather than on the basis of her gender, is a remarkable move. Unfortunately, we’re still living in a media era where these things are remarkable, and where we have to discuss them precisely because they’re so rare — while the casting of trans actresses in a wide range of roles should be routine, it’s not, which is undoubtedly why some trans actresses may be working in stealth.
Her guest appearance raises serious concerns given that this is a Moffat endeavor, and viewers are familiar with being burned by Moffat. He doesn’t have the best record on female characters in general, and while the episode may have been written by Gatniss, it was obviously broken by Moffat and he played a key role in its development. Moffat will also be firmly at the helm as showrunner, and the results could be catastrophic — either the episode will be a welcome and needed inclusion in the Who canon, or a mess, and it will be impossible to tell until we see it.
Notably, Gatniss has teased that this episode will be ‘scary,’ though he hasn’t provided very many details beyond that. The show’s history of spooky episodes has been mixed, with some offering a genuinely creepy, stunning look into the heart of the Doctor’s world, while others have been less than thrilling. With a trans actress at the core of the episode, there’s a lot on the line — Black is stuck in the awkward position of not just being an ordinary actress, but one being stuck with the task of proving something, which isn’t a comfortable place to be.
One thing is certain: As buzz builds up around the episode and the casting, there will be pushback on the decision to cast a trans actress in a cis role. That pushback will likely take the form of familiar ‘reverse discrimination’ arguments that tend to ring out when people of nondominant social classes are provided with social and cultural opportunities just like everyone else is. Thus, there will be accusations that casting a trans woman in a cis role — notably, of course, the thought of an unmarked trans woman is unbelievable to many viewers, who assume that all female characters are cis unless explicitly proved otherwise — is somehow depriving a cis woman of a role.
There will also likely be a round of disingenuous claims that if the trans community complains about the casting of cis people in trans roles, it’s hardly fair to turn about and celebrate a trans actress in an assumed cis role. Some critics may go a step further, arguing that Black’s casting on the basis of her artistic merits is further evidence that cis women can play trans characters just fine, because casting should be about an actress’ ability rather than other characteristics.
These arguments, however, are red herrings. Casting a trans actress in a cis role is not equivalent to the other way ‘round, and people know it, though they may not want to admit it to themselves. Trans women deserve to have opportunities to play women, period, because they’re women — just as Black men are men, and should have access to any male role, just as disabled people are people, and should have access to any role.
In fact, unless a role specifically calls for someone with a specific history or body type, it should be open to anyone who can play it.
Thus, when a role revolves around a trans character, it obviously needs to be played by a trans actor, just as a role calling for a Black character needs to be played by a Black actor. To cast cis people in trans roles is offensive, suggesting that transness is something that can be ‘played,’ taken off and put on to suit the entertainment community and culture at large. This is an incredibly harmful and damaging social attitude that has real consequences for trans people in the wider world.
Casting trans people in (presumed) cis roles, however, doesn’t have the same effect. If anything, it improves conditions for trans people by challenging social attitudes, in this case putting a woman in the role of…a woman. Black and other trans actresses are often typecast, finding themselves sandwiched into trans roles alone, which is tough on a career when there are few roles of that nature to begin with, and also difficult socially because they don’t get an opportunity to represent the ordinary lives of the trans community.
The decision to cast Black is, of course, being widely advertised and discussed, as it’s quite a public relations coup for Moffat and the Who gang. However, it’s a big cultural event for the trans community as well, representing a potential important turning point. Black isn’t the first trans actress cast in a neutral role — though again there’s no reason to say her character isn’t trans, it’s just that the show is choosing to focus on other aspects of her identity — but the Who franchise is massive, and the casting decision sends a signal to other programmes: Do better.
If even Moffat can do better, so can you.
Photo by torbakhopper, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic