The first time I ever saw anything about the transgender community was this episode of The Jeffersons.
The main character, George Jefferson, is going to meet his old navy buddy. Little does he know that his friend has had a sex change operation. George acts predictably uncomfortable but finds that he must rely on his friend because Louise, George's wife, believes that he is having an affair.
I personally thought that this episode was well ahead of its time on so many regards. A transgendered woman did not play George's friend but I still loved her performance. While she was definitely wanting to keep George's friendship, she did not take any disrespect.
If there is anything that can be seen as offensive in this episode, it would have to be the sequence where George tries to pass off a male employee as his friend. However, I don't think the sequence was making fun of the transgender community, but people's ignorance of them.
Anyway, I loved the episode, especially the ending. There was one thing I noticed about the character of Louise Jefferson that I particularly liked. See if you can guess what it is.
Did you like that Louise automatically refers to Eydie as she whereas George is very awkward with pronouns?
ReplyDeleteActually it was when she realized that George was not cheating on her, the fact that Edyie was transgendered did not bother her at all. She accepted Edyie totally without any trepidation.
ReplyDeleteNorman Lear's comedies were YEARS ahead of their time.
ReplyDeleteTruth
DeleteLet's not forget that on All in the Family we had Beverly, Archie's drag queen friend!
ReplyDeleteShe was on at least once for three seasons, before she was killed off in the two-part episode "Edith's Test of Faith", where Edith decides to leave her beloved church because a loving God wouldn't allow Beverly to be brutally murdered, but it takes Mike, the atheist son-in-law, (who was injured trying to fight the murderers off) to bring Edith back from the brink.
Hello, my name is E and I was looking for this video footage and found your blog. A great blog by the way. Now, added to my favs. I will share this blog with my online classmates. The timing of finding your blog is excellent. Next week, the LGBTQ community will hold a memorial service for the "gay student suicides" that recently occured. The comments are excellent as well!
ReplyDeleteHi E. Glad that I could help. ;p
ReplyDeleteGet your heads examined, queers.
ReplyDeleteComing from a coward who hides behind an anonymous label and who needs to follow his/her own advice.
ReplyDeletelol, I DID have my head examined and the doc confirmed that I was trans. What a maroon!
ReplyDelete