Page 11 - TRANZLOOK MAGAZINE

CELEBRITY TRANS CULTURE

The second decade of the twenty-first century saw an explosion of highly visible
transgender presence in the mass media. Caitlyn Jenner-the former Olympic

athlete, Kardashian clan member, and reality television star- finally came out

after years of tabliod speculation, in a series of high-profile media events in
2015, including a ratings-grabbing interview with Diane Sawyer on the broadcast

news show 2020, a cover story in Vanity Fair that featured photographs by

acclaimed photographer Annie Leibovitz, and a short-lived, much-maligned
reality TV show. I am Cait. Jenner might have had a higher profile, but actors like

Laverne Cox and writers like Janet Mock had more staying power and more
substantive things to say, as did the transgender sisters Lana Wachowski and

Lily Wachowski. The Netflik orginal series SenseB offered one of the most

narratively complex, visually arresting and aesthetically challenging works in
contemprary mainstream media. The sci-fi thriller revolved around eight

individuals from around the world, all born at the same moment, who suddenly
begin to share the same sensory experiences, trans actor Jamie Clayton plays

transsexual lesbian Nomi Marks, one the the " sensates". The most critically

acclaimed and commercially successful trans-centered show was Amazon's
Transparent, based loosely on show-runner Jill Soloway's experience as the

adult child of a late-transitioning transgender parent and produced by

transgender culture makers Rhys Ernst and Zackary Drucker.

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