I have a major - MAJOR - problem the DVD cover image for the Felicity Huffman-starring drama Transamerica. The packaging shows Huffman in all her gorgeousosity, looking back over her shoulder with her golden hair flowing and eyes beckon...sorry, where was I? Oh right. The problem I have is that Huffman plays a man who has had transgender surgery to become a woman and very much looks like that in the movie. They're selling this DVD to the Desperate Housewives crowd. They're selling Huffman as the glamorous woman millions of people view on TV and not as she appears in the movie. Not only that, but they're pretty much sidestepping what the movie is, you know, ALL ABOUT in the process. I hate to acuse anyone of this, but this is about as close to deceptive advertising as you can get. Fans of the movie will pick it up on DVD but this is all about appealing to suburban Target shoppers who aren't familiar with the movie and therefore don't know what it's actually about.Transamerica's deceptive DVD cover
I have a major - MAJOR - problem the DVD cover image for the Felicity Huffman-starring drama Transamerica. The packaging shows Huffman in all her gorgeousosity, looking back over her shoulder with her golden hair flowing and eyes beckon...sorry, where was I? Oh right. The problem I have is that Huffman plays a man who has had transgender surgery to become a woman and very much looks like that in the movie. They're selling this DVD to the Desperate Housewives crowd. They're selling Huffman as the glamorous woman millions of people view on TV and not as she appears in the movie. Not only that, but they're pretty much sidestepping what the movie is, you know, ALL ABOUT in the process. I hate to acuse anyone of this, but this is about as close to deceptive advertising as you can get. Fans of the movie will pick it up on DVD but this is all about appealing to suburban Target shoppers who aren't familiar with the movie and therefore don't know what it's actually about.Reader Comments
(Page 1)2. Who cares? Have midgets Riverdancing on the cover for all I care. As long as people watch it and even get a smidgen of what it's like to be a transwoman, I think trans-folk have progressed (even with the flaws in the movie). Being transgender in this world is not easy. It sucks, frankly. If someone buys this film because
because of Felicity Huffman, so be it. Maybe watching the movie will soften our plight in their eyes... or at the very least educate them to it. IMO, that's the bottom line.
Posted at 8:03PM on May 23rd 2006 by Marti Abernathey
3. That's not the cover I saw at Best Buy tonight.
Posted at 11:42PM on May 23rd 2006 by James Huston
5. I am a transgender person and live my life 24/7 as a woman. I watched the movie at the theater and bought the dvd because of the theme and it is a good movie. I will use it to help educate anyone who wishes to view it. If they just used the transgender photo how many dvds do you think they would sell? Yes most transgendered people will add this to their library but we need allies. They use a smart marketing ploys to sell the movie to the general public. Would you have been happier if they put in a brown paper cover? As for the sleave that shows her in transgender mode and real life; my advice, if the cover offends you throw it away.
Posted at 10:52PM on May 25th 2006 by Linda Cox
6. My comments come 3 weeks after your initial posting - but I just could not resist chiming in. As a previous respondent has already pointed out, the outer jacket of the DVD in question shows both Ms. Huffman in her typically resplendent beauty, as well as in lead character, “Bree” mode - superimposed upon each other holographically. (I know - I just bought it!)
This is not a case of bait and switch - rather, it is superb marketing that drives home the idea of a major transformation which can and does work both ways. You see, I had never EVER watched “Desperate Housewives” at all, prior to going to see “Transamerica”. But because Felicity Huffman was brave enough to be part of a cinema project that although not perfect, stands as one of the most positive high-profile depictions of what life can be like for Transgender people; I actually went backwards (so to speak) and began checking her out on “Desperate”, as well as in other works she’s done. Quite a number of my friends and associates in the Transgender Community have done likewise.
And oh - just for the record, I happen to be a Trans-woman, too. Part of the real “Transamenrica”!
Like Bree in the movie, I cannot seem to land “high-end” employment in my original career field after my pre-operative Transition though I am very intelligent and had earlier racked up 22 years of unquestioned skills and experience. And I lost far more than just my career, as a direct consequence of finally ending my own life-long “false advertising” campaign to walk in freedom as my TRUE self. Let me say most assuredly that folks like me are NOT merely engaged in some big “hobby on steriods”...
If “Transamerica” helps dispel anti-Transgender discrimination, I could care less how its promoters choose to get others to watch or buy it - and hopefully understand its underlying point!
Posted at 8:00AM on Jun 16th 2006 by Nancy-Jo Morris
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1. I do think that Huffman as a transexual should have been on the cover- yet I also think that there was a somewhat recurring theme in the film of people seeing the sexual person that you think you are regardless of your appearance or past.
I think that this cover is mainly representing that, as marketing this for the 'Desperate Housewives' crowd would be an enormous error, not that someone cannot enjoy both TransAmerica and that series.
Posted at 6:38PM on May 23rd 2006 by Daniel