Representing trans in Sinophone films: uncovering local critical evaluations, storytelling performative marriages, promoting trans decoloniality, and illustrating transgendered cis-casting

This study analyzes three Sinophone trans films: Tracey (2018) from Hong Kong, A Woman is a Woman (2019) from Hong Kong, and Miss Andy (2020) from Malaysia and Taiwan. Our research objective is to enrich and help decolonize the research on popular representation of trans. It performs four analytical tasks. The first uncovers locally distinctive critical evaluations of trans representation that depart from ones commonly offered by Western-centric scholarship. The second task interprets how the films reflect the lived experience of trans persons in Sinophone East Asia. The third task interprets how the films contribute to trans decoloniality. The four task develops the idea of “transgendered cis-casting” to advance the theoretical debate on authenticity in popular representations of trans.