Free CeCe - Movie Analysis Essay

Introduction

In 2016, Jacqueline Gares and Laverne Cox articulated and released the film Free CeCe as the embodiment of the issues transgender have faced throughout History. Starring CeCe who is a colored transgender woman, who is a victim of injustices perpetrated against people of her kind. The film encompasses the situation whereby in June 2011, in Minneapolis while strolling with her friends she defended herself against her assailants who were intent on patronizing and abusing her based on her color and sexual orientation. In the pursuit of self-defense, she retaliates by inflicting harm through stabbing her attacker identified as Dean Schmitz on the chest culminating in his death.

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CeCe is arrested at the crime scene and was charged with second-degree murder and sentenced to 41 months in prison. The coercive trial carried out on her is antagonistic to an extent she is incarcerated in a men's prison in Minneapolis. But due to public outcry and outrage, she only served 19 months before being released. She has pioneered campaigns and movements against ill-treatment of both black and white transgender people since leaving jail.

Society is characterized by diverse individuals with different opinions and prejudices, especially concerning race. As a Hispanic female, advances of preconceptions are imminent and some people have demonstrated little to no fear in expressing their thoughts and opinions on the disparate variations on racial orientation. Some individuals are impudent in the way they handle people of a different kind and this has been part of my experience. I had in the past been in a rant with a man who clearly had no respect for women of Hispanic origin claiming that they are aggressive, manipulative and dependent on men castigating on the portrayed sexual picture as depicted in the movies and media. My experiences may, however, not be as detrimental as were CeCe's but racial discrimination is a major setback to the community and the social standards that enforce peace and co-existence.

Her role in the film is requisite in portraying the position and opinion of the society concerning the transgender people. The movie asserts that society has not yet accepted the transgender community in the light of the trivial treatment accorded to them in their day to day lives. Additionally, the laws and statutes put in place in the United States in the past do not recognize and give non-partisan representation in the court of law thus causing an infringement of human rights. Notwithstanding, her civil rights as stipulated in the statutes, she is not acquitted in the trial but instead condemned to solitary confinement in males' section of the prison. CeCe is the personification of a population ailed by many of the critical issues in the society that undermine the ethnic background, sexual orientation, and other social phenomena.

Living as a trans woman has proved to be more difficult than an ordinary person. The fact that she was also black in color has also proved to have impacted the victim. As a transwoman, the victim gets insults on the streets regarding her gender. The victim also gets insulted by racists on her color. The victim feels that there is oppression in the country due to unfairness by the way her case was handled and feels that her gender influenced the case. The victim also feels that the fact that it was a black person who attacked a white individual, has led to a negative impact on her case and has also impacted her psychology and that of other black people. The victim feels that white people are favored than black people. The victim and other transwomen are even more scared of life and laws. The victim reveals that being a transwoman especially black, has caused her much trouble.

Gender discrimination is clearly evident in this film. The film relates to the course since the rights of transwomen is clearly infringed. Transwomen especially that of color, feel that they are the most openly terrorized community in America. It is found that a higher percentage of transwomen are jailed compared to the general population and this clearly indicates that there may be discrimination and unfairness towards Trans women (Masikini, 2016). The statistics also reveal that a higher percentage of transgender inmates are sexually abused while in prison compared to the general percentage of inmates (Masikini,2016). It reveals that the transgender community is more disadvantaged than the ordinary citizen and this calls for gender attention. Clearly, the victim reveals that being a transwoman of color has disadvantaged her more than that compared to an ordinary citizen.

Currently, in the United States, the level of bias against the LGBTQ is at an all-time high. Society tends to be more judgmental towards the LGBTQ community as compared to regular females or males. When CeCe is convicted, she is incarcerated in a male prison despite having female genes too. The members of the LGBTQ community face more dire consequences for mistakes similar to those of regular members of society. They are usually highly discriminated, and their rights even violated with very few people fighting for their rights or also taking note of the injustice served to them.

In social platforms, there has been a great controversy on how to relate to transgender individuals. This controversy has led to the publicizing of the lives of the members of the LGBTQ community, violating their right to privacy.

In addition to that, there have been certain conditions set for the members of the LGBTQ communities barring them from participating in certain activities unless they fulfill specific requirements. For instance, in the sports world Castor Semenya, a transgender lady has been banned from participating in races unless she undergoes a particular treatment that reduces her testosterone levels to a specified level by the federation in charge (Buzuvis, 2010). By merely being transgender in the current society, one is warranted to violence and mistreatment. CeCe was harassed due to being transgender and in self-defense ended up killing someone. Disorder prevails against the members of the transgender community whereby they are attacked physically and even trolled regularly on social media. The most common method of violence against members of the LGBTQ is trolling through the internet.

References

Buzuvis, E. (2010). Caster Semenya and the myth of a level playing field. http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1136&context=tma

Gares, J. (Director), Cox, L. (producer), (2016). Free CeCe. Jac Gares Media Inc.

Masikini, N. (2016). Transwomen and the Prison Industrial Complex. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=ungradawards_2016