Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In as a Transgender Fantasy

POST INCLUDES SPOILERS!

There are those who say transgender fantasies never make it into mainstream media.

Well, last year saw at least one serious, artistic, movie that reads like a crossdreamer/transgender fantasy, namely La Piel que Habito or The Skin I Live In.

By writing this I have, of course, revealed the plot’s unusual twist, which isn’t that unusual at all if you are a reader of TG fiction.

Here you will find one of the traditional TG themes: A young boy abducted by mad scientist, is being turned into a woman; he goes through upheaval and suffering before finally coming to peace with her new life.

Pedro Almodóvar has introduced many transgender persons in his movies, but not one of these movies have been this explicit.

The movie is loosely based on the French book Tarantula by Thierry Jonquet. But allthough the book deviates a bit from the plot of the movie, the novel could also have been published as a story on one of the main TG fiction portals.

The movie is presented as a thriller, and I have seen reviewers desperately look for a deeper cultural commentary, like — for instance — the violent suppression of women.

Maybe. But who are we kidding? The rest of the world, it seems

Amazon.com DVD: The Skin I Live in (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Amazon.com paperback: Tarantula: the Skin I Live in

Kindle ebook: Tarantula

Amanda’s Reading Room

Amanda Hawkings has moved her collection of TG stories and long captions over to Blogger.

She writes about the new site:

“At the moment there’s nothing new here that I haven’t posted before, and my most recent work is a minor vignette (in the 2012 Archive). So I’ll draw your attention to three substantial caption stories from last fall.

“Problem Child is a straightforward story about what happens when a mother discovers her son’s interest in TG comics. The Cross-Dresser’s Wife is an offbeat story about what happens when a wife discovers her husband’s online interest in TG captions. (Anyone sensing a theme here?) Finally, as a change of pace, Time, Considered as a Curl of Soft Hair is a mystical story about what happens when a man receives an offer of feminine transformation that he finds impossible to refuse.”

Most of the stories are accessed as PDF files.

Click here to visit the site.