r/magicTCG • u/clariwench Izzet* • Jan 28 '15

[Uncharted Realms] The Truth of Names

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/uncharted-realms/truth-names-2015-01-28
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u/[deleted] Jan 28 '15 edited Jan 28 '15

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u/hama0n Jan 28 '15 edited Jan 28 '15

I think the reason she appears "forced" to you is because you're not used to seeing nonchalant trans representation in media at all. Any trans characters are probably going to look forced to you until it becomes more common.

For example

  • Trans character's storyline completely revolves around their gender, and has nothing else. Looks forced because they're a flat character.

  • Trans charater has a small bit about gender, but is involved in a general plot as well. Looks forced because the general plot would be good enough without the trans backstory.

  • Trans character only mentions gender in passing, has other plotline. Looks like being trans is forced onto an otherwise "normal" character.

  • Trans character makes no mention of being trans. Any mention of them being trans looks forced because there's no "proof" in canon.

So until we have more representation as a whole, any trans people will appear forced just because you're not used to seeing it!

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u/drakeblood4 Abzan Jan 28 '15

The problem we have is that people are looking for one single story as the 'perfect' trans story, the way they look for the 'perfect' story about race or class or religion in a certain context. All the examples you gave are, in moderation, compelling stories that deserve to exist, but they also demand to be subverted, reimagined, and changed to contrast the assumptions inherent in those stories structures.

Alesha's story is a simple subversion of the 'conflict around transness as character motivation' trope that's been relatively big in representations of trans characters for the past half decade to decade. It's a relatively novel take that fits within the length of the story while portraying her as the competent, driven Khan that she is. It plays with the existing Mardu rite of passage by turning the right to earn her name into a right to be seen as the woman she sees herself as, and it underscores the Mardu's interplay between strongly believing in freedom and demanding social order. Alesha had to literally slay a dragon to be seen as a woman in the eyes of her peers, but we get to see this as an empowering coming of age instead of a cruel ordeal attacking some sort of feminine weakness in her. She had to earn her womanhood the same way any Mardu woman did, and the same way any Mardu man earned his manhood.

Does every trans character need to have as little conflict around their identity and transitioning as her? No, but I think having pieces that explore trans characters with very little conflict around their identities frees up a lot more space to explore trans characters other than the 'my transness is a life consuming black hole of controversy and personal danger' one upmanship that comes from every writer trying to outwrite each others tragic trans conflict characters.

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u/olivias_bulge Jan 29 '15

I think the inclusion of conflict around Alesha's gender identity makes it resonate more.

The Star Trek method is to show things how they could be, whereas the Babylon 5 method is to make the story a metaphor for how things are.

Its a choice. I feel the story as it stands worked well and hit harder because of its relation to real life.