6B — Thursday, March 9, 2017
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

“These 
people 
are 
no 

different from any of us. It 
would be impossible for anyone 
not to develop a connection 
to these families if they spent 
some time with them.”

This 
is 
VICE 
News 

Correspondent Gianna Toboni. 
In a recent interview with 
The Michigan Daily, Toboni 
shared her experiences from 
creating 
the 
documentary 

episode, “Trans Youth” for 
VICE on HBO. The 30-minute 
piece 
follows 
transgender 

youth across America, all in 
different stages of their medical 
transition. It’s raw, real and asks 
viewers to do a lot more than 
simply watch. “Trans Youth” 
asks its viewers to think about 
a group of children and parents 
who are in the fight of their life.

The “fight of their life” 

is 
not 
something 
to 
be 

taken 
metaphorically. 
The 

documentary 
begins 
in 

Pearland, Texas, with five-
year-old Kai Shappley. Kai is a 
transgender child in one of the 
most conservative, right-wing 
school districts in America. 
After spending some time at 
home with Kai and her mother, 
Kimberly, the episode follows 
Kimberly to the Pearland local 
school 
board 
meeting. 
She 

stands before her community 
members 
and 
leaders, 
and 

makes the case for Kai’s right 
to use the bathroom of her 
choosing: 

“I am a mom of a little girl 

that I would like to see live,” 
Kimberly said in the episode. 
“I am a mom of a little girl 
who has a 41% suicide rate. 
That is a very real thing. Please 
understand. I’m not fighting 
about bathrooms. I am fighting 
about her life.”

A lack of support from the 

community is crystal clear. 
The 
school 
superintendent 

left the room halfway through 
Kimberly’s 
speech. 
At 
this 

point, it would be easy to spend 
the rest of the episode exploring 
in the politics of transgender 
laws — but that’s not what 
“Trans Youth” does, and it’s a 
stronger episode for it.

The fight for Kai’s life runs 

much deeper than conservative 
politics, and not just for Kai 
— for all transgender youth, 
to live in a body with which 
he or she does not identify is 
excruciating. So painful, in fact, 
that for those who can’t remedy 
what they feel, suicide is the 
only option.

It is this fight — the fight to 

transition medically — that 
“Trans Youth” highlights.

“[The 
episode’s 
creators] 

made a decision to focus on 
the medical transition because 
(they) felt like that’s what 
other media companies hadn’t 
focused on,” Toboni said.

Bathroom laws are all anyone 

hears about — but those laws 
hardly scratch the surface of 

what it means for a transgender 
youth to transition. The medical 
process 
of 
transitioning 
is 

relatively unexplored.

“I have never done a story 

where I can talk to the experts 
and 
they 
don’t 
know 
the 

answer,” Toboni said.

This 
uncharted 
territory, 

though scary, has not deterred 
children intent on making the 
transition. Toboni interviewed 
eight-year-old Max O’Brien as 
he went through the process 
of receiving hormone blockers. 
The blockers aren’t permanent, 
but undergoing cross-hormone 
therapy is. Max and his parents 
have a few years before they 
have to make that decision. 

With no long-term data backing 
these medical treatments up, 
no one can know for sure what 
these medical treatments will 
mean 10 years down the road.

The 
episode 
does 
an 

excellent job of exploring what 
this 
uncertainty 
means 
for 

transgender youth and their 
families. Intimate interviews 
put viewers directly in the 
homes, backyards and hospital 
rooms of these people, giving 
outsiders a perspective on an 
issue which is foreign to them.

Uncertainty about the long-

terms effects isn’t the only issue 
with the medical transition 
process. It’s expensive. Very 
expensive. Toboni estimated 
that a hormone blocker costs 
between $750 and $800 per 
month. So, the transition is, per 
Toboni, “completely prohibitive 
if insurance is not covering it.”

In the wake of President 

Donald 
Trump’s 
executive 

order 
to 
dismantle 
many 

benefits of the Affordable Care 
Act, families of transgender 
youth are in a state of limbo. As 
a viewer watching interviews 
filmed prior to the executive 
order, a major question raised 
is how things have changed 
since. Toboni and her crew 
have stayed in touch since the 

election.

“There’s no other way to put 

it, they’re devastated,” Toboni 
said. “They don’t know how this 
is going to affect their health 
insurance, 
whether 
they’re 

going to be able to continue 
transitioning.”

The episode features men and 

women at each stage of their 
transition — from pre-medical, 
like Kai, to surgical, like 18-year-
old Charlotte. Charlotte has 
lived at the Waltham House — a 
group home in Boston for LGBT 
youth — since she was 14, after 
her mother threatened her life 
for wanting to be a woman. For 
someone like Charlotte, made 
to feel like she “had no place 
in this world,” the opportunity 
to surgically transition is life-
altering. It allows her to feel 
comfortable in her own skin.

Without the assistance of 

health insurance, however, this 
might not be possible. Those 
unaffected cannot fully imagine 
the emotional toll it takes. 
15-year-old 
Steevie 
Geagan 

offers a glimpse.

“You have no idea how hard 

it is, waking up and not really 
connecting with what’s there,” 
Geagan said in the episode. “To 
prolong the treatment process, 
would be dreadful.”

By highlighting the medical 

transition, 
the 
documentary 

is better equipped to capture 
the emotional fight America’s 
transgender youth face daily. 
The biggest take-away is that 
this issue is about more than 
politics. It’s people’s lives. To 
highlight the medical process 
and present it to a large audience 
creates discussion that may not 
have been present before.

“Trans 
Youth” 
showcases 

people who are fighting for 
their right to be happy.

“I think that’s the reason 

we do this work. To help 
educate people and help those 
influencers, 
policy 
makers, 

civilians 
go 
on 
into 
their 

communities and act in a way 
that they feel is appropriate,” 
Toboni said, reflecting on the 
episode’s potential to inspire 
viewers. “That’s the first step in 
creating change.”

Those in Ann Arbor who are 

eager to make change don’t 
have to look far. The University 
of Michigan’s Spectrum Center 
offers 
programs, 
academic 

services and a comprehensive 
list 
of 
LGBT 
student 

organizations. 
Residential 

group homes like the Waltham 
House exist nationwide.

Though they live in an almost 

constant state of uncertainty 
and turmoil, Toboni admired 
that the transgender youth will 
not be deterred.

“They’re still going to protest, 

they’re still connecting with 
their community and they’re 
continuing to fight,” she said.

“Trans Youth” is available 

to stream for free on YouTube 
through March 18th courtesy of 
HBO. 

EMILY BICE
Daily Arts Writer

HBO

The Fight of Their Lives: 
Toboni on ‘Trans Youth’

VICE News Correspondent Gianna Toboni talks experiences 
with families of transgender youth and difficulties of transition

‘Not Your Negro’ brings 
Baldwin’s words to life

James Baldwin, novelist and 

playwright, tells the story of 
Black men in America with a 
voice of wisdom, 
sorrow 
and 

mourning. 
Baldwin’s 
memoir 
is 

a 
touching, 

personal account 
of combating the 
ever-prevalent 
racism in the United States while 
paying due tribute to his friends, 
Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and 
Martin Luther King Jr., who died 
trying to end it.

From Baldwin’s poetic prose 

to Samuel L. Jackson’s calming, 
hushed narration (Though the 
actor usually prefers a forceful 
yell, as evidenced by Marvel’s 
Nick Fury, “Snakes on a Plane” 
and 
“Pulp 
Fiction”), 
Raoul 

Peck’s 
(“Murder 
in 
Pacot”) 

documentary version of the 
author’s unfinished manuscript, 
“Remember This House,” is 
a meaningful homage to the 
unpublished masterpiece.

More than just depicting a life, 

the film depicts a struggle — the 
struggle of the African American 
community 
in 
America 
and 

the struggle of the people who 
fought to end that struggle. 

Within the span of five years, 
three great men were murdered 
for fighting in the name of civil 
rights, equality and justice.

First was Medgar Evers, then 

it was Malcolm X, then Martin 
Luther King Jr. The world 

lost 
three 
great 

leaders, but James 
Baldwin lost three 
dear 
friends. 
In 

the film, Baldwin 
recalls the details 
and 
memories 

of 
discovering 

the news of the 

assassinations. 
He 
was 
on 

vacation when he found out 
about Medgar over the radio, he 
was out to dinner when he found 
out about Malcolm, he was in 
L.A. when he got the call about 
Martin. Baldwin’s losses are 
what inspired him to write the 
famed manuscript and they drive 
the film forward.

“I Am Not Your Negro” 

manages to seamlessly weave 
together found and real footage 
into 
a 
clear 
and 
stunning 

portrayal of Baldwin’s work. 
Even 
Baldwin’s 
plentiful 

references 
to 
Hollywood 

blockbusters like “Guess Who’s 
Coming to Dinner” and “Dance, 
Fools, Dance” are incorporated 
with skill and artistry. The 
collage of images compiled into 
the film takes Baldwin’s words 
and turns them into the perfect 

narration for events both past 
and present.

The 
historical 
footage 
of 

Baldwin is representative of his 
personality, adding his own voice 
and mannerisms to the film. 
The audience finds him on “The 
Dick Cavett Show” flicking the 
ash from his cigarette, speaking 
eloquently in the hallowed halls 
of Cambridge, riding in the 
passenger seat through his native 
Harlem, rubbing shoulders with 
the likes of Marlon Brando, 
Sammy 
Davis 
Jr., 
Harry 

Belafonte and Charlton Heston.

In addition to providing a 

portrait of Baldwin during his 
lifetime, the film showcases 
a 
variety 
of 
footage 
and 

photographs illustrating a still 
evident racial divide within 
American society. From riots in 
the streets of Ferguson to police 
brutality in Los Angeles, the film 
intertwines Baldwin’s memories 
of the disturbing past with 
today’s disturbing present. Raoul 
Peck has compiled an impressive 
arsenal of found footage that tells 
a story in and of itself; it is only a 
fitting that it sings so beautifully 
in duet with Baldwin’s work.

“I Am Not Your Negro” is an 

innovative and simply excellent 
documentary that gives voice 
to the genius of James Baldwin, 
while addressing race in America 
from a perspective both old and 
new. 

REBECCA PORTMAN

For the Daily

AMAZON STUDIOS

MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW

alt-J is a band long recog-

nized for its music videos. My 
first-ever introduction to the 
band was when a friend rec-
ommended me not their music, 
but to their music video for 
“Breezeblocks” and try to fig-
ure out what was going on. The 
band hasn’t been afraid to get 
strange with their videos over 
the past few years, and that 
holds true with this week’s 
“3WW,” an imaginative vir-
tual translation of the pain of 
denied love.

The video opens in dark-

ness, and then shades of 
golden-brown light begin fil-
tering into view in the form 
of geometric shapes. At the 
same time, a single wandering 
guitar guides us into the soft 
percussive rhythm that soon 
becomes the backbone of the 
song. The sound is endlessly 
soft and exploratory, and it 
evokes waking up in the morn-
ing or stepping into the light 
out of a dark room.

Equally intriguing are the 

corresponding 
images. 
The 

rapidly flashing shapes from 
the very beginning set the 
tone for the rest of the video, 
which looks like it takes its 
animation from some com-
puter program or video game. 

The constant flashing and 
switching 
between 
images 

makes it hard to discern any 
concrete plot, but the images 
themselves still suggest dis-
tinct feelings and senses of 
meaning. Many of the images 
recur — a man walking into a 
room to meet another person, a 
pinkish shape floating upward 
into a near-cloudless sky, a 
field of grass with a single tree 
beginning to bloom — and con-
vey a sense of continuation, of 
nature taking on meaning in 
an unnatural world.

The succession of images 

repeats several times in the 
same order, and for all the hope 
that comes across in the bright 
landscapes, like a beautiful 
dock and a road through green 
fields, the song definitely car-
ries a strong element of sad-
ness, of hope lost. The figure 
walking alone toward the per-
son in the room never reaches 
them; the series always ends 
with the final note of an object 
or figure, lying dead in the 
middle of a road. I took this 
as an indication of the futility 
of the speaker’s love, but the 
video is constructed in a way 
that lends itself to personal 
interpretations, rather than 
a clear narrative. No matter 
the 
interpretation, 
though, 

“3WW” is a beautiful example 
of how a music video doesn’t 
need a plot or even a live cast 
of people in order to convey 
something deep, meaningful 
and complete.

— LAURA DZUBAY

“3WW”

alt-J

Infectious Music

“These people are 
no different from 
any of us. It would 

be impossible 
for anyone not 

to develop a 
connection to 
these families if 
they spent some 
time with them”

“I Am Not Your 

Negro”

Amazon Studios

Michigan Theater

TV INTERVIEW
FILM REVIEW

INFECTIOUS MUSIC