Zynnette's Media Review

Pose Pilot Review

Janet Mock’s Pose is a powerful Netflix drama series that follows the ventures of several

black and Latinx LGBTQ individuals during the late 1980s and early 1990s in New York City.

The episode which I will be focusing on, Pilot, sets the stage for three of our main protagonists. Blanca, a transgender woman who decides to start a house of her own after being diagnosed with HIV, Damon, a gay teenage boy who joins Blanca’s house after being disowned by his parents, and Angel, a transgender woman who forms a tumultuous relationship with a married man. Pose is not perfect, but it sticks the landing of realistic representation of what transgender women of color, have gone through and are still going through today. Through the scenes depicting how members of the LGBTQ community are effected by the AIDS epidemic, how transgender women are treated depending on how well they pass, and the objectification of transgender women, Mock’s work makes it viewers think about the past and present tribulations of these characters and how it actually goes on today.

Prior to Blanca deciding to move out of the house that she was a part of before, she was

diagnosed with HIV. We see throughout the first episode how much this weighs on her. She

speaks with her doctor about how this disease is basically a death sentence for her, she vents to Pray Tell about how knowing that she’s probably going to die gives her life a sense of certainty that it never had before, and we even see Damon’s mother tells him before kicking him out “And you know the Bible condemns homosexuality, and God will punish you by giving you that disease.” It has a very stark impact on how Blanca’s behavior changes when she, Angel and Damon are preparing for their first ball as the House of Evangelistas. Angel enters the room, saying “You can always spot the boys and the girls down at the pier who got AIDS, because they look wasted away,” and Blanca grows visibly uncomfortable at the statement. The way that the AIDS epidemic in its early years was assumed to be a plague directed at members of the LGBTQ community introduced an idea that is something that some still think to be true today. The social stigma surrounding having AIDS is strong for anybody, but especially so when the person is a member of the LGBTQ community, and that’s something that this episode captures well. Another reality of transgender women’s struggle is passing. This is highlighted in the beginning when we’re shown how Blanca is treated by members of the House of Abundance. In the beginning, another member calls her a crossdresser, disrespecting her identity. When it’s discovered that Blanca wants to leave and start her own house, Elektra berates her, saying “Look at me. Look at you. I can pass. I can strut down Fifth Avenue when the sun is sitting high as my cheekbones and be waited on at Bergdorf’s, same as any white woman, while you hide away in the shadows.” Elektra then tells Blanca that she’s way ahead of herself, and calls her a beast. It’s a blatant, recurring theme in the episode that transgender women who can pass are treated better

than women who cannot pass. It made me reflect on the fact that even today, transgender women are attacked and harassed every day on account that they can be spotted as not passing. It’s an uncomfortable truth, but this episode gives the audience a very realistic depiction of it. When Angel begins a relationship with a married man named Stan, she is essentially prostituting herself. He had a lack of experience in dealing with that, and just wanted to lay down with her, talk to her, and eventually kiss her at the end of the night. After Angel is humiliated at a ballroom show for being underdressed she opens up to Blanca about wanting a real relationship. She says “I met somebody. But he’s just like all the others. When am I finally gonna meet my Prince Charming? I’m tired of being humiliated. I deserve more. I’m worthy of better.” Angel is objectified by all of the men who she engages with, and this is a sad reality for transgender women. It is common for them to be kept as secrets by their partners, married or not, because of the societal scrutiny of having a relationship with a transgender person.

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