I am at most a casual movie viewer, and extremely casual about following celebrity news.
So I didn't know, until my social media news feeds started telling me, that there was a new being in the world calling himself Elliot Page, or why that was extraordinary.
Apparently, Elliot Page is the new chosen identity of a Hollywood actor who won the Austin Film Critics' Award for "Best Actress of the Year" in 2006 and 2007 for Hard Candy and Juno. I had to do an absurd amount of work to find that out, because there seems to be a rule in the mainstream media against saying things like "Elliot Page, pre-transition, was known as Ellen Page."
I don't think that rules against stating history (quite recent history too) accurately are sensible ideas. Even Howard Cosell must have said a time or two, "Mohammed Ali, the boxer formerly known as Cassius Clay, won his appeal today," or similar sentences.
Yes, I've watched more boxing than I have movies.
In case you thought that this was merely an instance of a woman becoming a man, it's more complicated than that. An article states that Elliot said, “I love that I am trans. And I love that I am queer. ..." The article adds, "Page uses both he/him and they/them pronouns, and describes himself as transgender and non-binary, meaning that his gender identity is neither man nor woman." https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/elliot-page-transgender-ellen-page-juno-umbrella-academy-1234843023/
ReplyDeleteThe last I heard, "queer" meant gay or lesbian; in other words, that you were sexually attracted to people of the same sex as you. If Page is neither man nor woman, then to whom is he/they sexually attracted? Only to other people who are neither man nor woman? Is a person who is neither also a person who is both? If so, is Page attracted to both men and women, as well as to those who are neither? I'm confused.
The article, however, does begin, "Elliot, formerly known as Ellen...."