Scene from the first few minutes of To be or not to bethe series produced by Radiotelevisión Española, which can be seen here from Flow.
In front of the mirror in his room, before going to school, Joel practices a monologue that he will not be able to say in front of his classmates. “Two years ago I found out he was a trans guy. I have always felt that I was playing a role that was assigned to me at birth, but which was not mine. It was thanks to YouTube that I found there were more guys like me and that gave me the strength to start my transition. “
Along the six episodes of approximately 25 minutes, To be or not to be invoice the story of a trans guy during the first months in his new school, a high school specializing in performing arts where he will be able to introduce himself for the first time as a boy. Furthermore, he has a peculiarity: he participates Ander Puigthe first trans male protagonist of a Spanish series.
To count or not to count, this is the question
Through the chapters, narrated in a linear and simple way, the days of Joel and his friends Laia and Ricky are told in a theater lesson. The first day of school assignment – the first person presentation – will wake up in Joel the dilemma of whether to count or not who is a trans guy.
The same will happen to him with Ona, the girl he falls in love with on the first day of class. At home, except for a grandmother he rarely sees, Joel is understood and loved by his mother.
In Spain, the media talked about the “necessary visibility of the problems of a trans teenager” and the “first series starring a trans actor”. Perhaps this visibility is the main merit of the series coral crossalthough he paints history in too thick lines to be told in this century and in a city like Barcelona.
Joel’s mother is unconditional and problem-free. Grandmother? A caricature of rigidity and a hymn to the traditional family. And the theater master is full of phrases like “we don’t rely on how others see us”, as well as making an analogy between theater and stage masks and others. The subplots are completed with Ricky, Joel’s gay friend who wants to come out.
The protagonist’s work
The main role of Ander Puig is correct and successful. Although the production has delicate scenes, it lacks the freshness to tell in depth what a trans guy’s life is like, as well as stretch the story too much by telling it or “continuing to lie”.
To be or not to be He is inserted in a corpus of LGBTIQ themed series as if there were no precedents in his country or other foreign productions.
It does not have an iota of the clarity of the first seasons of Transparent – eight years have passed since its premiere – and it never becomes as irresistible as the Spanish Poison or the monologue of La Agrado in All about my motherPedro Almodóvar’s film premiered 23 years ago.
The Spanish media speak of a “necessary visibility”. The existence of a series – and hundreds of others – with this theme is salutary and worthy of being celebrated, but fortunately progress has been made in the conquest of rights and productions on the subject. Y perhaps it is not enough just to make it visible. Even less so when the target audience are teenagers.
File
To be or not to be
Rating: Fair.
Genre: Drama Starring: Ander Puig, Anna Alarcón and Emma Vilarasau Creator: Coral Cruz Broadcast: Flow Duration: six half-hour episodes
WD
Diego Jemio
Source: Clarin
