The film name, Tangerine, has less to do with the intense sunset of the Los Angeles skyline as the backdrop, and more to do with the bright, fascinating aura that surrounded the extraordinary black and transgender characters that made the film the phenomenon that it was. The plot follows two black, transgender best friends who battle hardships and setbacks due to their line of work, race, and gender identities. The film as a whole displays various examples regarding the fierce challenges of being both a black person and a transgender in a lighthearted, yet incredibly raw way; a way that shows the audience just how grueling and degrading their lives are capable of being. According to the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), black transgenders in the United States face “deeper and broader forms of discrimination” than their caucasian counterparts and cisgender black peers (NCTE, 2015).
Cisgender, straight black people continue to deal with an unnerving amount of discrimination in the U.S even now, and it is no secret that those apart of the LGBTQ+ community receive hateful comments as well. So, it is easy to see why tacking on a LGBTQ+ title to a black person could result in even more hatred and prejudice. The Report of the U.S Transgender Survey (USTS) conducted different experiments, including differences based on demographic and other traits, and in which 796 black transgender and nonbinary people participated, showcasing their various experiences and what their life has been like as black/African-American transgenders. Some of the results from this survey include that 38 percent of respondents were living in poverty, compared to the 24 percent of black people in the U.S population, 48 percent of black respondents have been homeless at some point and 22 percent have dealt with homelessness for the lone fact that they are transgender. 53 percent of black respondents have been sexually harassed and/or assaulted in their lifetime, 67 percent of black respondents fear asking the police for help, and 34 percent of black respondents who have been to any healthcare provider have experienced some form of backlash or prejudice, and have had to educate said healthcare provider and professional on transgender lifestyle in order to get the appropriate treatment that they needed (USTS, 2015).
As seen in these statistics, two of the most prominent issues are the hate crimes and unwarranted violence that is targeted towards black transgender individuals. According to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), black survivors were 1.3 times more likely to experience police violence than those who are not black. Black survivors are also two times as likely to experience various forms of physical brutality, two times as likely to experience forms of prejudice and 1.4 times more likely to experience intimidating threats during acts of hate violence (HRC, n.d). The final scene in the movie shows Sin-Dee approaching a vehicle of men who had been cat-calling and yelling at her to come over to them, as they knew she was a prostitute. When she had approached the car and asked what she could do for them, the group of men threw a cup of urine in her face and proceeded to tell her, “Merry Christmas, you tranny faggot.” (Tangerine, 2015). This is a perfect example of a hate crime, and blatant discrimination towards those who identify themselves differently compared to our societal norms. To add to this, research shows that black transgender women are the ones who face the greatest levels of harmful and deadly violence within the LGBTQ+ community (HRC, n.d). Most of them will not report these events to police in fear of re-victimization and being disregarded. As shown multiple times in the film, the black transgender characters become on edge and slightly fearful when they hear others discuss calling the police.
Tangerine shows its audience the difficulty the characters face in regards to the money they are and are not making. In a specific scene, one of the black transgender characters, Alexandra, is called out by a man sitting in his car. He is aware that she is a sex worker, and asks her to perform fellatio on him. She tells him the price for that would be eighty dollars and that he had be wearing a condom while she did it. He only pulls out forty dollars, and she quickly declines to do anything for him unless he had the full amount. However, she quickly realizes just how desperately she needed the money for rent and Christmas since Sin-Dee had been in prison and had no money to contribute, so she agreed to help touch him for the forty dollar amount he had (Tangerine, 2015). This part of the film proved that many of these black transgender individuals will justify any action in order to survive, no matter how uncomfortable or low it may be. Poverty and homelessness are another two of very large problems black transgenders have come to deal with. Black members of the LGBTQ+ community, especially transgenders, have always been at an economical disadvantage in the United States. This is because of the consistent and unrelenting discrimination, housing insecurity, lack of affordable healthcare and minimal educational opportunities. They face extreme poverty rates, with 34 percent living in exceptionally severe poverty compared to the 9 percent of cisgender black people (HRC, n.d).
The film used real black transgender women for the roles, the actresses were able to portray events in the movie that had actually affected their lives outside of it. In an interview with TIFF, Mya Taylor, who plays Alexandra, opens up about her experiences growing up as a transgender. She touches on how her grandmother’s boyfriend used to abuse her even before her transition because he could tell she was different, and would continue to beat her until she turned 16 (TIFF, 2016). In 2009, she moved to Los Angeles and lived with a cousin momentarily in order to get her career kickstarted, however, this arrangement did not last long. The cousin kicked her out on the street due to a falling out regarding her identity. Taylor was unable to secure any stable job afterwards, which caused her to turn to sex work and prostitution for five years before she landed the role in Tangerine (Jordan Zakarian, Yahoo, 2015). Within that five year period, Taylor was living on and off the streets, and had been to jail four times in result of her prostitution. Taylor explains her gratitude for the movie, and for the director, for helping her get back on her feet. She is particularly glad that movie does not sugar coat anything, and depicts very real images of what happened in her day-to-day life beforehand.
Tangerine is a film that sheds necessary light on the daily struggles transgenders, especially black transgenders, are forced to go through. The amount of discrimination, hate and violence these individuals face is dangerous, and is a topic that should be discussed among our society as well as our government. The U.S government must commit to creating interventions and programs to target the various inequalities that the black transgender community encounters. These interventions and programs may include additional funding for their healthcare, better police and medical training in being cognizant of their hardships, and an effort to reduce systematic oppression that perpetuates their daily lives through educating and informing our entire society.