Zoolander 2: Calls for boycott over 'cartoonish' portrayal of androgynous character
Updated
The highly anticipated Zoolander sequel has been
slammed for its "harmful", "cartoonish" portrayal of an androgynous
character played by Benedict Cumberbatch, with an online petition
calling for a boycott of the film.
In the trailer for Zoolander 2,slammed for its "harmful", "cartoonish" portrayal of an androgynous
character played by Benedict Cumberbatch, with an online petition
calling for a boycott of the film.
Zoolander and Hansel — portrayed by Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson — ask
Cumberbatch's character if they are a "male or female model" and if they
"have a hot dog or a bun".
The character, named All, answers "All is all".
"Cumberbatch's character is clearly portrayed as an
over-the-top, cartoonish mockery of androgyne/trans/non-binary
individuals," the petition initiated by Sarah Rose reads.
"This is the modern equivalent of using blackface to represent a minority.
"If
the producers and screenwriters of Zoolander wanted to provide social
commentary on the presence of trans/androgyne individuals in the fashion
industry, they could have approached models like Andreja Pejic to be in
the film."
Pejic — who until 2014 described herself as "in
between genders" and worked as an androgynous male modelling both
masculine and feminine clothing — now identifies as a transgender woman,
and was the first openly transgender model to be profiled by Vogue.
Ms
Rose added: "By hiring a cis actor to play a non-binary individual in a
clearly negative way, they (sic) film endorses harmful and dangerous
perceptions of the queer community at large."
"Tell Paramount Pictures, Ben Stiller, and Benedict
Cumberbatch that mocking transgender/androgyne/gender fluid people is
not okay."
The term "cis" or "cisgender" refers to an individual whose gender identity conforms to their anatomical sex at birth.
The petition has so far garnered almost 9,000 signatures, with many supporters expressing their frustrations.
"I am transgender. How long do we have to be mocked by Hollywood before they just leave us alone?" one person wrote.
Another
wrote: "This part of the movie basically encourages people to see
transgender people are just a surgical experiment instead of from an
understanding point of view.
"How immature and regressive."
Paramount Pictures, Cumberbatch and Stiller, who also directed the film, are yet to respond to the backlash.
