Riot Acts

Tara Caldwell

March 8^th, 2012

Extra Credit

Riot Acts: flaunting gender deviance in music performance

Riot Act is a documentary film that focuses on the lives of the transgender community and there influence on music. They argue the social norms of what makes it a true all girl bands and also cover the perception of a rock band. They show the judgment that is placed on these individuals’ but it also covers their life goals and challenges. It covers the not only their gender experiences but also their stage performances. It talks about how there is a transition with not only their physical body image but also their voice. This shows the independent musicians and bands in the transgender stories during their transition and musical influences.

This film is talks about as much as being on the road as being a transgendered artist. Having personal testimonies of their transition and how the hormones affect each individual differently. The film also covers the fact that the research on these hormones and their affects are almost unknown. Many of the musicians were scared to take the hormones because they didn’t want to have a change in their voices that would affect their musical dreams.

This film really relates to the course by showing that this “other” section is bridging the gap in society and helping make some changes. They are taking terms that have been used to demean their community like “tranny” and using them in a new way. They have found that they may be different to these social norms but are they really different. The film also covers how the community supports each other and how these bands play in “safe” environments because there is still that fear of having a violent act placed on them because they go against the social norms. 

The personal experience of viewing the film from an individual that is not in this course. In the course we have heard many stories and been shown a little of the LBGT communities language. I found that many of the questions were based from confusion with some of the terms and the community’s language. They also were amazed by how these individuals have transitioned and how if they met these people in public there would be no question to their gender role either FTM or MTF one could simply not see this. One thing about music is that helps pull people together. The film expressed that the change in gender role is a challenging experience but is so beautifully interpreted in this documentary film. We feel that these individuals are helping society rethink gender and sexual orientation.