Glen or Glenda
Movie • 1953 • Drama
ReportA psychiatrist tells two stories: one of a transvestite (Glen or Glenda), the other of a pseudohermaphrodite (Alan or Anne).
This movie contains 4 potentially triggering events.
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Both
Yes
No
Your Triggers
Yes
0
No
2
Unanswered Triggers
Yes
0
No
0
Yes
0
No
0
Yes
0
No
0
Yes
0
No
0
Yes
0
No
0
Yes
0
No
0
Yes
0
No
0
Yes
0
No
0
Yes
0
No
0
Yes
0
No
0
Assault
Yes
3
No
0
0
Sweet_Gwendolyn
There is a bizarre dream sequence that has several 1950s mostly light BDSM reels in it. The last one is a very stylistically vaudeville depiction of a man creeping upon a woman sleeping on an elegant couch and accosting her. She remains clothed and it is more of a wrestling scene, but it is still very sexual in nature and is depicted as non consensual.
1 comment | Add comment
Bodily Harm
Is there genital trauma/mutilation?
92 supporters
Yes
0
No
3
0
glitchbirds
No, but gender reassignment surgery is discussed. This is obviously not at all the same thing, but I feel it's worth mentioning just in case someone triggered by this might not like thinking too much about bottom surgery.
1 comment | Add comment
Law Enforcement
Is there copaganda?
34 supporters
Yes
0
No
3
1
Sweet_Gwendolyn
You could look at it either way, but I'm going to say no. The movie is about a police officer who is moved by the death of a transgender woman who wants to learn more about the subject so as to be able to save other lives in the future. It definitely wasn't the most common police reaction, but I would think that at least a few officers had similar thoughts over the years and isn't portrayed in an excessively heroic manner.
1 comment | Add comment
Medical
Are needles/syringes used?
33 supporters
Yes
3
No
0
0
Sweet_Gwendolyn
They depict a hormone injection.
1 comment | Add comment
Is there a mental institution scene?
30 supporters
Yes
0
No
3
1
Sweet_Gwendolyn
No, but the overall arc of the story takes place in a psychiatrist office.
1 comment | Add comment
Is there a hospital scene?
13 supporters
Yes
4
No
0
0
Sweet_Gwendolyn
They depict a gender confirmation surgery.
1 comment | Add comment
Mental Health
Are there anxiety attacks?
23 supporters
Yes
1
No
2
0
Sweet_Gwendolyn
There is a strange dream sequence which is supposed to be an anxiety attack.
1 comment | Add comment
Does someone say "I'll kill myself"?
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255)
31 supporters
Yes
0
No
3
0
ancientmystic
One of the first few scenes depicts a transgender person after committing suicide with a note asking to be buried as they are. I can imagine this would be upsetting to someone sensitive to such themes, though it is not graphic in the least, more like something you'd see from a Shakespearean play.
2 comments | Add comment
Is there body dysmorphia?
27 supporters
Yes
2
No
1
1
Sweet_Gwendolyn
No, but it's complicated. "Glen", who is a barely fictionalized version of Ed Wood, the writer, director, and actor who plays "Glen", is carefully presented as someone who has a strong drive to dress like a woman, but who does not want to become a woman. That said, the narrator explains that some people do want to transition, and we briefly see this scenario acted out, but the character is not depicted experiencing dysphoria / dysmorphia and is simply extremely happy to have transitioned to female- her gender euphoria literally the opposite of dysmorphia.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
4
No
0
1
Sweet_Gwendolyn
The movie opens up with the police reading the suicide note of a transwoman whose body is lying peacefully. The detective sees the death as tragic and the rest of the movie is him learning about transgender people so that he can potentially help prevent such suicides in the future.
1 comment | Add comment
Noxious
Does a baby cry?
19 supporters
Yes
2
No
1
1
Sweet_Gwendolyn
Near the beginning, when Bela Lugosi is talking there is the sound of a baby crying and he comments upon a new life beginning.
1 comment | Add comment
Prejudice
Are there usages of the n-word?
36 supporters
Yes
0
No
3
1
Sweet_Gwendolyn
No, but just as it heads up there is a cringey depiction that is supposed to be of tribal Africans dancing which uses African-American actors to act out stereotypes. The point Ed Wood is trying to make regarding cross-dressing is that there are tribes in Africa where it is the men who adorn and decorate themselves rather than the women. I'd describe it as racist content from someone who doesn't know they're being racist. It isn't intentionally hateful, and I've definitely seen worse, but it's a bit rough to watch. Thankfully, it's a relatively short scene.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
3
No
2
0
Sweet_Gwendolyn
It's complicated. Definitely not by the standards of the time the movie was made where you weren't considered to be your true gender until after GCS (and a post-op woman is in fact referred to as "she"), and also largely not by current standards, especially especially as it seems like both Ed Wood and his character were not female identified.
1 comment | Add comment
Does an LGBT person die?
36 supporters
Yes
4
No
1
0
Sweet_Gwendolyn
The movie opens up with the police reading the suicide note of a transwoman whose body is lying peacefully. The theme of the movie is how to prevent such suicides.
1 comment | Add comment
Sex
Is there sexual content?
64 supporters
Yes
3
No
0
0
Sweet_Gwendolyn
Yes, if you count the sexual assault scene covered in the next question.
1 comment | Add comment
Spoiler
Yes
0
No
3