Silence of the Lambs star Ted Levine says he regrets film’s trans depictions: “Having gotten aware and worked with trans folks, and understanding a bit more about the culture & the meaning of gender… It’s unfortunate that the film vilified that, and it’s fucking wrong. And you can quote me on that.”
Is Psycho seen as transphobic? In the big exposition at the end of the movie
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someone accuses Norman of being a transvestite and the psychologist interrupts to clarify that Norman didn’t dress as his mother to “achieve a sexual change or satisfaction,” but specifically because he was “doing everything possible to keep alive the illusion of his mother being alive.”
Contrast that with The Silence of the Lambs, where the character’s sexual “deviancy” is actually portrayed as a motivating facet of his murderous, perverted mind. Psycho seems pretty nuanced by comparison and even progressive by the standards of 1960.