Tangerine

Tangerine is a piece that I can watch over and over again and will never get tired of. My first curiosities of the film were me waiting for Sin-Dee and Alexandra's world to collide with Rashik's. 

I remember my automatic assumption was going to be that Rashik was going to attack Sin-Dee and Alexandra and I had to cut off and check the stereotypes I was portraying onto him. I began to really zone in on his relationship with queerness and his experimentation with sexuality. The first noteworthy moment being how angry he became when he realized the girl he had picked up from the street was cis-gendered. 

We then see his world join Alexandra at the carwash where she gets him a tangerine refresher. What I did find interesting was that at this moment Alexandra was in peace because she was with someone she knew and the noise of the carwash was happening against Sin-Dee's fight with that one white girl. 

I think what stood out to me the most was the level of friendship that Sin-Dee and Alexandra carried. Yeah, they split off at first because Sin-Dee was zoned in on a goal but when she realized the time her goal quickly shifted to be with her friend. She stood by her and encouraged her at the bar. And sure people could say it's a messed-up friendship because Alexandra ended up sleeping with Chester but they continue to support each other through their tough times. 

I choose to believe that they want what's best for each other and helped each other with their goals. 




Comments

  1. Madeleine CorumApril 26, 2021 at 11:13 AM

    Thank you for your words! I was also super interested in Razmik's character throughout the movie. I love how you pointed out the juxtaposition between the calmness of carwash scene with Razmik and Alexandra as compared to the violence of the Sin-Dee and Dinah interaction. I remember being confused and allured by the fact that we watched the entire carwash, even if it was the same thing over and over. Your thoughts on that made me step back and think about the editing and comparing of those scenes together in a different way. It is super interesting that Alexandra was in this moment of peace while Sin-Dee was in a moment of violence. Maybe that was supposed to suggest something about the complexity of these trans women? How they aren't one dimensional, how they are human and have human desires and insecurities, maybe normalizing sex and violence as part of their experience and not as stigmatized? I don't know for sure, but you definitely got me thinking! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Awa BadianeJune 9, 2021 at 3:16 AM

    I loved this film. I think am going to watch it again now actually. I had the same assumption when first watching the film about how Rashik would interact with Sin-Dee and Alexandria when their world crossed. I think that is a comment of the tropes about certain people we are spoon fed in cinema.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment