Arcade Fire’s recently released video for single “We Exist,” has achieved significant buzz for Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of a “young person’s struggle with gender identity.” Win Butler has said in several statements that the lyrics of the song describe a gay son’s attempts to come out to his father, and here they are repurposed to describe a transgender woman’s struggle to achieve acceptance in her small town. Unfortunately, for all the good will Arcade Fire and Garfield put into the video, the finished product does little to advance the cause of trans acceptance. Instead, it inadvertently reinforces tired stereotypes about trans people. Namely, that trans people’s primary role is to serve as entertainment for the cisgender majority.
The video falters because it relies on the cultural myth that LGBT people are inherently more creative, artistic and self-expressive than average. Gay men and trans women in particular are often stereotyped as “the life of the party,” (hence the trope of straight women going out for a fun night with “the gays.”) While ostensibly positive, this stereotype distracts from the very serious issues trans people face in favor of focusing on the fabulous possibilities their lives have in store for them. “We Exist” is no exception to this trend. While the video touches on the violence trans women are often subjected to in daily life, this storyline is soon abandoned. The protagonist escapes from her staid and conservative home town and finds a new life dancing for a crowd of adoring, hip youngsters.
In the video’s opening scene, Garfield’s character is shown shaving her head, donning a wig, and trying on various articles of women’s clothing. She then goes out to a bar, where a patron feigns interest in her before brutally beating her with the help of a few friends. Up to this point, the narrative treads little new ground. Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful” featured an almost identical portrayal of a trans person trying on different gender identities more than eleven years ago and cast an actual gay drag performer for the part. Casting a cisgender heterosexual for the role in 2014 seems like a glaring missed opportunity, especially in light of the video’s name. While Garfield’s personal identity does not disqualify him for the role, it is certainly not groundbreaking and contributes to a broader trend of trans actors being passed over for trans roles.
The video’s first half is simply mediocre, but the second half is actually damaging. Midway through the protagonist’s beating, her bullies disappear and a dreamy light enters the room. She begins to dance furiously in the empty bar and her bullies reappear as cross-dressed backup dancers. They usher her through the doors of the bar to an Arcade Fire concert where the band invites her to dance with them on stage. Here, the protagonist is finally at home: she and band front man Win Butler are even wearing the same makeup. The crowd cheers her on as she waves triumphantly. The video closes with the words “We Exist,” flashing against a dark screen.
In the closing scene, harmony is restored to the video’s universe. The protagonist has been successfully extracted from a world where she doesn’t fit in and transplanted to a world that not only accepts, but encourages the blurring of traditional gender roles under the auspices of creativity and self-expression. In the process, the band promotes self-segregation over cultural transformation. Rather than “forcing” her identity upon the intolerant patrons of the bar, the protagonist retreats to the stage, a traditional bastion of acceptance for alternative genders and sexualities. What begins as an attempt to integrate a contested space thus ends in a spectacle that does nothing to change the status quo.
Inviting the protagonist to dance with them on stage is hardly a controversial or progressive move on the part of the band. Theatrical cross-dressing has been accepted in Western culture for at least the last hundred years. Franklin. D. Roosevelt himself performed as a chorus girl in 1903 while a member of the Hasty Pudding at Harvard. On the other hand, the penalties for transgressing gender norms are often incredibly high in mundane situations. Thus, trans people generally receive more pushback in their attempts to use the bathroom, buy clothing or simply sit down at a bar than they do when dancing on stage in dramatic makeup. By magically removing the protagonist from her original environment and relocating her to the stage, the video actually reinforces existing boundaries that define where certain gender expressions are acceptable.
In the end, Arcade Fire and Andrew Garfield are the true beneficiaries of the spectacle. The protagonist is a useful tool to project their own liberal tolerance and by the end of the video, the phrase “We Exist” refers as much to marginalized gender identities as to the band and the actor themselves. The closing concert uses actual footage from the band’s set at Coachella and comes off as a commercial for the band’s ongoing Reflektor tour. For his participation, Andrew Garfield has achieved acclaim from media sources highlighting his impressive acting range and commitment to LGBT rights. Meanwhile, the video contributes little to the movement for full trans equality. The takeaway? Trans people exist (in theory). They lead difficult lives (which is a bummer). But, boy, they sure are fun to watch.