Are you ready ladies? OGAY...I mean OKAY

This documentary was a bit distracting thought wise. It was about a gender illusionist pageant. I actually had the opportunity to attend one in Trinidad. It Trinidad it's called the Miss Queen of Queen's Pageant. The pageant in this documentary took place in South Africa. The name of the pageant is Miss Gay Western. Cape. May I just firstly say that when it comes to the organisation and presentation of both competitions South Africa is ready to emulate the quality I experienced in Trinidad. South Africa may be ready in a cricket competition but not in the pageantry coordination aspect. Sorry but I couldn't help but make this clear only because I attend what you could call the Trinidad version of this gender illusionist pageant competition. In South Africa's defence this documentary was shot in 2010. The show I attended here in Trinidad was in 2018. This means that I was comparing 8 years of development but I don't care we are the better organisers. The entire time while watching the documentary I was like, "Nope, we did this better, we did that better". Please forgive me but I had to be honest. Not to take away from the fact that there were things that were done better in the competition in South Africa. I'm getting carried away, my focus is supposed to be on the documentary, right! This not a pageant review it's a documentary review. One more time for the people in the back. Trinidad did it better! I just had to say it one more time. Now returning to the documentary.

What stood out to me immediately in GLITTERBOYS AND GANGLAND was the opening sequence. There was a car filled of gender illusionist/crossed dressed gays singing 'I'm A Barbie Girl'. That was a very good choice of disturbia to start with. It immediately made you feel uncomfortable. The shot allowed the inside of the car to hold a space in between the frame that made me feel like I was on the inside of the car. It also allowed me to see how the gender illusionist confidently say saw themselves. They clearly stated that they were barbie girls and they existed in a barbie world. What I learned from my research of gender illusionism is that they strongly believe they exist in their own special world as much as homophobia battles for their non existence. GLITTERBOYS AND GANGLAND follows three gender illusionist specifically. They individually gave their experiences since they've been gender illusionist and decided to live somewhat openly gay. As far as South Africa, the hate for gays exist. What was different about this documentary compared to other documentaries about gays was that it had more explanation of the lifestyle and why they chose to continue with the lifestyle. The three illusionist were followed from competition preparation all the way to competition night. What was also different to see was that the gender illusionist had support from their immediate family. Usually we'd align the gay lifestyle to automatic disownment by family. The director broke down a lot of walls in this documentary. The homes of the gender illusionist was used in their interviews. They gave the cameraman access to enter backstage the night of the competition. The nudity that this entailed was included. It was a bit of cringe but I totally understand the decision. The ability to manipulate and make your audience feel uncomfortable.

They did a radio interview promoting the competition and I couldn't help but imagine if they had done that in Trinidad. Oh man, I could imagine the inhumane, heartless, no-nonsense responses. They'd have to close off calls and voice notes during the interview and for an entire week after the interview. It's bad but it is true. Somethings that the illusionist themselves said stood out to me. One of the gender illusionist described gender illusions as a sport. I mean they are kind of right. In football you dress in a uniform. That uniform displays what you represent. Gender illusionist dress to represent what they live for. They openly admitted that they knew they weren't the usual team but were created by the coach, God. I myself have witness gender illusionist aligning themselves with God. Before the Queen of Queen's competition the congregation prayed and they did it comfortably existing in that world that we spoke about. In the documentary the organisers took the contestants to a church. I saw that as a symbol of the existence of that normal world that they exist in. As they said, 'Gender Illusion is an art of impression'.