The Deadly Hopes in Trans Women’s Lives: Comparison of Indonesian Film “Lovely Man” and Japanese Film “Midnight Swan”

This paper will discuss the depiction of trans women in the films Lovely Man and Midnight Swan, comparing the two main characters, Ipuy and Nagisa. Discrimination against transgender individuals persists in contemporary society, particularly in patriarchal Asian countries such as Indonesia and Japan. The films Lovely Man and Midnight Swan are of Indonesian and Japanese origin, respectively. A close analysis of both films reveals that they feature protagonists who embody the exact symbolic representations as entertainers, parents, sexual objects, and pariahs. According to Peirce’s semiotics, these four symbolic representations are determined. A thorough examination of the cinematic expressive movements in both films reveals four metaphorical expressions: the trans woman as an entertainer, the trans woman as a parent, the trans woman as a sexual object, and the trans woman as a pariah. These four metaphorical expressions are validated through extralinguistic references, reflecting socio-cultural realities in Indonesian and Japanese societies. They become arguments through the interpretation of both films. The similarities between the two films can be understood as a social critique of the issues facing trans women in Indonesia and Japan, who require greater attention to their human rights to survive in society.