The Daily Show: Ears Edition - ICYMI - Janet Mock Discusses Putting Transgender Characters Front and Center with "Pose"

Episode Date: May 20, 2019

Trevor talks with writer, director and producer Janet Mock about her groundbreaking series "Pose," which focuses on transgender women of color in the 1980s. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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your podcast. Please welcome Janet Mock. Welcome back to the show. Thanks for having me back. This is a really exciting reason to have you back as well. The new show Pose, which is going to be on FX is a show that is first in many ways. I mean, I know why I'm excited, but what would you say is the biggest reason you're excited about pose? I got a job. Is that simple? I like that.

Yeah, basically. Well, you know, Ryan Murphy created it. He's a prolific showrunner. Shows like Glee, Nip Tock, of course, the people versus O.J. Simpson, where excited by the fact that it would be the first of its kind to talk about the New York City ballroom scene, which a lot of people have known since Paris is burning, but to also center characters and people who have never been centered before, trans women of color. And that's what's really fascinating about this story is that you have a show that is set in the 80s, but it's showing you a story in the 80s that many people maybe didn't know exist,

or many people didn't know exist, but just didn't think about. And what I found fascinating about watching pieces of the episodes was that a lot of people will say about transgender people now, that where did this come from? This is a new thing as if it's like a trend, but you go, no, trans people are as old as time. Was it really important for you to be able to tell these stories as authentically as possible in the 80s? Yeah, I think that there is something about the fact

that when you look to the past, you can learn a lot about their present. For me, I saw that twei-a, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, that, that, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, that, that, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thr-a, thr-a, thr-a, thr-a, thr-a, thr-a, thr-a, thr-a, throa, ta, throoa, tha, thr-a, thr-a, thr-a, thr- were dealing with in 87 as well as today. And so knowing that 26 trans people were murdered in the United States last year, almost all of them women of color, I thought it was important that we memorialize the people who we've learned so much from, the people who have contributed so much to our movement, the people who have given me access to be able to be able to be the first trans women, to, to, to, to, their, their, their, the, the, the, tr.. I, the, tr. I, the, tr. tr. the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the be able to be the first trans women of color to be hired in a Hollywood writer's room, the first to write and direct a television series. And to be on a television series and to share it with five black and brown trans women of color

who are the stars in the center of our show. It's... It's a pioneering show for so many reasons. It's a pioneering show. show for so many reasons, you know, you have five trans women of color who are centered in the story. The word centered is so important in this because, you know, I read a story on the Hollywood reporter about how they did a study on Latino characters on TV and they found that half of them were always represented as criminals and when you look at stories of the transgender community it's always a fringe element, you know,

in so many stories, you know, it's always going to be sex workers, it's going to be something that seems like it's not in the mainstream. Was it important for you to center these people and show the spectrum of life that you can be living? Yeah, I think so often, too, we're often always in cis, non-trans people stories as a sidekick, as someone who's a martyr who dies in order to teach a cis person

about what it means to be real and authentic. And in our show, we center that experience and we don't show the origin stories of our characters, we show them as they're fully embodied, just trans people living in New York City. And with that, you have diversity, you show that trans folk are not a monolith. that that th.... th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. the. the. the, the, the, thr-n. the, the, the the, the the the the, the the the, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. th. the, the, the, the, the, the. te. tran, true. true. true. tra. trueueue. tra. trueueue. trueue. true. true. thanananan, than, than, than, that we don't have the same dreams and desires, that we read and shade one another, that we can be villains as well as, you know, protagonist. Right. And I think that that for me, as someone who loved television, who grew up as TV being a part of like my babysitter in a single-parent household, it showed

me that I can be centered and that I deserve to be seen and the, really is an unconventional family drama. Right, and we see so many stories of people watching TV shows or movies and for the first time seeing themselves on screen. You know, you saw that with Aver Duvene's Wrinkle in Time. You saw that with black panther. You see it with people going, I've never ever thought of how I've never seen I've never seen wa'n't throwns. I remember going to watch to watch watch watch watch watch watch watch watch watch watch watch watch watch watch wander wander wander wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa. And my female friends were like, they were crying during the fight scene because they're like, I've never seen women just kicking men's asses, which is really amazing.

And you take that for granted, you genuinely do. When you were growing up watching TV, were there any characters or any shows that in some way maybe did make you feel like, you know, there was something that you could aspire to, and was something that really, that reason why I moved to New York City and went to NYU. It was literally because I saw this white girl with curly hair who was smart and lovedorn and wanted to be with, you know, Ben. That's all I wanted. Right.

And so now, right, and now you're in a place where you're not writing. And I think, do you feel that gravity of putting people on screen, that identify people out there who maybe have never seen themselves on screen in any way, shape or form? Yeah, the fact that we have love stories on our show, the fact that we're not just merely points of trauma, right? Because so often trans bodies are usually dead and inactive bodies. And so here we have five women who have different dreams, who have love, who want to be desired, who are funny, who are villains, who are all of these different things. And.. that way, when you center these people on the show, you show people that, number one, it's not scary, that they're not, that they're not horrible people, that they're not freak shows, that instead they're humans that you care about and TV being such an intimate platform, you know this, people invite you, people, they get to, to, to, to, to, to, to, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and.......a.a.a.a.a. And. And. And. And, and, and, and, and, and. they. they. they. they. they. they. they. they. they. they. they. they. they. the they. their. their. their, their, their, their, they get to know you and they love you and they're invested and I hope that it doesn't only educate and inspire and entertain, but it also moves people to care and hopefully do something.

I think it's going to do all of those things. Thank you so much for being on the show again. Thank you some. Shad-Schoa. Shavon, the Daily Show, and the Daily Show weeknights at 11 10 Central on Comedy Central and the Comedy Central app. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and more. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.

John Stewart here. Unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, The Weekly Show. We're gonna be talking about the election, economics, ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart. Wherever you get your podcast.