Two years ago, Océan recounted the beginnings of its transition journey in a documentary web-series available on France.tv Slash.
Season 2, consisting of 12 episodes, was uploaded on the same platform on Thursday.
On the occasion of this new season, the actor and director has collected the testimonies of trans, intersex or non-binary people.
Each episode addresses a particular theme such as racism, disability or the relationship with the mother.
“We are not in a lesson-giver thing. We get attached to people who are very moving and only tell what they are going through. We just have people who testify to their own backgrounds and that's what is most effective, I think. The testimonies arouse an empathy which makes it possible to work on oneself ”, explains to
20 Minutes
Ocean which pleads for“ a collective deconstruction ”.
In 2019, Ocean recounted its transidentity and the start of its transition in the ten episodes of its documentary web-series available on France.tv Slash.
This Thursday, the actor and director continues his story with a new season subtitled
En infiltré.es
.
If he continues to evoke his personal journey, the forty-something Parisian, gives to hear other voices and as many different experiences.
Each of the twelve episodes addresses a particular angle such as, among others, racism, disability, sexuality, medical grossophobia or intersex.
In Season 1, you recounted the beginnings of your transition journey.
In this season 2, you meet other trans, intersex and non-binary people.
Is there continuity?
Yes, it is, on the one hand, the result of my adventures. It seemed more interesting to me to talk about what happens when you are a radical feminist like me, and when you have a passing, that is to say you find yourself being perceived as a man. cisgender [non trans] in public space. But above all, I wanted to show that there are many different paths, other experiences, that transidentity is not enough to sum up a person and that this can interact with other systemic oppressions. After Season 1, a lot of people were like, "Ah, so that's what being trans". While no, not at all. I have an atypical background because of my age, to be very privileged, to be white, to be middle-class, to be already known. When I came out trans, I received a lot of love,which is not necessarily the case for someone who is transitioning in his corner.
In one of the episodes, Sorour, a non-binary artist, shares with you his criticisms about this first season ...
Sorour said to me: “I felt invisible in everything you were visible. I find his criticism interesting. In reality, I have nothing to do with it in the sense that I am not the one who rules the media. They like to have a copy, the most reassuring. Me, I have a passing, without a real feminine marker, it's something that can be valued. I kept this passage because it's good to show that just because there's a visible trans doesn't mean everyone will be happy. It can also be a form of invisibility of other journeys, of more precarious people, non-white, non-French, non-binary. Since the media are not interested in these journeys that they understand less, I wanted to take advantage of the light shed on me to redirect it towards others. For season 1,I wasn't necessarily able to do anything other than film my privacy, it was already a lot of emotions. The “reproaches” that were made to me before the shooting were also engines of reflection and development of strategy to bring about a richer and more complex image of transidentities.
The fact of listening to these reproaches, of making one's self-criticism and of questioning oneself, it participates in the so-called “deconstruction” work which you speak of as a common thread of this season and which is never finished. For example, do you even admit having integrated grossophobic prejudices ...
We are immersed in a grossophobic, racist, sexist, validist culture. If we are not concerned, we internalize all of this, unfortunately. And it is not because we are concerned by discrimination that we are perfect. In this season, I tend to ridicule myself a bit by forcing the line of my character in my clumsiness. People who watch can identify with me, with their prejudices: there is something quite sweet, benevolent, it is a process of collective deconstruction. I learned a lot by doing this season 2. When I ask David, who is in a wheelchair, if the worst for him is validism or transphobia and he answers me that it is by far validism, I am very surprised because I have the impression that people know disability better than transidentity. It's very interesting,it's something that I couldn't necessarily think of because I'm not concerned.
You talk about collective deconstruction. Who are you targeting?
I know my audience a bit from Season 1, so I'm basing it on that. My first driving force is to give visibility to the community and to the people concerned. We haven't seen a lot of black trans men on TV, or non-binary people who immigrated to France or trans people in wheelchairs and this visibility is crucial in my opinion. I also want to speak to as many people as possible. In the season 1 audience, there are a lot of people who didn't know anything about it, weren't concerned and were just curious, who want to be allies. I hope they will follow season 2 to continue this work of deconstruction. Big transphobic fascists won't watch because they don't want to know more and want to stick to their prejudices. I address myself to people who are a priori benevolent and curious.
You mention several concepts, such as white privilege, which can look like a scarecrow, especially in the current period, which is very tense.
Is it difficult to do pedagogy without alienating part of the public?
We are not in a lesson-giver thing.
We get attached to people who are very moving and only tell what they are going through.
It is educational but not didactic, that is to say that we are not here to explain how to behave or what not to say.
We just have people who testify to their own backgrounds and that's what is most effective, I think.
Testimonials arouse an empathy that allows you to do work on yourself.
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