Feel Good - "Allowing Enbies to Feel Bad and Feel Good"

In a more optimistic note, this post explores how stereotypes can be avoided while creating a compelling non-binary narrative.

 

 

Mae (Mae Martin, left) and George (Charlotte Ritchie, right) express many happy and sad queer stories through the 12 episodes of Feel Good [Image: Netflix] 

In my upcoming dissertation essay, I defined several negative tropes about non-binary representation in film and television. These include often being portrayed as an activist, an entitled youth, a pathetic crossdresser, a deceiving sexual harasser,  and as a tragic and cynical character. My analysis of that will be in a few months. However, I originally planned to end the essay with a positive example, but ran out of the word count so cut it. Thus, here it is: an analysis of why Feel Good is one of the best non-binary representations.

 

 

This review contains spoilers for a few of the episodes, as well as the overarching non-binary narrative. The series is available on Netflix if you want to watch it first.

 

 

An example which does find a balance and successfully portrays a non-binary person without stereotypes or idealism is Feel Good (Mae Martin and Joe Hampson, 2020-2021). This comedy-drama series achieves this by being a semi-autobiographical story of the creator, writer, and main actor Mae Martin, who portrays a fictionalised version of themselves. The story involves Mae, a former drug addict, falling in love with George (played by Charlotte Ritchie), who has only ever been in heterosexual relationships. Throughout the series, Mae struggles with various issues such as being a supportive partner, trying to boost their comedy career, dealing with unrepressed trauma, and confronting their addictions, not only to drugs but to people in their life, which creates toxic relationships. All these difficulties are written from Martin’s personal perspective. Another thing Martin has experienced and incorporated into the show is gender dysphoria, with them publicly coming out as non-binary in April 2021 before the release of the second series in June. The first series alludes to this in its fifth episode, where Mae is shown to be looking at themselves shirtless in a mirror and trying on feminine clothes but seeming uncomfortable at both. This is clarified later in the episode when Mae says during a stand-up performance that they think their “transgender or like non-binary or like whatever the terms are these days”. However, it is in the second series that Mae is shown to be trying to work out what they are, amidst rehab and being diagnosed with PTSD as their mental health declines. They dismiss being transgender in episode two when their agent tells them to do trans comedy to appeal to youth demographics, and other episodes show Mae not feeling like they have an identity at all. This painful uncertainty is masked by joking that they identify as “Adam Driver or Ryan Gosling” in episode one and “an anaemic scarecrow” in episode three. Overall, this culminates in Mae admitting to George they have doubts about their gender in the final episode. After talking about it, George notes that those feelings are valid, saying “I think that is a thing, that’s non-binary, Mae. I do think maybe you should Google it”.

 

What makes Feel Good a positive example is how the gender discussions are integrated into the series to avoid stereotypes. Firstly, Mae’s character is not defined by their gender identity. Their main story involves addiction, the many forms that takes, and the reasons for it. Being non-binary is not associated with Mae’s struggles, nor shown to be a result from it, instead it is given its own separate conversations to be discussed. The only time it is linked to other aspects of Mae’s life in a major way is during Series 1, Episode 5, where their gender identity crisis becomes associated with their internal insecurities fearing that George would rather be with a man. In the episode, during sex with a strap-on, which is the only way Mae felt aroused, George exclaims to “cum inside me”. This makes Mae feel uncomfortable and they stop. This becomes a trigger for the pair’s break-up, but discussions around addiction are also mentioned as a cause. This ensures that there are no stereotypes where non-binary is linked with being mental ill, such as in a deceiving or pathetic way. Furthermore, the portrayal of this through a realistic depiction of queer sex aids in avoiding cisnormativity.

 

This also relates to the second point; there is shown to be both good and bad. Alongside George’s support, other characters are shown to be judgemental and frustrated at Mae’s gender identity. For example, in Series 2, Episode 4, Mae is invited onto a TV panel show. During preparations, Mae states to the make-up artist (Sukh Ojla) that they don’t want blusher, eyeshadow, and lipstick, instead preferring to have the same make-up as the boys. The artist responds in a cheery but patronising tone: “But you’re not a boy, are you sweetheart? Not going to make my life difficult, are you?”. Despite Mae’s choice not really having an effect on the artist’s life, Mae is still made to feel bad. This shows that having a different identity causes other people to behave differently, and that negativity is not always direct insults.

 

Thirdly, despite issues being referenced, the show avoids associating it with activism. Throughout series two, George is trying to start an activism club at her school. This is climaxed in the fifth episode which primarily focuses on the showcase of what the children had created. This is the only episode in series two not to feature a scene about Mae’s gender identity, implying that a distinction is made between discussions about climate change and transgender rights, and the personal feelings that an individual experiences.

 

Fourthly, Mae mentions how they feel like they are a spoiled and snobbish youth, but this is also disproven. In Series 2, Episode 1, while talking to a therapist at rehab about how they don’t feel like they have trauma or any reason to need support, Mae states: “I was so privileged as a kid” and “I was just this like brat, like, running around trying to be Bob Dylan or something”. Although this gives credence to Mae being an entitled person, further mentioning how they did have a rich family to act as a support system before they ran off to do drugs, none of Mae’s identity is linked to this. Everyone who talks to Mae about this, such as the therapist, mention that this bratty teenager narrative is Mae’s own story, rather than the truth, and that this is a result of their repressed trauma and low self-esteem which is confronted throughout the series. In the context of the show, when Mae is in their 30s, any self-centred aspects they display is also shown to have a particular reason, not just because they are stereotypically queer. This once again demonstrates how their gender identity is separate from their other plot lines.

 

Finally, the mentioning of the term “non-binary” in the final episode serves as a prevalent way to increase visibility. Not only is the resolution saved until the end so it depicts the journey as well, Mae is also not forced to have an identity. Instead, George discusses about googling it, and Mae is shown to feel supported and comforted by the fact that there is people with a similar dysphoria to themselves. Although the most important thing is that George is not only imploring Mae to google the term but is also inviting the audience to do the same. By not defining non-binary or indicating why Mae fits the identity as part of the show itself, any member of the audience unsure of what it means is persuaded to do the same simple step of just searching about it as Mae states they will too. This gives people agency on researching the complicated identity and determining their own opinions, rather than being given the definition that best describes the character in the show, thus creating a narrow focus and set association to the character’s other traits. Therefore, visibility and positive representation is allowed to occur without it needing to be the forefront of a character or an episode. This avoids reductionism and emphasis the multi-faceted identity that every person has, regardless of gender and the issues that can arise from dysphoria.