Why do you think it’s important for people to see that?ĭavid: I said that a) because it’s true and b) because I’m a parent, and maybe I’m talking to parents a little more than I’m talking to other people in the audience. The quote that had everyone crying in the screening was, “There was no surgery done on the heart and soul. But once we signed on for the documentary it started to have a bigger picture and I really wanted it to be a transgender person’s film, a love journey about a family, and I wanted it to be educational and inspire people to chase their dreams after watching it. Gigi: When I started documenting it was just for me. Was there a goal when this project came about? A mission that you hoped would be accomplished? So we sat with her, her father David, and director Barbara Kopple to discuss public transitioning, acceptance, Trump, relatability, and why Gigi Gorgeous is everything. It’s lavish, vapid, ebullient authenticity rooted in a palpable joy in, day by day, becoming more and more herself. Her laugh takes over the room, and her gesticulation while she speaks could be described as “athletic.” She tends to ramble while she talks, the kind of freewheeling candor that suits a YouTube vlogger but doesn’t necessarily make her the most articulate soundpiece when talk turns to trans issues in the age of Trump.īut somehow, with her striking and carefully manufactured appearance- Barbie is a comparison thrown around, and one she likely relishes-Gigi radiates authenticity. In person, Gigi’s presence is much like in her videos. As Gigi attempts to parlay a career built on accessible relatability into a high-fashion “brand”-whatever that means nowadays-does that make her out of touch, or triumphant? This Is Everything then also becomes an examination of modern fame and trans celebrity. Her brothers barely bat an eye at the news, while her father, despite some tension over his inability to use correct pronouns, ultimately comes around to be an inspiring beacon of acceptance, rebutting the popular disownment narrative. Gigi says her mother’s death was a major catalyst in her decision to transition. Her family’s own journey plays heavily into the film. Kopple’s documentary culls the Lazzaratos’ home movies to not just chart the transition from Gregory to Gigi, but from troublemaking toddler to questioning teen to transitioning woman undergoing extreme surgeries, and finally aspiring celebrity walking runways and trying on designer dresses. Ever since, Gigi’s channel has doubled as an educational tool on everything from plastic surgery to hormone replacement to everyday life-one of the most public and detailed documentations of transitioning. In 2013, Gigi posted the video “ I Am Transgender,” announcing her decision to transition. Perched on a beige sofa in a Park City hotel room the afternoon after the documentary made its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, Gigi Gorgeous-with her form-hugging magenta top, matching lipstick, and supermodel-long hair a shade of blonde one turn-of-the-dial short of translucent-pops like a Lisa Frank trapkeeper on a pile of manila folders. They all collide again for her latest film, This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous, available Wednesday on YouTube Red, about a YouTube superstar who documented every step of her transgender transition as it happened. American Dream), a filmmaker with a keen eye for the intersection of social justice, civil rights, Americana, and zeitgeist cultural phenomena. It’s that layer that likely sparked the interest of Oscar-winning documentary legend Barbara Kopple ( Harlan County, U.S.A. Being famous for being yourself is both the eye roll of the millennial age and, truth be told, a viable profession, as it is for many a YouTube vlogger who has managed to turn everything from mundane “this is what I did today…” recaps to emotional confessionals into actual revenue-each dollar earned from the interest of an army of fans in simply hearing what these typically young personalities have to say.īeing famous for becoming yourself, however, is a largely uncharted territory in this already exhaustively explored field.
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