Alright, I got the report from the CT scan and have discussed it with my doctor. My liver is definitely unhealthy; enlarged, fatty, cirrhotic, and covered in large lesions. They're still not 100% sure what the lesions are being caused by; there's a chance they're benign masses and that my liver is diseased and will need treatment but not cancer treatment, but they also think there's a chance it's cancer. The next step is a biopsy, which we're working on setting up now for as soon as possible, I'm hoping I'll get it Friday. Unfortunately biopsy results can take up to a week to get back. But hopefully within the next week and a half or so I'll know for sure if it's cancer or what.

(Content Warning for today’s post. It has transphobic language, and while I will keep it to a minimim I feel dancing around the word would be dishonest it is only one slur used as a quote from the show, but fair warning all the same)

Well a week or so into this and I feel like doing something different from the rest of this. While the goal of LGBTQPril is to keep things positive and highlight the growing, but still smaller than it should be, examples of good and nuanced representation in media. That being said, I can’t shake the feeling that today’s character isn’t entirely on the harmful side of representation. Thinking about it is actually part of the reason I wanted to start this project. So join me in a deep dive of one character’s appearances back with the owners and operators of the Worst Bar in Philadelphia that I call:

If you’re not a TV geek like me and that coy hint or specifically recreated title card didn’t alert you I’m again talking about It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Specifically I’m talking about a character who had a few appearances known simply as Carmen or as the gang, all awful people refer to her most of the time “The Tranny.”

Not a great start with that nickname I know, but let’s break down the few times she was on the show and maybe my point of view will be clearer. Her first appearance is probably the most problematic, but still has things that make it stand out. She is in the bar and Mac and Dennis are trying to find a girl to hook Charlie up with. After meeting and chatting Carmen up Mac thinks she’s great Dennis says the unfortunate phrase “That’s a dude,” and proceeds to explain that she is the trans cousin of someone they went to high school with and points out the bulge in here jeans. But what makes the scene stand out to me is right after Mac goes back to Carmen and asks “Is that a penis in your pants?” She says yes, Mac says she lied to him and she immediately turns it around says he lied to her, that he doesn’t work out, and that she’s seen him at the gym and continues to flirt with him. Mac caught off guard is flattered she noticed him and says he will call her later. The candidness of Carmen’s yes that is a penis is given a level of straight forwardness that isn’t often afforded trans women on TV. Yeah she has a penis, no it’s not a big deal, and then her moving on to continue to flirt with Mac and him being receptive to it gives Carmen a certain amount of agency that you don’t often seen in characters like this.

Her second appearance doubles down on all of this. Mac has been sneaking around and the rest of the gang is suspicious. Quickly the audience finds out that it’s because he’s seeing Carmen again. She is shown to have that agency again while Mac is having doubts and worries about the gang finding out, Carmen again shows she knows how to read people and that flirting with Mac will make him more willing to embrace his feelings and attraction to her and it works, for a while. After the two of them have sex she decides to ask about going out on a real date. Mac brushes off the idea in way that makes it seem like that was never an option and she’s silly for bringing it up. No one can see them together. Carmen, once again, given a level of agency trans women rarely get on TV then just throws Mac out of her apartment without a second thought. It’s at that point she realizes that no matter how attractive she finds him, he is a transphobic asshole. She seems to think she could get him to be more open, but clearly if he’s just going to treat her like a dirty secret she doesn’t need to put up with that.

Her final major episode a few years later sees her having had, for lack of a better phrase, bottom surgery and now happily married. Mac is very obviously jealous. He says they had discussed him getting a call after she had her surgery and then goes into a rant about how their marriage is a “gay marriage” and uses that and his religion as an excuse to fight it instead of his again, super obvious, jealousy. At this point Carmen is having none of it. Her husband even gets in on it by bringing up a passage in the Bible about beating slaves being alright after Mac tries to pull that card. In the end Mac doesn’t change anything and learns nothing, as is often the case for this show. And aside from appearing unexpectedly at the end of the season to reveal that Carmen and her husband hired Dee as their surrogate she hasn’t been seen since. She gets to go off and be happy with her husband and new child, which is something not a lot of the side characters in this show can say. Just look at the priest they drive into homelessness and drugs.

Anyway though this is why Carmen is so fascinating to me as a character. The characters don’t treat her well, but they don’t treat anyone well. In fact they have a slew of other nicknames, and never bother using their real ones for a bunch of side characters. She is misgendered really overtly in her first episode, but she isn’t made less of a person because of it. It’s clear to me that there is a gap between the characters, who are awful, and the writers (who are the same ones acting.) As writers they give her a sense of agency that seems to be really uncommon for other trans women on tv. Especially non-main characters who are just there for the main ones to date/sleep with. One of them even regrets parts of what they wrote about her, particularly the name “The Tranny” In 2018 Glenn Howerton, Dennis, said this in an interview:

“I mean, there are a few things, that if I could go back, I would probably do differently. In the first couple seasons, we referred to a character as 'the tranny.' Personally, I wasn't as aware of the power of that word at the time. Now, granted, I think one of the reasons why we get away with it or why it makes sense is because the characters are awful people. They're not celebrated for it and they always lose and they always get their comeuppance, and I think that's important. But I think if I were to do it all over again, there would probably have been at least one person in the group to say like, 'You shouldn't use that word.' I know our hearts were always in the right place and we never wanted to offend anybody. And still, our intention is never to offend."

Finally I’d like to address one thing that I feel like a lesser show would have done but It’s Always Sunny is smart enough to do. As discussed previously in recent seasons Mac has come out as gay after it being hinted at for years. The linking of these two concepts, Mac dating and sleeping with a trans woman, and Mac coming out as gay after years of repression are never linked. The hinting at it isn’t even brought up in any of the seasons before Carmen’s final appearance, with the exception of a mild crush/wanting a father figure out of a Phillies player. And in the later seasons where it’s hinted at and shown greater, Carmen is never brought up as a factor. The only thing close to that is when Mac is jealous she got married she says “If anything you are gay because I still had a penis when we were together!” In that moment, and because it comes from Carmen herself it comes off less as a genuine observation and more as her being able to read Mac like she did when they were flirting, except this time she’s tired of his crap and knows just how to get him to back off. It’s a small thing in the grand scheme of things, but I feel like other shows that aren’t as aware would make that connection and just keep making it, in spite of those facts having nothing to do with one another.

So I’ve said my peace, and I’m still not sure where I fall. I think in the ends on the positive. She’s a smart capable trans woman and most all of the harmful language the gang uses about her is because they’re all horrible. Still I realize that this could be a highly subjective topic and I don’t expect my view to be anything close to “right.” Check out the episodes and decide for yourself.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia S1 E4: Charlie has Cancer (2005)

S3 E10: Mac is a Serial Killer (2007)

S6 E1 & E12: Mac Fights Gay Marriage & Dee Gives Birth (2010)

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That’s all for today folks. Please leave any likes or comments below. I am especially curious to hear responses and other opinions about this peice on particular. I want to know what you have to say. And of course if you have something you want to suggest or cover feel free to do so with the #LGBTQPril.