Hilarious yet poignant F*GHAG explores Dylan Mulvaney's life at different stages. A catholic upbringing and a somewhat unsupportive mother, Mulvaney satirises her struggle to find her identity as a trans women. Subscribing to labels to be "acceptably" gay for others to a fully realised trans women, telling the audience about her gender dysphoria as a child; depicting her "twink era" as a teenager working in Lush and idolising middle aged women watching Sex And The City.
A joyful display of a women who knows who she is
Mulvaney rose to fame with her series on TikTok, The Days of Girlhood, where she chronicled her journey through her transition. A popular watch, Mulvaney was known to be highly positive and her videos felt fun and an insight to what some trans females may experience. In the show Mulvaney portrays this fame as intoxicating at first but then it becomes sinister with corporate culture promoting a certain image of Mulvaney. As if having her face for a campaign is just the right amount of woke as they made her a palatable image. Polite, reserved and separate from her queer counterparts.
Once Mulvaney breaks this image the celebrity world goes against her. Intertwined with all the jokes and songs this part of her story is the standout. It makes you think about how society sees trans women and how we expect them to be perfect and so hyper-feminine that if they're not they can't be accepted, that they have to stay in their lane.
It's a story about self discovery and acceptance, The real takeaway is the concept of palatability and public perception of queer people. This show is more than a coming out/self acceptance story, it's a joyful display of a women who knows who she is; once praised by mainstream culture then publicly dropped and attacked online when she didn't subscribe to the ideal trans women image.
There's a serious message to the show but its also high camp, funny and delectably girly. Truly a joy to watch. It's bold, informative, eye-opening and uncensored personal storytelling.
