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Pop CultureNovember 11, 2024

New to streaming: What to watch on Netflix NZ, Neon and more this week

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We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+.

If you like thought-provoking local stories: Trans & Pregnant (TVNZ+, November 11)

In the groundbreaking new TVNZ documentary Trans & Pregnant, we follow Frankie, a trans man and his partner Rāwā, on their journey to parenthood. Determined to start a family with Frankie carrying the baby, the pair navigate the lack of knowledge and understanding from healthcare professionals in Aotearoa whilst also battling societal stigma, misgendering, and gender dysphoria. Ultimately a story about one loving couple and their right to have children together, Trans & Pregnant will be an illuminating must-watch.

If you enjoy compelling true-crime: In Cold Water: The Shelter Bay Mystery (Prime Video, November 12, Sky Open, November 18)

In 2010, Laura Letts-Beckett tragically drowned during a fishing trip in Canada and Peter Beckett, her husband and former Napier city councillor, would be jailed for her murder. But in 2021, Beckett was acquitted. What happened? Beckett becomes a key interviewee in In Cold Water: The Shelter Bay Mystery, a hair-raising mini-series examining the case’s many bewildering facts and falsehoods. As someone says in the trailer: “His story doesn’t make a lot of sense as the truth, but it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense as a lie either.” 

If you love top-notch action-thrillers: The Day Of The Jackal (TVNZ+, November 15)

In The Day Of The Jackal, “one of the best TV shows of the year“, Academy Award winning chameleon Eddie Redmayne transforms into an icy globe-trotting gun-for-hire. His first foray in the action-thriller genre is a far cry from Les Misérables or The Theory of Everything. But critics seem to agree that Redmayne is “astonishing.” After killing a Muskian tech-bro billionaire, he finds himself in the sights of MI6 agent Bianca Pullman (Lashana Lynch). She’ll stop at nothing to track down and kill the Jackal before he leaves another trail of bodies in his wake. A “gripping cat-and-mouse yarn” if you’re in need of a killer thriller.

If you enjoy intriguing dystopian dramas: Silo S2 (Apple TV+, November 15)

We’ve been awaiting season two of Silo with bated breath ever since that humdinger of a final episode. What’s next for Jules (Rebecca Ferguson) and the inhabitants of the titular brutalist Silo? Graham Yost, the brilliant mind behind the show, is said to “instantly turn the temperature up on this pressure-cooker of a dystopia” as more murky secrets arise and rebellion brews. “What if everything you know to be true was one big lie?” one character asks. If the jaw-dropping twists of season one are anything to go by, season two of Silo might cement the show as one of the best television sci-fi outings since Lost.

If you like taut local(ish) drama: Joika (Neon, November 17)

On the face of it, Joika doesn’t appear to be a film connected with Aotearoa. Joy (Talia Ryder) is obsessed with becoming a prima ballerina at the Bolshoi Company – the first American to do so. But, behind the camera is Tāmaki Makaurau native James William Napier Robertson, director of The Dark Horse, co-director of Whina and the “Hottest Vegetarian of 2014”, according to SAFE. One local critic described Joika as an “astonishingly beautiful, harrowing dance biopic.” With shades of Black Swan and a brutal mentor (Diane Kruger), not unlike J.K Simmons in Whiplash, prepare for a nerve-shredding cinematic assemblé that will have you on the edge of your seat.

The rest

Netflix

Rhythm + Flow: Brazil (November 12)

Sprint: The World’s Fastest Humans Part 2 (November 13)

Sisters’ Feud (November 13)

Hot Frosty (November 13)

The Mothers of Penguins (November 13)

Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley (November 13)

Beyond Goodbye (November 14)

The Lost Children (November 14)

Cobra Kai S6 P2 (November 15)

Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson (November 15)

TVNZ+

Trans & Pregnant (November 11)

Love In The Limelight (November 13)

Divergent (November 13)

Insurgent (November 13)

Allegiant (November 13)

The Day Of The Jackal (November 15)

Emerald City (November 16)

ThreeNow

Blackshore (November 13)

Declassified S1-2 (November 17)

Neon

Yellowstone S5 P2 (November 11)

Dune: Part Two (November 12)

Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes (November 12)

Interview with the Vampire (November 13)

Gravity (November 14)

Baghead (November 15)

Smallfoot (November 16)

The Tender Bar (November 17)

Joika (November 17)

Apple TV+

Bad Sister S2 (November 13)

Silo S2 (November 15)

Prime Video

47 Meters Down: Uncaged (November 12)

Shrek 2 (November 12)

In Cold Water: The Shelter Bay Mystery (November 12)

Cross (November 14)

Prey (November 15)

Disney+

Deadpool & Wolverine (November 12)

Say Nothing (November 14)

An Almost Christmas Story (November 15)

Acorn/AMC+/Shudder

The Creep Tapes (Shudder, AMC+, November 15)

The Braxtons (AMC+, November 15)

Deb’s House (AMC+, November 15)

Keep going!
Drag king Hugo Grrl and Perrin Hastings in The Gender Agenda
Drag king Hugo Grrl and Perrin Hastings in The Gender Agenda

Pop CultureNovember 11, 2024

Why I made a ‘punk rock’ documentary about gender in Aotearoa

Drag king Hugo Grrl and Perrin Hastings in The Gender Agenda
Drag king Hugo Grrl and Perrin Hastings in The Gender Agenda

Perrin Hastings, creator and host of The Gender Agenda, shares their personal journey to making a new local series about gender for rangatahi.  

From a very young age, I knew I was going off-script. I would sit and study television shows where gay characters were punchlines. If there was a rare transgender character, they were made the “special episode” of the week, posing a challenge to the cis main character to choose whether to accept their new-found friend or reject them from their lives. Funnily enough, the choice often didn’t matter, as the character would never appear again anyway. 

As a queer kid, desperate to avoid being “found out” via some minor infraction of masculinity, I carefully crafted my character and avoided deviating from the script society had given me. Hell, I didn’t get my ears pierced until my late 20s because I was so deeply afraid of accidentally choosing “the gay ear” (thank you, Two and a Half Men). I dove headlong into less-than-desirable behaviours, embraced toxic masculinity, deflected all of my self-criticism onto others and, more often than not, hid myself in the silent corners of the room.

I wanted to be invisible. But even more than that, I didn’t want to be me. I lived my life in third person, floating above myself, waiting for this poorly written sitcom to be over.

Well into my 20s, through a lot of pain, trauma and a steady flow of antidepressants, I was finally able to unpack all of my internalised homophobia and become more comfortable in my unconventional life. But even with all that progress, I still felt like I was floating above myself, that something was holding me back. I’d spent so much time hyper-focused on accepting my sexuality, that I hadn’t ever given a thought to my gender. 

I knew what sex I’d been assigned, but the assumed role of “manly Kiwi bloke” had already caused me so much harm. Could my discomfort be coming from how I’ve been told to express my gender? Onto the internet I went! I followed trans creators, heard their beautiful “when I knew I was trans” stories, and looked for any flickers of familiarity. My TikTok feed filled with thirst traps of fashionable non-binary folks and (new crushes aside) my mind went wild with jealousy. 

After a cycle of therapy, I soon realised that I was non-binary. Finally! A label. But… what does non-binary actually mean? And what does any gender label mean, really? 

Perrin Hastings and Grayson Goffe in The Gender Agenda (Image: Supplied)

Gender is clearly something that affects all of us, dictating many of our behaviours and expectations, yet all the public conversations I was reading about gender were centred around outrage about crossdressers transgendering our kids or how women’s bathrooms were crawling with predators. Then came the 2023 general election, with parties like NZ First bringing these hateful headlines to life through policy, and it was clear something needed to be done.

Someone needed to tell the real, everyday stories about how gender impacts our lives.

Enter The Gender Agenda. 

With equal parts joy and rage (and support from NZ On Air), we worked to craft a docuseries that would explore some of these lesser-seen conversations. Selfishly, I would get to talk to amazing people about their journeys, offering further inspiration for mine. Not so selfishly, we would package these conversations up into a precious, punk-rock kiss of chocolatey sweetness. We hope it offers comfort to rangatahi navigating their own gender journeys, while also educating whānau and allies alike about the many misconceptions out there. 

I was lucky enough to chat with many amazing guests including Hybrid Rose (transgender musician), Awa Puna (transgender actor), Hugo Grrrl (drag king), Miss Geena (drag queen), Tu Chapman (chairperson of Intersex Aotearoa), Grayson Goffe (community activist) and Quack Pirihi (activist, LGBTQIA+ mental health advocate), all of whom have offered perspectives on gender in Aotearoa that I could never find on my own. “We must acknowledge that we are connected to both the masculine source of life and a feminine source of life,” said Grayson Goffe. 

It’s been a whirlwind of fun, covering everything from playing dress-ups in drag, to the lives of intersex people, to the reality of gender-affirming healthcare in New Zealand. We’ve also looked at multi-cultural understandings of gender, and how genderqueer people can make space to exist safely and freely. Throughout, I’ve learnt that there’s no one way to express your gender and, like any aspect of your identity, it’s all down to what works best for you. As Dr Ciara Cremin told me, “Gender is something that is imposed on all of us… But one thing we can be true to is desire.”

Thanks to this series and all of these amazing conversations, I can now say that I’m far more sure of my role in the ever-evolving omnibus series that is my life. And if watching our docuseries and having these chats for yourself can do even a fraction of what it has for my sense of self, then I’ll consider that mission accomplished.

Watch The Gender Agenda here on YouTube

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