My spirit takes journey, my spirit takes flight
And I am not running, I am choosing ...
Breaking is Freeing, Broken is Freedom
I am not Broken
I am Free
- Pariah film Directed by Dee Rees

I always like to open a critical piece with an epigraph that embodies the subject at hand. This is an excerpt from the film Pariah - an independent feature about the struggles of a young, Black woman who hides her homosexuality from her family and peers from fear of rejection; only a token few know she is a lesbian, and the film explores these two worlds she inhabits. It was actually difficult for me to choose one particular film or organization to dwell on and discuss for this post, which I think is great because it means there are not just "a few" to choose from.
Although it is not necessarily mainstream (this is an excerpt from the mini HBO series, Habla Ya) Esai Morales does a good job at explaining the role of Latin(a/o)s in mainstream media:

Esai Morales may not be the perfect poster child for alternative media portrayals of Hispanics and Latinos, but he certainly has an understanding of what we're dealing with. A few summers ago I discovered an independent film by Rashaad Ernesto Green titled Gun Hill Road. It is along the same vein as Pariah; young Michael is a transgender teenager who goes by the name of Vanessa on nights when he goes out, dolled up and ready to embrace the world as a woman. Things seem to go particularly awry when his father Enrique (played by Esai Morales) returns home from prison after a 3 year sentence.

I chose to apply Gun Hill Road to this prompt because it is a vague kind of concept for many people, myself included, that of transgender roles. The film's star, Harmony Santana, is a man and fully identifies herself as a woman; in press images for the film she wore cute dresses and her curly, brown locks displayed beautifully and proudly. As per the film, it was interesting to have the dynamic of father and transgender son (possibly not too different from Santana's own life), especially that of a Latino family - already at its core are two elements that mainstream media tends to shy away from.

In a quote from Film Fatales discussing feminist films and filmmaking: "... To me what's most feminist is the thing that doesn't stand up and shout feminism." Gun Hill Road had a very gritty and "real" edge to it; filming for a few scenes took place about 3 blocks from my own house. It wasn't overly dramatic to see Michael's father react almost violently to his son's situation. Michael's crying over the loss of his hair and exclaiming that he's "not pretty no more" is perfectly feasible as I recall my sister crying when the hairstylist cut off a bit more than her ends. Although this film isn't feminist in what I guess is a conventional way, it addresses aspects of it. To me, feminism isn't just one thing like women's rights and representation; it's also about the relationship between women and between men and women (among other things).

I think it's necessary as an alternative media source because it's an open invitation to people into the world of young transgender men and women. It's particularly important in addressing minority communities: misogynistic and macho fathers who live in a culture that breeds and nurtures the kind of idealization of "men" Enrique exemplifies. In the first video, Esai Morales speaks of the 3 H's as the types of casting for Latino actors: hostile, hormonal, humble, hysterical. Both Enrique and Michael/Vanessa go beyond these characteristics and become much more complex and multidimensional characters. This can be an example of a collective social construction of reality, which as described in Feminism and Film is "the process experienced in consciousness raising groups where peer support and shared political perspective enable women to construct a women's epistemology." In other words, by including people in on the conversations of feminism, we can further our stories and develop a sense of where we are and where we need to go - just as Enrique did in taking, albeit considerably small, steps to accepting his transgender son.