Have you ever heard of a ‘Saturday Night Live’ writer who came out as transgender, told Will Ferrell about it, and then decided to go on a road trip through America to see how people reacted to transgender individuals? No? You should, it’s quite hilarious. And the funniest part of the TV series is that it is not a funny show. It takes the form of a documentary called “Will & Harper.” It’s available on Netflix.
But only just as ‘educational’ because I imagine the people behind it would not like that word. What we get here is a movie whose sole creative purpose is to educate a country where shockingly over a third of the population wishes they could gather and slaughter all the transgender people and get to see media coverage about them through this educational prism every day. There is something pleasantly manipulative about it, thanks to the two heads of the family. And it plays like Gary Sanchez’s version of a romantic comedy featuring his former SNL partner that he would most likely have had to walk back later. After all, the genre of buddy comedies featuring alumni of the “Saturday Night Live” show isn’t exactly known for its subtlety and sophistication.
Harper’s full name is now Harper Steele, Andrew Steele is her former name. She was in “Saturday Night Live” before Ferrell made an entrance there and sponsored him as a comedian who had potential, even though nobody at that time was very optimistic about him. They became fast friends. During the outbreak, Ferrell was shot an email by Steele “I’m old now. Irrespective of how ridiculous and unnecessary it is to report, I will be transforming to live as a woman.” Ferrell was shocked. He tackles straightforwardly most of the time “Andrew was like A 501 jeans, shit beer, a hitchhiker, a curse of a cute sandal with a sunflower, and with a weird sense of humor.” Someone who expects Andrew to be someone special and creative in a certain way might find dissonance here. Funny enough, this is the problem that the movie highlights (in a way that gently challenges Ferrell’s understanding without being overtly harsh), it is a stereotype about trans people.
For instance, director and writer Josh Greenbaum for Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar decides to shift the scales of interest in Harper Steele’s favor rather than give the last word to Will Ferrell. This is not only the story of a straight, cisgender man who is learning to accept his old friend who now comes in a different package. In some sense, it makes Ferrell out to be some sort of audience avatar who has long experienced that journey and is now “replaying” it for the cameras, so to speak. Ferrell states that after he got that email, he asked himself: “How long did she feel this way? Why did she have to hold on to this for so long?” and admits that right after this news, their relationship was in “uncharted waters” which seems like a stretch for the narrative. However, given the way these two people behave with each other on camera, as well as on several occasions, suggests that there was not even the slightest possibility that Ferrell would say no to Steele, or that there would be other great hurdles to jump over.
Steele’s worries however are much more severe. As a matter of fact, they are life and death. Steele comes from Iowa and claims that “ I love the United States but I just don’t know if it loves me back right now.” She feels like she presents herself in a new way but still enjoys the same things such as, ‘shiy bars’ and ‘truck stops’ and the regions of the country where one would not be missed.
This concern is evident as they shift into discussing a road trip. The primary issue is the question of safety. Not of those two in a sort of real-life road film: there is a camera crew, one of them is Will Ferrell, and one would expect that production would have gone to the trouble and erected placards that pretty much are, ‘We are filming a movie and you agree to be part of it by entering this venue,’ whether the venue is an arena where Indiana pacers play or one of the aforementioned nasty roadside bars. Steele is misgendered, and at the match, there is a very unfortunate experience with the governor who comes across as relatively courteous and friendly but is actually an extremely anti-trans person who endorsed a law that prohibited the provision of gender-affirming care to teenagers.
The worry lies more about the cases that are already creeping across America and elsewhere where the pretenders do not have stars and several cameras on them, making materials for a Netflix documentary. “Walking past all those bros in a bro-eye environment has been the hardest part of my transition,” Steele admits. In the end, it works out quite nicely, however. And, of course, that’s the point of the exercise to show that none of this is as big a deal as bigots make it out to be and that if Will Ferrell can be 100 percent behind his friend Harper, then there is no reason why the same case cannot be again anywhere.
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