Through horror film genre, UCLA scholar explores trans identity and what it means to inhabit a body

Buffalo Bill from "The Silence of the Lambs." Norman Bates from "Psycho." Angela Baker from "Sleepaway Camp."

The mention of them most likely has horror fans sitting up in their seats. Not only do these big-screen characters occupy a notorious place in the horror canon, but they also have sparked decades of debate about gender, identity and representation.

UCLA scholar Wesleigh Gates found herself returning to those films while developing "Trans, Body, Horror," a course that asks students to consider how the horror film genre can illuminate questions of trans identity, embodiment and human experience.

The idea emerged at the intersection of Gates' background in dance and performance and her role as a scholar and educator in LGBTQ studies. Much of her work examines how people experience the world through their bodies, how their experiences impact their sense of belonging and how they show up in community.

"Horror is baked into the body," Gates said. "You can't have horror without thinking about being a body in the world that's responding to what's around you."

On a recent episode of UCLA College's "Cabinet of Curiosities" podcast, Gates discussed the intersections between horror films and her scholarship, and how those connections have informed her teaching and artistic practice.

For Gates, one of horror's strengths lies in its ability to provoke a visceral response. A jump scare can send viewers jolting upright. A gruesome scene can trigger disgust or even laughter. A terrifying sequence can leave audiences nearly fainting in the aisles of the movie theater as they clutch their friends' arms and howl.

Gates laughed as she recalled seeing Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" for the first time.

"It's the only movie that's ever given me a jump scare from a title card," she said.

Those reactions are part of what makes horror such a useful teaching tool. In Gates' course, students examine everything from classic films to contemporary works through the lens of trans studies, exploring themes of transformation, vulnerability and the ways horror has historically portrayed people and bodies as what Gates, using air quotes, calls "monstrous."

For Gates, trans studies offer a particularly useful framework for those conversations because many of the questions central to horror are also questions about identity and perception. How do people understand themselves? And what happens when these personal stories conflict with the stories imposed on them by society?

Those themes extend well beyond a single course.

As a doctoral candidate in UCLA's Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, Gates moves between scholarship, teaching and creative practice. Her performance project, "The Grafters," draws together a range of artistic and cultural influences to challenge what she says is the longstanding construction of transfeminine bodies as objects of horror.

That interdisciplinary approach also informs Gates' work teaching introductory LGBTQ studies courses as part of a team of UCLA educators.

Drawing on a curriculum developed by UCLA's Michael Hunter, Gates encourages students to look beyond current headlines and examine earlier moments of progress, backlash and resistance. Students learn about the relative openness of queer communities in the 1920s, to the Lavender Scare of the 1950s, and the liberation movements that followed.

"Our ancestors have something to teach us about how to weather these moments," Gates said.

Learning these histories can be deeply personal for individuals. Gates said students often discover historical figures and movements that resonate with their own lived experiences.

"They say, 'Someone like me was fighting a fight like this already,'" Gates said. "There's a way that it makes you feel less alone."

That historical perspective also shapes how Gates thinks about visibility, especially in the trans community. While increased representation in television, film and public life can help people feel seen, she cautions against treating visibility as the same thing as equality.

"It's not just enough to have the person from the identity in the position," Gates said. "What is being done for the people on the ground?"

Questions of identity and embodiment have also shaped Gates' own life in unexpected ways.

Several years ago, after reading an ethnographic account about boxing in one of UCLA professor Janet O'Shea's seminars, and watching a boxing demo O'Shea gave to the class, Gates became enthralled by the sport. What began as a cautious curiosity eventually led her to a trans boxing collective in Los Angeles and later became the focus of her dissertation research.

"It really trained me to trust my body," Gates said.

Through boxing, Gates said she found a new confidence in her ability to move "through the world," as well as a deeper appreciation for what the body can do. The arc of the experience reinforced many of the same questions that feed her teaching and scholarship.

"I think it can be so easy to get caught up in the specifics of what doesn't feel good or what we don't like about our bodies," Gates said. "The only reason I get to be here and do anything that I love or like to do, see anyone that I love or care about and be with them, is because of this body. I'm so grateful to it for that."