Yessss ok, Cars 3 trans allegory:

So new character Cruz Ramirez is a trainer. She says “I’m not a racer, I’m just a trainer” almost the whole movie, even when you see her practice racing to help McQueen have a ‘sparring partner’ of sorts mad she LOVES it, and she looks so happy. https://twitter.com/guardianspir1ts/status/1330297964452065281

They kinda put makeshift racing stuff on her for it and when she’s going around the track she looks like she’s having the time of her life.

Also she says that when she tried once to be a racer, she realized that she didn’t look like everyone else and knew she’d never belong.

So as you can imagine, as someone who already saw themselves in Cruz and is questioning being trans, I was like “wow...holy shit. If you say ‘being transmasc/transfem’ instead of ‘being a racer’ then it’s pretty accurate for someone who’s questioning.

Then, when McQueen gives Cruz a chance to take his place in the race at the end, and finally be a racer, she takes it. As she catches up to Jackson Storm (the fastest/best/‘ideal’ racer), he falls back to say “you can play dress-up all you want, but you’ll never be one of us.”

Storm gets in her head for a minute, but McQueen encourages her and Cruz presses on, eventually winning the race even when Storm tries to stop her himself. She ends up with a whole team that supports her being a racer and loves her for it.

Is it a perfect allegory? No, of course not. But it’s there if you look, like I did. And since the Cars franchise as one of my obsessions, it made me really happy to be able to pull this out of it while re-watching today.

I also happen to be sporting Cars merch as I write this thread