Ah Girls Go Army - Kelly Kimberly Cheong is not female, Jack Neo.
A tomboy, no matter how "manly", is still female.
Ah Girls Go Army (simplified Chinese: 女兵外传; traditional Chinese: 女兵外傳; pinyin: nǚ bīng wàizhuàn; lit. 'Female Soldiers' Biography') is a 2022 Singaporean comedy film. Directed by Jack Neo, the film follows the first batch of female recruits as they undergo and serve National Service in the fictional near future of Singapore.
The film is set in a theoretical future where, due to the declining birth rate in Singapore, there are not enough males to fulfil the National Service manpower requirements. The film focuses on the first batch of female SAF (Singapore Armed Forces) recruits, who are 14 Gen-Z girls from different socio-economic backgrounds.
Singapore’s National Service (or NS) operates on the basis of mandatory conscription for males, applicable to both Singaporean citizens, and second-generation permanent residents. There are heavy penalties for those who refuse or default on this conscription, including notable cases such as Kevin Kwan, author of the novel Crazy Rich Asians, who is currently “liable to a fine of up to S$10,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 3 years upon conviction”.
Female conscription on the other hand is voluntary, and a survey from 2013 shows that only “one in 10 Singaporean women are willing to volunteer for a two-year stint in full-time National Service (NS)”. Getting women to join the military is so unpopular that there’ve been numerous campaigns to encourage them to, with one hoping to “recruit at least 500 more women by 2018”.
(Side note: Transgender individuals are dealt with separately - “transgender” is listed as a condition in a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) 'Directory of Diseases' and “recruits who outed themselves to the examining doctors at the Central Manpower Base (CMPB) at Depot Road had their 'deployability' denied in sensitive positions. Transgender individuals who have undergone sex reassignment surgery (SRS) are able to skip National Service entirely.”)
With that background, it’s understandable why the concept of Ah Girls Go Army was intriguing. Men frequently discuss on the Singapore subreddit about the unfairness of the situation, and how women insist on wanting gender equality and fairness between the male and female sexes right up until it comes time to serve the country.
Which begs the question why Kelly Kimberly Cheong, a transwoman, which by definition can only be someone who was “assigned male at birth”, was chosen to play the role of Amanda Ong, a “tomboy biological woman” in this movie.
(There was separate drama surrounding the character’s original name of “Amanda Man”, which I will not go into detail here.)
Here’s what this mothership.sg interview: "Not limited to playing laughing stocks: Ah Girls Go Army transgender star claps back at 'close-minded' viewers", says about Kelly:
Like many of Neo's movies, the main characters in AGGA play up various female stereotypes – vain, gossipy, emotional, hopeless romantic – which is why Kelly Kimberly Cheong's character really stood out to me.
She plays Amanda Ong, a cool, composed, and definitely "badass" woman, which is not far from what Cheong portrays herself to be online.
The 28-year-old, who is a transgender woman (trans woman) religiously practices martial arts such as Krav Maga, Muay Thai and Judo. And she's not afraid to show off her snazzy moves on social media, dealing sharp blows and flying kicks to punching bags in many of her TikTok videos.
So all the females play sexist female stereotypes. Fine, whatever; another day in the patriarchy, nothing new. But the one woman character that isn’t a stereotype… goes to someone who isn’t female. I don’t know about you, but that’s close-minded to me. I’m really not sure what message the audience is supposed to take from this - that women don’t exist outside of stereotypes? That non-stereotypical women are actually male? (Coincidentally, this aligns perfectly with what gender ideology tells gender non-conforming girls and women - that they might actually secretly be transmen if they’re not “girly” enough - and was what was used to insult them “ew, are you a boy?” when they didn’t.) That an effeminate male is a woman? Was this meant to be a movie that would empower women or not? And again - how does this fit in the premise of a movie’s storyline literally revolving around having all-female characters?
The interview elaborates:
This is her first acting gig
Cheong never aspired to be an actress, and so her decision to audition for AGGA after seeing an open casting call on Facebook was very much an impulsive one.
She was looking for a challenge, something to get her out of her comfort zone, and her approach was simple: Be like Jim Carrey in the 2008 movie "Yes Man" and say "Yes!" to anything that comes her way.
And so when the opportunity to act in a Jack Neo movie came around, you guessed it, she said "Yes!"
"I'm auditioning for the role of a recruit who is strong silent type and is trained in martial arts," read the caption that accompanied her audition clip which was posted on Facebook.
In the clip, Cheong recited a couple of lines and, of course, showed off her sweet martial art moves.
Her audition clip went viral (to date, it has 1,700 likes and almost 500 comments). And within a month, she landed her first acting gig, playing Amanda Ong.
How many local women with both acting and martial arts capabilities who also auditioned for this role were written off simply because Kelly said, "Hey, I'm a woman"? Kelly applied for the job on a whim, and got it! I'm angry both with Kelly for applying to the role (it surely must have mentioned it was for an actRESS somewhere, given the premise of the film) and for whomever picked and confirmed Kelly.
What happens if another acting role comes up calling for a man who knows martial arts? Will Kelly disqualify herself from applying because she doesn't fit the criteria?
Playing a tomboy
Who is Amanda Ong?
Aside from being a "female tomboy", Cheong describes her character as "swaggy", anti-social, and a woman of few words. She is often found with her arms folded, with a tendency to observe rather than participate.
To top it off, Cheong's character also plays the role of a tough protector. In one scene she protects her friends by singlehandedly carrying the bully away. And of course, she has pretty sick martial arts moves.
Quite a contrast to Cheong's real-life personality which veers towards being more goofy and chatty.
A completely viable character, with completely incompatible casting. Because actual biological women can't be tough, we have to use a biologically male transwoman for this, even though we want to show that women can be tough by writing this FEMALE TOMBOY to be tough. Make it make sense.
People familiar with cancel culture will have noted the numerous times a heterosexual actor was criticized for playing a homosexual character, such as actor James Corden’s performance in Netflix’s ‘The Prom’, or even the case where a “cis” actor played a trans-identified character, like Eddie Redmayne’s role as Lili Ebe in ‘The Danish Girl'.
(“Cis” is an offensive term used in gender ideology to denote someone who is “not trans”, i.e: “someone comfortable with their birth sex”. As many men and women of various lived experiences will attest, NO ONE is ever fully comfortable with the societal expectations and sexist stereotypes that come with being born the sex we are, whether male or female, nor fully with their physical bodies. Just look at the constant bombardment of ads promoting weight loss treatments and makeup to women, the sexual enhancements and hair treatments for men, and instagram, for one.)
Even so, the two examples still have commonalities - James Corden was a male playing a male. Eddie Redmayne was “assigned male at birth” playing someone “assigned male at birth”.
(Here’s a parallel and controversial issue closer to home: in the weeks leading up to President Halimah’s 2017 election, there was extremely heated “debate” arguing if she could be elected at all, because she was only half-Malay instead of full-Malay.)
Kelly was “assigned male at birth” playing a “cis female”.
Does no one see the complete hypocrisy of this? And how absolutely redundant it makes the entire plot where males are supposedly already in scarce supply?
Do we really believe that in a hypothetical situation where there are literally not enough males left alive to defend the country, and women have no choice but to step up, that the government would close an eye to males who feel like they are women?
We already have several real life examples of this. The unfortunate attack on Ukraine has reported that transwomen, who are biologically male, “are reportedly being denied passage to safer countries, despite their legal status as women and the danger posed by Russia’s transphobic policies.” In the same breath, we have a transman, who is biologically female, heroically overcome his crippling dysphoria by “paint[ing] my nails violet and [wearing] Mom's shirt to look more girly” in order to escape the invasion.
Meanwhile, “Ukrainian women are among thousands choosing to fight, not flee”. And amazingly, the news suddenly know exactly what type of woman that is. Hint: they weren’t male.
I’m not being transphobic either, the mothership.sg article admits this as well:
As a trans woman, the role of a tomboy may seem rather complicated for Cheong – a trans woman, who was a male at birth, now playing a biological woman with manly characteristics.
It's a "role reversal" as Cheong put it.
"Personally for me as a trans woman, if I could, I would rather be born a girl."
So given the chance to be a cisgender, biological woman in the movie, she did not take issue with Neo's vision of Amanda.
A biological woman with “manly” characteristics is still female, because every cell in her body is female (female: denoting the sex that can bear offspring or produce eggs, distinguished biologically by the production of large gametes (ova).)
A “male at birth” is male for life regardless of clothing, hormones, and/or surgery, changed legal paperwork, or how feminine and/or feminized he is, because humans do not change sex. They may be an extremely altered male, but still a male nevertheless (male: denoting the sex that produces small, typically motile gametes, especially spermatozoa). And there shouldn’t be any shame in that - it just does not make them a woman.
Having muscles and martial arts aren't just male qualities
Correct. Females can have muscles and know martial arts, too. Having muscles and knowing martial arts are not sexed traits. So again: why Kelly?
Kelly also took away a “cisgender, biological woman's” chance to be in this role and actually show that women - adult human females - can be tough, too. Good job, Jack Neo. So inclusive that you went right around and became exclusive again.
I’ll leave off with some more parting words from the article that I feel explains very well, by itself, exactly why gender ideology is based on sexist stereotypes.
With her nails neatly trimmed to a sharp point, her cropped top showing off her defined abs, her long eyelash extensions and full eye makeup, and her hair worn in a high ponytail, Cheong is very much — as she described — a "girly girl".
"If they asked me to talk in a very deep, voice, constantly flexing my muscles, and puffing my chest then I'll be uncomfortable."
Ah Girls Go Army was released in Singapore on 1 February 2022.
Bravo! Well put. 👏