If you’re plugged into queer indie cinema, chances are you’ve come across the name Adam–and the heated debates that followed it. When Rhys Ernst’s 2019 feature premiered, it wasn’t just another film in the festival circuit. It became a flashpoint, sparking admiration, outrage, and endless discourse. Now, five years later, with Adam streaming on Hulu’s Pride collection, the film is back in the spotlight.
Breaking New Ground for Trans Filmmakers
Trans stories on screen were rare before Adam. When they did exist, they were typically filtered through cisgender artists, reduced to stereotypes or tragic plots. Ernst, already established as a maker of experimental shorts such as She Gone Rogue, went into his first feature determined to push trans cinema in new ways–beautiful, complex, and unapologetically queer.
By 2019, Sydney Freeland, Jane Schoenbrun, and Vera Drew were starting to change the map. Adam was still the sole big narrative feature directed by a trans director that year. For others, that meant it felt like a turning point. Rather than accolades, though, the movie landed in the middle of a cultural firestorm.
The Story That Sparked Debate
Based on Ariel Schrag’s book, Adam takes place in mid-2000s Bushwick, capturing a queer world rich in contradictions and growing pains. The novel revolves around a cis teenage boy who is confused with a trans guy in a lesbian and trans social circle, grappling with issues of identity, exclusion, and desire.
For Ernst, who grew up in Bushwick back then, the film represented his own life and felt like an opportunity to expose a community in all its imperfect, messy humanity. But the setup–a cis boy going incognito as trans–was enough to elicit instant outrage online before many had even seen the movie.
Outrage vs. Intention
Social media was ablaze with demands to boycott Adam, labeling it transphobic or dangerous. The commentary usually did not consider Ernst’s point of view and the true subjects of the film: a critique of hypocrisy, ignorance, and the nature of queer existence. Although Ernst tempered some of the novel’s harsher points on the topic of consent to make the book more palatable, the story in the main was ignored by those who noticed only its concept.
The controversy brought larger questions: Who gets to narrate trans stories? And with only a few of them getting made, does each film necessarily have to bear the burden of an entire community’s hopes?
What Audiences Missed
At Sundance, Adam was greeted with considerate discussion, laughter, and applause. But on social media, it was dogpiled–review-bombed by individuals who hadn’t even watched it. Amid the clamor, the complexity of the film got lost.
Off-camera, Adam proved to be a model of inclusivity. The cast and crew included numerous queer and trans creatives, with pronoun circles and sensitivity training integrated into the production process. Nevertheless, minor missteps–such as one moment of misgendering–were blown out of proportion online, fueling the outrage.
The Fallout and Its Ripple Effect
The backlash wasn’t only directed at Adam. It also made it more difficult for other trans directors to find funding, as studios and investors deemed trans-led projects too “risky.” Ironically, a queer and trans-made film went on to be used as evidence that such projects weren’t worth the risk.
But the film still opened doors. Cast members moved on to larger endeavors, and Ernst’s work was part of an increasing wave of trans cinema. Filmmakers such as Schoenbrun, Freeland, Theda Hammel, and others have since demonstrated that there’s a very real audience for films that are bold, diverse, and unapologetically trans.
How Would Adam Land Today?
In 2025, the cultural atmosphere is different. There are more trans films, and some of the pressure on any one film to “represent everything” has dissipated. Younger audiences, in particular, are more receptive to narratives that are messy and provocative instead of purely affirmational. On that basis, Adam could perhaps at last be given the more complex debate it was withheld from upon release.
Why Adam Still Matters
At its heart, Adam is not about supporting trickery–it’s about depicting the messy, occasionally cringeworthy realities of queer existence. It challenges audiences to grapple with imperfection, to giggle at awkwardness, and to come face-to-face with the contradictions in queer communities.
Love it or loathe it, Adam continues to be one of the most widely discussed trans movies of the last decade. The controversy surrounding it reminds us that representation is never easy, that progress is not neat, and that art frequently compels us to endure with discomfort. Streaming currently on Hulu, it’s a movie that refuses to be left out of the conversation.