Straight Actor + Gay Role = New Blackface?- Page 2

[finebydesign]

Posted: 6/13/13 at 4:48pm

TLDR... after looking at all those words, one comes to reason with the limitations of twitter.

That said, there have been countless times when I've felt gays/gay lifestyle has been portrayed in a minstrel show-style...by gays and straights for gays and straight.

Who knows where the line is. One performance I've always hated was Felicity Huffman's transgender role. I still can't believe that was so acclaimed. She lowered her voice and the great "reveal" was reduced to a penis joke. Seriously? At least we got a great Dolly song...

[SNAFU]

Posted: 6/13/13 at 6:07pm

Not sure which I dislike more, the minstrally Gay roles or the overly pandering ones like Greg Kinnear gave in As Good As It Gets.
Sort of opposite sides of a coin like Will and Jack in Will and Grace (a show I despised btw).

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 6/13/13 at 8:07pm

Back when I was doing background work, I always got the gay calls, and they ALWAYS asked me 'do you mind playing gay?'

I told them, "It's called acting, and sure, go ahead and book me"

[jackieoh]

Posted: 6/13/13 at 8:51pm

^ I think it's funny when they have to make sure that a straight actor is 'comfortable' with gay material. I've had to play some intimate scenes with men and no director has ever asked me if I'm 'comfortable' with it.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 6/13/13 at 9:03pm

But, I am FAR from straight.

That's why it always struck me as funny.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/17/13 at 1:04pm

An actor playing a gay character can be done in a heightened, vaudeville type style which it might be argued is an analog of blackface.

But it has nothing whatsoever to do with the sexuality of the actor in question. There was a time when black actors played in blackface (see Minstrel Man). There was also a time when gay actors played gay men as a comic comment on us v. them (or a closeted "us" v. them) (see The Nance).

A portrayal of a gay man can ring false, overplayed for comic impact, a play on stereotypes, and, as a general proposition, it has nothing to do with the performer being straight or gay. As it happens, although I had issues with Behind the Candelabra, I would not describe Douglas's or Damon's performances in this way. I thought they both did a credible job and played it straight (i.e., legitimately). And I certainly don't care at all about their sexuality in judging their work here.

Drag is the new blackface? I'd agree to a point. First of all, drag is not not new; it's much older than blackface.

But, more to the point, there is a difference between the typical broad (pun intended) style of drag (not that there's anything wrong with drag) and performances which realistically and sensitively cross gender, performances which are not intended to lampoon or playfully comment on the very nature of the opposite gender but, rather, in which the actor is merely playing a role of the opposite sex (e.g. Bedford's Lady Bracknell, Hunt's Billy Kwan, Anderson's and Veno+
ra's Hamlet).



Updated On: 6/17/13 at 01:04 PM

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 6/17/13 at 10:38pm

Is there's any difference between a swishy gay stereotype and a weed smoking, frat boy, slacker, skirt chasing, fart-loving, hard-drinking hetero stereotype? Neither is insinuating that the characters represents the majority of their respective orientations. If I'm a frat boy, should I feel insulted and angry at the depictions of frat boys in movies? Maybe the difference is that frat boys aren't a minority but gays are, having a lot more at stake. But still, the stereotype thing goes both ways.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/17/13 at 10:40pm

Yeah, you should read up on privilege.

[Playbilly]

Posted: 6/17/13 at 10:42pm

Naive. Frat boys don't get bashed on the street for being frat boys. Discriminated in the job market for being frat boys.

What world do you live in? Trolluranus?

Updated On: 6/17/13 at 10:42 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/17/13 at 10:44pm

"If I'm a frat boy, should I feel insulted and angry at the depictions of frat boys in movies?"

If the movie were to punch you in the mouth and knock your teeth out and then kill your frat brother, then yes, the experience is exactly the same.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 6/17/13 at 10:46pm

Perfect! "...privileged, weed smoking, frat boy, slacker, skirt chasing, fart-loving, hard-drinking.."

Thanks!

[Playbilly]

Posted: 6/17/13 at 10:48pm

"...dirty-minded, foul-mouthed, liquor-ridden.."

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 6/17/13 at 11:28pm

Playbilly, that was the point I was hoping to make about stereotypes - that there is so much more at stake in the gay community than with being pegged as a frat boy or Valley girl or hard-ass cowboy, stereotypes all. But of course there is a multitude of great, straight roles that are not stereotypes. Gay roles? Not so much, the occasional exception notwithstanding.

[Playbilly]

Posted: 6/17/13 at 11:31pm

I see. Hard to tell intelligent satire from boneheadedness sometimes.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/18/13 at 12:57am

Also, look up microaggression .

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/18/13 at 12:57pm

If not exactly offended, I am frequently beyond bored with the hackneyed stereotypical portrayals of frat boys and also of white straight men in general (and yes, I know all fratboys are not white, that's beside my point). And when I am I call them out for lack of originality, specificity, freshness, individuality and for the cliches - perhaps self-perpetuating cliches - they are.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 6/18/13 at 1:12pm

I think whoever is the best actor for the role should get it. Gay or Straight, it doesn't matter.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 6/18/13 at 1:27pm

^ Absolutely!

I'm straight, but many of my musical dream roles are gay or bisexual, and I feel like my sexual orientation shouldn't determine my ability to take on those roles.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/18/13 at 2:01pm

And no person involved in casting should be questioning anyone being considered for a role about sexual orientation.

[Playbilly]

Posted: 6/18/13 at 4:50pm

^^^^
So, that. Unethical and illegal.