“There’s always been the protest of blackface (and even yellowface) when Caucasian performers played ethnic roles. Should there be a similar outcry when it comes to straight actors playing gay roles? When straight actors play ‘gayface?'” [Straight.com]
Burning Question…
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parisinla
no. I dont think so. Its not the same, heres why.
Anyone of any race or sex can be gay. No one of any race can be of any other race.
SeaFlood
The reason why there isn’t any outcry, I think, is because gay people are still waiting to be legitimized… but that’s not completely it. Being gay is different from being a racialized body. To be gay is to be a sexualized body — whether by body is engaged in sex or not… that’s how heterosexism works. And while it is getting better…
The idea was to make sure movies and television shows that had GBLT (looser in some cases) characters that were positive and not psychotic or suicidal. Now, it’s the idea that playing a gay character is not something that kills your career, which is abother big step. With actors coming out more and more as GBLT (althout Portia was WASTED on Nip/Tuck…), Hollywood is starting to change… but we are not yet at a place where gay actors are pissed that they aren’t getting gay roles out of preference for straight actors… or where straight actors aren’t facing zero slack for playing a gay role.
We aren’t out of the woods yet.
Jaroslaw
I don’t have all the answers, but I’m guessing the protest against Blackface and Yellowface is or was mostly because (a) Blackface for sure is usually if not always depicting people of color in demeaning or subservient roles and (b) people of color and Asian descent were available to play the roles but were deemed “undesirable” which is why the Caucasian actors were playing “Yellowface & Blackface”
Can the same rules apply to Gay roles? Are there enough A-list Gay actors to play every role? Would they if they could or would typecasting occur? Was it career suicide for a Black man to play a Black role when it was possible to do so? (obviously not).
It is too bad this is even an issue because in theory all acting is playing imaginary roles (even in a true story the actor is “imagining” himself to be the role).
M Shane
“blackface” is discernably a disguise. A clear attempt at being what you are not. In the case of inadequately acting like an effeminate gay person, you might be said to be doing the same thing. If you are a straight person acting convincingly like a gay person you would be doing a different thing.
I think that you are confusing the issue: it’s not one of convincingly acting like someone who is internally different, since within the realm of “acting” one is always performing different ly than oneself, but unconvincingly playing a role
different than oneself. Make sense?
Alacer
Look at the context in which the straight actor is playing the gay role! If some dick straight guy spent his career making fun of gay men by acting as an overly flamboyant, child molesting homo just for the sake of comic relief (did anyone see Wild Hogs?)then, yes, that’s bad. But why should it be looked down upon when any actor plays a legit homosexual?
afrolito
What exactly is a legit homosexual?
Kid A
Yes Alacer, I saw Wild Hogs, and was appalled by all the gay panic “humor.” And William H. Macy said that the original screenplay was worse, and the final product was actually quite toned down. It’s sad that blockbuster filmmakers contempt their audience so much.
Charley
The classic case is Brokeback Mountain not a runaway hit at the box office, even with straight actors. If it had gay actors, it may not have made any money at all. That’s just the way it is right now. It will change with the younger generations born after 1980.
hisurfer
It’s possible for actors to play another ethnicity without it being “blackface.” Think Angelina Jolie in “A Might Heart” or Robert Downey Jr. in “Hearts and Souls” (he channels Alfre Woodard).
It depends on the character and the strength of the actor. I refuse to see Wild Hogs, but that sounds like “gayface” more than, say, Brokeback Mountain.
Kid A
(Pardon my previous use of “contempt” as a verb. It’s been a long day already.)
Charley, have you seen Maurice? I feel that it has more of gay aesthetic than Brokeback, primarily because the author of the story and director are gay. It feels more natural and authentic, I think.
And Hisurfer, Wild Hogs is basically a queer minstrel show. Terrible.
afrolito
I have yet to meet a black person who was thrilled with Angelina Jolie playing Marianne Pearl in “A Mighty Heart”. Don’t even get me started on Robert Downey Jr.
Qjersey
Unfortunately even if it mattered, too many gay actors don’t want to take on gay roles or gay actors can’t get gay roles. Love the story that John Barrowman wasn’t “gay enough” to play Will Truman.
fredo777
I saw Wild Hogs, but don’t recall the intense level of gay minstrelsy a lot of others seem to. To be fair, though, it was during a period when I was watching new release movies like rapid-fire + didn’t retain many of the details of that film’s plot. I remember John McGinley half-naked in it, I think. And some joke courtesy of Martin Lawrence about William H. Macy’s character’s “doo doo”.
So…yeah. Not exactly classic cinema.
SeaFlood
Um… Anne Proulx isn’t gay, Kid A.
And Afrolito: Amen re: A Mighty Heart
CAm
If you can only play people exactly like you, then what is the point of being an “Actor”? Acting is all about losing yourself in the role and becoming the other character so I don’t have a problem with straight actors playing gay….would I PREFER it if there were more gay actors willing to come out of the closet and compete for leading rolls as out gay people? hell yes!
Bob R
What bothers me is that there are, seemingly, no gay actors available or considered for some of these roles. I sometimes feel how I imagine a black man feels about a white man playing a black role (either a legitimate effort or for ridicule) when a straight men takes on a gay role. Am I making any sense?
What also bothers me is how straight actors are usually so sure to point out either in cast interviews (usually an extra on the DVD) or in the media that they are definitely heterosexual and how hard the gay role was to play. I liked the film “Shelter”, but something was lost for me when in the making of Shelter segment on the DVD, Brad Rowe made sure to state how difficult it is for two straight guys to play gay roles. I somewhat agree with No.8 Charley about “Brokeback”. I suppose it can be argued that we’re making progress, but still I’d like to see the day when a talented gay actor plays a solid gay role without being typecast.
Veronica Trash
If it’s so hard for straight actors to play gay, then don’t do it.
Call me un-pc, but I’m completely against straight actors playing gay, because it’s distracting and it takes away the believability when the actor in question engages in macho rethorics by claiming how straight he is and how hard it was to smooch another man.
Paul Raposo
I love you, Veronica Trash and Bob R 8^)
I’m tired of seeing plumb gay roles going to straight actors who want to pad their resume. I’m tired of hearing how “brave” it is for Hollywood actors to play gay roles; yet no one mentions how brave it is–rather, downright impossible–to be out in Hollywood and become a star. I’m tired of Hollywood wagging its finger at the world telling us how terrible we are, while it wallows in homophobia and anti-gay bigotry. I’m tired of seeing every het star throw thier sexuality in our faces, while closeted LGBTQ actors have to hide their relationships. I’m tired of seeing both het and closeted homo actors brag about how straight they are
hell's kitchen guy
Maybe it’s because “gay” is a malleable condition, unlike “Yellow.”
DanGOP
While I would like there to be more gay roles, and more openly gay actors, I would like to remind those opposed to having straight actors play gay that it is perfectly acceptable to have straight actors play gay. It’s called acting for a reason. You don’t get to go on there and just be yourself. Well, not unless you are Gypsy Rose Lee.
If you cannot suspend your disbelief then why are you bothering to watch.
As someone who spent some time studying the craft of acting and the theatre, I remember playing straight roles, playing sexually ambiguous roles, and then reminding myself that the audience suspends its disbelief when watching a production on stage or screen.
Keith
I imagine that this debate will continue endlessly.
As an actor, I feel that if I can create a reality and make it believable, then that should be all that is important. If a straight man can develop, within the reality of the movie, a desire for his leading man, then it is no different than a straight man creating desire for a woman to whom he is not attracted. It’s part of the job.
On the other hand, being gay in today’s society brings a whole lot of baggage beyond just being attracted to the same gender. A gay actor should be able to access those emotional connections easier than a straight actor.
Ultimately, though, I would rather see a good straight actor than a not-as-good gay actor in a gay role. And, unfortunately, because we are still not a completely accepting society, a gay actor who has come out may still have to deal with being typecast as gay… just as black actors had to fight being typecast as what was considered a stereotypical character for many years…
Basically, I don’t think we’re there yet, but hopefully we will be one day.
hisurfer
I didn’t actually see A Might Heart, so I can’t really talk about her performance. My point was more that, while there was grumbling, there wasn’t the Outrage and Anger you would get at a ‘blackface’ roll.
Buffy
@ SeaFlood
Kid A did stated that the author of the story and director of the movie “Maurice” are gay, not BBM.
Kid A
Thanks Buffy, E.M. Forster and James Ivory to be specific.
Bitch Republic
There’s nothing wrong with straight people playing gay. It’s called acting.
http://www.BitchRepublic.net
lucking
So if straight actors can’t play gay, gays ones shouldn’t play staright, right? Someone go fire TR Knight.
crazylove
Charley stick with whatever you know as your day work.
An 11 mil indie movie making over 70 million in domestic box office is by any stretch of the industry imagination a huge success. Remember it was put out by Focus Features, a specialty arm not one of the majors. At that range, the indie scene is literred with bombs and misfires and all of them straight. Sometimes people need to keep things in perspective.
And as for the issue of race versus sexual orientation- this is one of those cases where the effect of what is happening is different. Straights aren’t playing gays to make fun of us. Black faces were done to stereotype African Americans.
Paul Raposo
“Straights aren’t playing gays to make fun of us. Black faces were done to stereotype African Americans.”
Really? Straight actors never played murderous, pedophilic, sissy gays? That’s what pisses me off; straight actors were hired to present gays in the worst possible light years ago. Today straight actors are hired for all the plumb gay roles. By doing so, Hollywood is pretending that all the negative stereotypes THEY presented over the many decades of film making never happened and they are all these “enlightened” people presenting themselves as virtuous by palying gay characters. WE worked our asses of for the tolerance we have today, yet WE don’t get rewarded for all our hard work–THEY reward themselves on our efforts. Sean Penn as Harvey Milk anyone?
Alacer
Afrolito:
by legit I mean a character who is a person first and homosexuality is an aspect of their personality, psyche, workings, you pick the term. I’ll use the cop character from Wild Hogs. He was not a person, he was NOT a character. He was the sole personification of homosexuality used in a way to show extreme awkwardness and disgust, so no he is not a legit homosexual character.
re A Mighty Heart:
Mariane Pearl is of African AND Dutch AND Chinese AND Cuban descent. This is where the clear distinction comes in on the context of the character portrayed.
Think about this argument overall. “gay” or “black” face aside, let’s deal with serious acting. Black face was a clear discrimination against black people and “gayface” (again, think Wild Hogs), well that’s self explanatory, I digress. ANYWAY, neither should be considered as acting, as they are both discriminatory. Brokeback Mountain, they were legit homosexuals because they were people first, before anything else. It’s silly to say it’s wrong for straight people to play gay people. Acting requires you to ACT the role of a person entirely different than the actor to begin with. DanGOP said it well. If it’s serious acting for the sake of the art and not discrimination for a laugh, then we should make no distinction between Heath Ledger playing gay than Heath Ledger playing a psychopathic terrorist in the new Batman.
SeaFlood
@ Kid A: Forgive me for my misreading.
staygoldenponyboy
If we ask straight actors to stop “playing gay,” then they have every right to ask us to stop “playing straight,” as Lucking stated above.
Hard as it is to believe, there are more and more gay characters who aren’t defined by the old “pinkface” stereotypes that used to populate television and movies. Why should a talented straight actor be denied the chance to portray a gay person, or the other way around, if he or she is able and willing to do so? Quite frankly, if there is a lack of good gay and lesbian roles, or if the roles available depend too much on offensive stereotyping, it isn’t the fault of straight actors. It’s the fault of the screenwriters and producers.
Charley
CRAZYLOVE
My point is straight vs gay actors. It’s about distribution, especially with Brokeback Mountain. Compare the Michael Moore indy, with lines around the corner waiting to buy tickets. Moore may be gay, but it doesn’t matter because he is not an actor that makes a vagina twitch.
Straight women enjoyed the sex scenes in Brokeback, of course they were written tenderly by a woman. Other than the sex, Gay men don’t talk and act in an authentic way like the characters in Brokeback.
Charley
Crazylove
The screenplay was co-written by the seventy year old straight western writer, Larry McMurty and a woman. That same year, the indy film “March of the Penquins” a low budget documentary brought in $77 Million.
It was a breakthough film, but not characteristically gay, any more than Sex and the City, written by a shallow sex obsessed gay man, is characteristic of women.
Mr C
No there shouldn’t be an outcry. Blackface has a very sad history as where acting doesn’t they are not the same.
And to add to that the kids don’t sell tickets. The stars do. That’s why they are casted to bring in box office.
Paul Raposo
“Why should a talented straight actor be denied the chance to portray a gay person, or the other way around, if he or she is able and willing to do so?”
Straight actors are rarely turned down for gay roles. Gay actors are routinely turned down for both straight and gay roles. Rupert Everette turned down for straight romantic leads; and John Borrowman turned down to play Will Truman. Hollywood homophobia at its best.
I can name two big LGBTQ stars: Jodie Foster and Sir Ian McKellen. But I’d go blue in the face naming all the straight stars
Jaroslaw
M Shane (re your post #4)- since I wasn’t sure where the article was going and many subsequent posts have wondered off in many different directions it was hard to reply to this topic. Yes Blackface is a discernable disguise, but it is stereotyped, and negatively portrays the Black race as slow, dumb and subservient. At the time this was prevalent were Blacks even allowed onstage for White audiences? So if they were, was Blackface even necessary?
As to a straight actor playing Gay convincingly being a different thing, sure I see your point. But that wasn’t the question as I understood it. As has been well pointed out in this post, the straight male actors always point out how straight they are, how hard it is to be intimate with another male, kiss etc. If it were “just a role” this wouldn’t be the discussion at all.
Rowen
In theory, I don’t have a problem with straight actors playing gay parts. That’s just in theory though.
Too many times, I’ve seen a movie that no one else saw, except a few other gay guys. Often, it’s a cast of newcomers, and the majority of the people seeing the movie are there to support gay filmmakers. I find it hard to believe that the directors couldn’t find an unknown gay actor of similar looks and abilities, rather then an unknown straight actor. Two examples. .
Trick – At the time, no one (and I’d say still just about no one) knew who Christian Campbell was. The movie seemed to be more running on Tori Spelling’s “stardom” and the fact that it was gay themed. Are there no young, boy next door looking gay actors in L.A. or NYC?
The Broken Hearts Club – Again, the only people who have ANY name clout in that movie, well, besides Fraiser’s dad, are Timothy Oliphant, Zach Braff, and Dean Cain, and at the time, Dean Cain was the only one who had ANY name/face recognition on a large scale basis. So . . . why cast the other two relatively unknowns?
Lastly, look at the american version of Queer as Folk. You have three out actors, Rupert Grant, Oeter Paige, and the kid who was playing the Nathaniel role. Yet every time Hal Sparks shows up on some VH1 thing, he has to talk about how straight he is. . .
It kinda ruins the fantasy.
That’s what it was about for me, growing up. That I’d see these movies and shows with actors I’ve never heard of, only to find that the fantasy that was presented was even more of a fantasy then what the average 15 year old girl gets, which reinforced the idea that I couldn’t be normal and gay.
Charley
The Hollywood sterotypical “queer as folk image”, prevails in Hollywood and can’t get past that. Ian McClellan is old and not a sexual hero, so there is no big deal about his sexual orientation. Hollywood is not real life, it thrives on illusion and lies eyeing the box office, not social issues. Some self loathing gays would tear down a leading man hero if he came out.
fredo777
Rowen, Rupert Grant?
I suppose you mean Robert Gant.
Rikard
I’m with Paul R. I have a sister who is mentally retarded and I’m irked by how lauded actors are for playing autistic or brain damaged. Hoffman, DeCaprio, Penn are just three that come to mind. They were all great too, but that’s the job. Become another person convincingly. Why is it so brave for a straight actor to play gay. I’ve seen gay for pay porn actors. I’m not really impressed by a straight actor who has a little gay kiss or caress.
After Eleanor
I can’t say I have a conclusive opinion on what I think about this, but here’s something to throw into the fray…
I think LGBT audiences appreciate LGBT characters played by LGBT actors. Think about how much more lesbians love Leisha Hailey of the L Word than most of the straight actors… I just think there’s an affinity that might not be able to be duplicated.
aftereleanor.blogspot.com
CAm
Not to attack our own….but I just saw a gay movie, gay writer, gay director, gay actor. And you know, the chemestry between the two leading men was not-believable. At least Heath and Jake LOOKED like they wanted to sleep together. So again, I don’t think it is fair to ask actors to limit their portrayals, but Hollywood needs to stop pretending that THEY are liberal. I have news for them, Hollywood is a homophobic, conservative backwater when it comes to the reality of day to day life. The fact that Jodie Foster, a 2 time Oscar winner, director etc… STILL doesn’t feel completely safe coming out says a lot.
jiminportlandoregon
If you limit gay roles to only gay actors, don’t you then have to limit straight roles to only straight actors? Not a road I think we should take.
Jen
Race is a physical trait. Being gay is internal. Gay actors have been playing straight roles for years, and more recently vice-versa. I don’t think orietaition is relevant to casting in any way. Not to mention it would require every actor to publically label their personal love life. Uncool!
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