I don't really understand why some people think it was "career suicide"? Acting is about conveying emotions convincingly
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MrTridac — 9 years ago(June 23, 2016 04:06 AM)
what do you mean by "buy her girl?"
I mean whether you are convinced she is a straight girl when she plays a straight girl.
The scenario I could think of is that one might become unconvinced at some point. Not because she doesn't do a good job as an actress but because you know she is not what she pretends to be. Even though this is what acting is about. But when it comes to sexual orientation the pretending might get problematic.
Even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day
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WerdnaMernox — 10 years ago(September 17, 2015 08:00 PM)
She's had a pretty good career so far without doing a lot of those rom-coms I actually can't think of any, maybe I'm wrong though.
So what's a movie of hers that you liked that you don't think would be good now? The only role she's done that afaik has to be a straight character was Juno. I'd object to some of the twee dialogue but not Ellen's performance - she
made
that movie.
Would Inception not be as good anymore? Whip-it? Hard Candy? I have a hard time imagining someone who actually likes smart, tough, cool, funny women in movies but who would have such a negative reaction to someone for being gay. -
P-K-One — 10 years ago(July 24, 2015 02:21 AM)
The problem is less the believability of the portrayal but rather the risk of boycotts by beep
Think about it this way. I do not buy Orson Scott Card books because he is a crazy, homophobic, radical. I do not watch Roman Polanski movies because he is a child rapist. I make a conscious decision to boycott those people because I think their behavior is morally wrong.
Depending on the poll you read about 30% of the US population considers homosexuality to be immoral to a certain degree. So there is a risk that the same sentiment that makes me not watch Polanski movies would make those people not watch an Ellen Page movie.
This is something that influences the casting choices for movies. Ask yourself, if you were a casting director and you have the choice between two actors and the choice for actor A would reduce the potential target audience by 30%, would you cast that actor or would you rather go with the safe choice, the other actor? So by making herself controversial, she might have caused massive damage to her career. -
MrTridac — 10 years ago(July 24, 2015 04:01 AM)
You have a very, very good point.
I haven't seen it this way before. But I'm wondering if the opposite isn't true as well?
Some people might consider watching a movie
because
they became aware of that strong young women who made a bold move.
However, I can't imagine a casting director considering this.
Even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day
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P-K-One — 10 years ago(July 24, 2015 04:53 AM)
Would you really watch a movie you are not interested in just to support an actor?
As I said, I do boycott movies and books if I have issues with the artists involved. But I can't see myself reading a book I don't enjoy or watching a movie I am not interested in to show my support. And I doubt many people would.
The difference is that you pass on most things anyway. I go to the cinema about once or twice a month. 20 movies come out in that timeframe and I am interested in 5 of them. So I know at any given time that I will not see 3 I am interested in. It does not hurt me which 3 those are since the net amount of entertainment I have is the same. My moral objections come at no cost to me. I watch two movies I want to see no matter what happens.
However, if I go and watch a movie I am not interested in, I waste 50% of my potential entertainment.
I think it's similar for most people. -
lukejbarnett2002 — 9 years ago(June 22, 2016 01:15 AM)
yeah but the problem about that is it only favors the less big population of gays while taking down the probability of straight people watching her movies. so, if you are straight it's good on the count of straight people still watching your movies and gays still watching your movies but just not increasing them watching your movies. go the safe, straight route.
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MrTridac — 9 years ago(June 22, 2016 04:09 AM)
Your reasoning is good but we're still in the realm of speculation about hypothetical circumstances.
In reality I'm sure most people don't care or even know much about the actors they're watching.
You have to consider a good amount of selection bias here on this board.
Or in any IMDb board for that matter.
The average moviegoer isn't interested in "behind the curtain" stuff.
I guess from the point of view of a production company it doesn't matter at all.
A few proud gays more in the theater plus a few homophobics less equals zero. The majority of people doesn't care.
It would be interesting to ask the average person: "Did you know that Ellen Page is gay?"
The usual answer is probably: "Who's Ellen Page?"
And next on the list would be: "Didn't she play a pregnant girl in that movie? What's the name ?"
Just because many movie-aficionados discuss the subject in movie related boards doesn't mean that there are actually many average people who care.
Even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day
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lukejbarnett2002 — 9 years ago(June 22, 2016 07:21 PM)
but if it's even, the ones who like it and the ones who don't, which it wouldn't be anyway because more people are straight than are gay, the casting directors and producers care about if someone is gay in the public eye because their image decreases more than it increases the box office for a movie, so that is two things to one thing in the favor of her coming out being a bad thing.
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MrTridac — 9 years ago(June 23, 2016 04:27 AM)
because more people are straight than are gay
I was only talking about the straight people who turn away because they're homophobic.
You can't imply that every straight person is homophobic. I'm straight, I still like her. I still like watching her. I'd never avoid a movie just because an actor is gay and I think I'm not alone with this.
producers care about if someone is gay in the public eye
That's why I raised the question how many public eyes actually do care or even know that she's gay.
I don't think it's too many.
Therefore, I don't think producers care too much.
Even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day
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lukejbarnett2002 — 9 years ago(June 23, 2016 04:55 AM)
but I would argue that more people know about this than you think. the internet has made it really easy and quite common for people to find out about an actor being gay. this is what happened with me: I wasn't even looking to find out anything about her. I didn't search for her online but, I saw something online about her coming out so I just saw it in a story online on the yahoo search engine. so, you don't even have to look to find out about an actor being gay, you are given this information whether you like it or not in a story on the yahoo search engine. you know how they put stories on yahoo. they are just there automatically.
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MrTridac — 9 years ago(June 23, 2016 06:41 AM)
but I would argue that more people know about this than you think.
This might be true. Unfortunately we cannot know for sure except someone makes a representative study.
so, you don't even have to look to find out about an actor being gay, you are given this information
That's why I mentioned selection bias.
You and I, we have a natural tendency to roam about in many corners of the internet, potentially many movie or entertainment industry related sites.
While the average moviegoer doesn't get far beyond facebook, instagram, netflix and amazon. Although, facebook was probably swamped with "ELLEN PAGE OUT OF THE CLOSET !!!!!!1111oneoneone #pathetichashtag"
Even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day
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