Can Straight Actors Play Gay Roles?
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truetexian — 9 years ago(January 21, 2017 07:33 AM)
I guess evolution (or learning/development by rote) has taught us to label everything and everyone, after all it's kept us safe from making a pet out of a coral snake rather than a king snake.
However, whenever it comes to human sexuality the scientific community is still hesitate to slap an all definitive label on some people. I've lived long enough to realize that it's a ridiculous and often times meaningless thing to do anyway.
Brando shared an apartment for many years during the '50's with the actor Wally Cox and was quoted as having said that if he (Cox) had been a woman he'd have been married to him. After Cox died in '73, Brando saved his cremated remains and upon his own death in '04 had his ashes scattered together with his beloved "friend".
What was that all about? Was it a platonic "bromance", "gay", or "bi" thing? He called himself a "sexual adventurer" so I suppose we should take him at his word and leave it at that. -
truetexian — 9 years ago(January 21, 2017 10:43 AM)
OK, have it your way it's immaterial to me. I'm content with allowing Brando to label himself as he did (a "sexual adventurer"). I agree with you, it does appear as if he was "addicted" to sex. I wonder though, just how much wood does a woodchuck chuck.before they call him a "gay" woodchucker?
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ToastedCheese — 5 years ago(March 27, 2021 12:52 AM)
Do you think a straight/non gay actor can be good and convincing in a gay role.
Assuming that the actor is straight, which would be the first notion most would have. Yet, if the actor is straight, it is condescending, especially if they get praise for it. How phony virtuous of the actor to play something that could ruin their career because being homo is still technically second class sexuality.
Norman! What did you put in my tea? -
Platonic_Caveman — 5 years ago(March 27, 2021 05:10 AM)
I have no problem with it. A good actor should be able to play any role. Now that being said, if a straight actor were to purposely "swish it up", that's unacceptable. That's exactly what the straight actor in Will & Grace did. I always come back to that sitcom because it is a shining example of gay stereotyping.
I think we're at the point in society where playing a gay role will not ruin a straight actor's career though. A great example is Matt Damon, an allegedly straight actor, who has played gay characters in more than one film.
It is still true that a gay actor must pose as straight if he is a leading man and wants to appeal to a young female audience. It's a fact that most homosexual actors are still in the closet out of PR necessity.
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Bee — 5 years ago(March 27, 2021 05:21 AM)
I agree with that assessment. It's gotta be hard being in an industry that has a lot of lefties and lgbtq peeps around and yet the leading men still have to worry about that stuff. Everyone around you would probably be supportive but you still have to cater to the national audience. It's gotta mess with their head.
Of course it's probably hard for anyone to be in the closet. I'm just saying it's gotta be extra weird if you're living somewhere that's supposed to be woke like L.A. -
Platonic_Caveman — 5 years ago(March 27, 2021 05:27 AM)
It makes sense purely for self interest. If an actor is a young goodlooking man, he wants to have box office appeal to young females. For example if Justin Bieber was gay, wouldn't the girls lose interest?
Frankly though even in LA, most gay men keep their sexuality to themselves. Most of us don't go to great lengths to hide it, but you don't advertise it.
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Bee — 5 years ago(March 27, 2021 05:49 AM)
Oh no, i totally agree. I get why they have to do it. I'm just saying, it's got to be harder being in the closet and living in the gay Holy land of cali than it would be to be closeted in ohio or something. But either way has to suck
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Platonic_Caveman — 5 years ago(March 27, 2021 06:03 AM)
Hollywood is very urban and "gay". But in reality, growing up in LA's suburbs it's not much different than growing up in Kansas when it comes to being gay.
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Bee — 5 years ago(March 27, 2021 07:03 AM)
I've only been to the really urban parts of LA. If you walk around west hollywood you'll feel like you're in the gay capital of the world lol. But i believe it would probably be as lame as anywhere else once you get out of those spots
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Platonic_Caveman — 5 years ago(March 27, 2021 07:12 AM)
West Hollywood itself is a trendy gay ghetto. But greater Hollywood is a larger sprawling area. I grew up in an area called South Bay. It's very white proper middle class and boring.
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ToastedCheese — 5 years ago(March 27, 2021 07:16 AM)
I get why they have to do it.
I do too, but doesn't this emphasize the complete hypocrisy of phony Hollywarped? And of all the professions in the world, acting would be one of the most fruity.
Norman! What did you put in my tea? -
ToastedCheese — 5 years ago(March 27, 2021 07:23 AM)
It's a fact that most homosexual actors are still in the closet out of PR necessity.
Yup! Yet I think it is time now for all of this to become a thing of an archaic and constructed past of projected straight "normalcy". Its just a sexuality as to which gender one likes to f<>k. There is still an undercurrent of corruption and deviancy behind it all, when hetero can be even more perverted as a sexuality too.
It is exploiting the actors and exploiting the audience to make a quick buck. Especially naïve females who wouldn't know a gay guy if he was performing a blow job on another dude right in front of her.
Norman! What did you put in my tea?