Straight actor to play first gay character in Disney film, faces backlash

[Poissonche 12,365]

1 minute ago, M Monstre said:

 

While I agree with both of you, this does bring up a question of "Okay, where do we draw the line?" Because if we're looking at this objectively, then white actors should be able to play black actors' roles, or Asians, or Latinos, etc., and we know that sometimes that's not the right thing to do—especially if the role is important or ties in cultural to a specific race.

A skin colour is not the same as a sexual orientation. You can't pretend to be black when you're white. You can't pretend to be Asian when you're Latino. The actor doesn't need visual "alteration" is not of the same sexual orientation as his character.

[Gladys622 974]

Can the zombie apocalypse come so we can all have something important to focus on??

[Yuuri 21,636]

17 minutes ago, PoshLife said:

I try to be nice and nonjudgmental buuuut what in the actual f*ck is the matter with you. This post is condescending towards an entire group of people, and reeks of hypocrisy coming from you of all people. Like in the span of one hour you went from accusing Nicki Minaj of being homophobic for using the word "sissy" in another thread, and then turned around and insulted the entire LGBT community. I'm pretty disgusted with your opinions a lot of the time, and I think you have so much learning to do about the world and about people who aren't like you. Commit today to being a much better version of yourself.

I'm sorry for my words, and I was merely referencing a video. I'll edit my comment.

[Reality 65,747]

21 minutes ago, Poissonche said:

A skin colour is not the same as a sexual orientation. You can't pretend to be black when you're white. You can't pretend to be Asian when you're Latino. The actor doesn't need visual "alteration" is not of the same sexual orientation as his character.

And I completely agree with that, but the constant hypocrisy and double standard is just so confusing to me. What about the Scarlett Johannson case where people got mad at her for wanting to play a transgender man? Now, I could be wrong but from what I've heard, the story is about a woman that wanted to transition, but never got to—once again I could be wrong about that. So, if that's the case, why does that make sense to have a transgender actor if that character never transitioned? Scarlett's not transgender and is clearly a woman, but that received backlash too.

Talking about race specifically, I don't know, I just find it all really hypocritical. Once again, I agree with you, but in that case the whole "As long as an actor is good, it doesn't matter" argument is invalid. In that case, just be straight up and say, "You can have a straight actor play a gay character, but not have a white character play a person of color." It just annoys me when people pick and choose what to argue/what to defend without acknowledging that there is, to a degree, hypocrisy in that very argument. 

[River 91,091]

It's just another Dwayne movie in the jungle, it's like the 4th-5th time.. move on..

[PoshLife 16,842]

10 minutes ago, Sharyu said:

I'm sorry for my words, and I was merely referencing a video. I'll edit my comment.

If you were referencing something I wasn't aware of, that's fine, but I just want to make it clear why what you said was problematic (in my opinion - obviously I recognize we don't all agree on everything). So many gay people have risked a lot to advance the cause of equality. I know people personally who have spent nights in jail, who've chained themselves to the fence of the White House, who outted themselves on national TV and got dishonorably discharged from their military service... like, a lot of people have fought really, really hard for equal rights. And some of the big-ticket items like gay marriage and employment discrimination are "no-brainers" that we all support, while some of the issues may seem trivial, like making sure more gay people are cast in roles depicting their own community. It's not just "gay people wanting more," it's recognizing that inequality is pervasive in every aspect of our lives and we want to chip away at it wherever it is, even if it may seem trivial to some people. And, there are a lot of anti-gay people who try to reframe equal rights as "gay people trying to get special treatment," and what you said sort of feeds into that destructive narrative.

I'm sorry if I came off as super heated in my previous post, but I just didn't expect to see that kind of comment on GGD so I was very surprised and had a knee-jerk reaction. I should have written a post like this one rather than the one I wrote in the moment.

[Poissonche 12,365]

1 minute ago, PoshLife said:

Do you really hold the profession of acting above all other things, such as achieving fair representation of minority groups in popular culture? Like, why does the definition of "acting" matter more than that to you?

It's because I'm tired of people being angry at this issue only when it's with gay roles, trans roles, etc. I explained it in another thread a while ago: the real issue is that openly LGBT people have more difficulty to have acting jobs in Hollywood, especially when it comes to main characters. So cast them... but not only in LGBT roles! I want to see, I don't know, Batman played by a trans actor, Esmeralda played by a lesbian actress, you see? Nobody talks about that. This low representation of LGBT groups in Hollywood is only pointed out with LGBT characters. I don't want LGBT actors to be stuck in playing LGBT characters, and I don't want cis straight actors to be stuck in playing cis straight characters. I don't want actors to be cast for their sexual orientation: I want them to be cast for their ability to play the character.

[QueenGermanotta 252]

29 minutes ago, PoshLife said:

oh hell no, if this is how Disney's gonna do gay they can stay away

I try to be nice and nonjudgmental buuuut what in the actual f*ck is the matter with you. This post is condescending towards an entire group of people, and reeks of hypocrisy coming from you of all people. Like in the span of one hour you went from accusing Nicki Minaj of being homophobic for using the word "sissy" in another thread, and then turned around and insulted the entire LGBT community. I'm pretty disgusted with your opinions a lot of the time, and I think you have so much learning to do about the world and about people who aren't like you. Commit today to being a much better version of yourself.

I am not sure if you will understand how I mean this : Your point of view is very american.

Just to make it clear, I dont mean to offend you here.

 

In another situation this problem would be a symbol of unfair treatment towards LGBTQ, but it just did not reach the requirements Which is good.

[Emigrante 9,323]

I.D.I.O.T.S.

Actor is an actor. Jesus fvcking Christ. Take a chill pill.

[Madam Margolyes 7,783]

45 minutes ago, Scathach said:

But where do openly gay actors play straights. Ask yourself.

NPH in Gone Girl?

[Regina George 59,387]

Let the actors do their ****ing job people! They are acotrs for God’s sake! They act! 

[witchcocktor 1,438]

I don't care about this much, it's not like they are going to focus on the character's sexuality, it's a Disney movie for gods sake. 

But, as a viewer, I'm usually very uncomfortable seeing gay actors do straight roles and straight actors doing gay roles. It's a mental block, of sorts, lol.

[Ikvs 2,576]

I'll accept it only if he becomes a hunty.

[Eggsy 8,280]

Jesus another sensitive in the basket. 

[gstring 1,775]