Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

xchrom

(108,903 posts)
Fri Dec 28, 2012, 07:25 AM Dec 2012

Why Do I Still Feel Uncomfortable Playing a Gay Man on TV?

Last edited Fri Dec 28, 2012, 02:56 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2012/12/why-do-i-still-feel-uncomfortable-playing-a-gay-man-on-tv/266657/




The effect of multiple strangers asking you to take off your clothes is uncomfortably intimate—like walking around a doctor's office with a glass of your own urine.

That's what I'm thinking when, for the third time in a day, a woman asks me: "So, you are comfortable taking your shirt off?"

I nod and hand her a headshot.

The script she gives me in exchange is for an AIDS awareness advertisement for Logo, Viacom's gay-targeted network. It has two lines: 1. "Did you hear that? We have chemistry!" and 2. "When were you last tested?"
4 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Why Do I Still Feel Uncomfortable Playing a Gay Man on TV? (Original Post) xchrom Dec 2012 OP
I don't think that is the right link.... Sentath Dec 2012 #1
Lol! You're right. I opened somebody elses link in the group xchrom Dec 2012 #2
Because despite the lies actors are told, there is prejudice closeupready Dec 2012 #3
The Project Implicit tests at the secondary link were fun dickthegrouch Dec 2012 #4

xchrom

(108,903 posts)
2. Lol! You're right. I opened somebody elses link in the group
Fri Dec 28, 2012, 02:24 PM
Dec 2012

And didn't close it before posting.

 

closeupready

(29,503 posts)
3. Because despite the lies actors are told, there is prejudice
Fri Dec 28, 2012, 03:15 PM
Dec 2012

still. Even if you are straight, and playing gay for a role only/for pay.

>>I ask my theatrical agent if there is any industry stigma about doing a gay role. "No," he says, "not since Will and Grace in the '90s."

I call my commercial agent to ask him the same question. "No," he says. "Ikea was doing ads with gay couples in the '90s. Will and Grace really changed things." "But you had to ask me two times if I was comfortable," I protest. "We would do that on any spot where you have to kiss," he tells me.

Gigi Nicolas, the director of on-air promotions at Logo, tells me that at least I was not alone in my discomfort. "We had to do a second round of casting," she says. "Far fewer people auditioned than I expected. Most of my top choices just didn't show up."<<

Have to ask myself, are actors really that dumb? Surely not most, but I guess if you need the money, you'll do it, even if you know it will probably hurt your career.

As I said in another thread recently, most young people strive to present a 'perfect' image so as to advance as far as possible in their careers. One of the cardinal rules about being 'perfect' is to - as much as possible - be 100% straight, with not a single solitary drop of gayness in your entire body. Later, when you've made your money or your career is at a nadir, you can do a gay role to be 'controversial' and for the publicity value. But you wouldn't do it if your career was ascendant.

I can't say that I blame anyone for that, but just recognizing the reality of matters which it appears agents are unwilling to do (or the two or three unnamed ones mentioned in the article).

dickthegrouch

(3,151 posts)
4. The Project Implicit tests at the secondary link were fun
Fri Dec 28, 2012, 05:52 PM
Dec 2012

Designed to gauge affiliations and prejudices, known or unknown to you, on a variety of subjects.

Latest Discussions»Alliance Forums»LGBT»Why Do I Still Feel Uncom...