AIBU to be completely on the fence? Straight men playing 'gay' roles

[Wheresmykimchi]

Article here - www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/showbiz-news/corrie-star-hits-back-after-19618647

Russell T Davies has decided to cast only gay men in roles for an AIDS drama.

Peter Ash , who is a straight man playing a gay man in Coronation Street , disagrees.

I'm usually a dog with a bone , irritating poster on topics I feel passionately about and LGBT is one but on this I just can't decide.

I can see Russell's point given the nature of the drama , and I'm never sure I agree with people playing 'gay' , in theory

But then I look at the gay characters in soaps in recent years , Peter's character being am excellent example along with Aaron Lindsay in Emmerdale , Kate Connor and Sophie Webster in Coronation Street , and see Peters point that the whole idea is that there is no such thing as acting 'gay', they are playing people.

I'm so on the fence I've got splinters. AIBU?

David Suchet playing Lady Bracknell and a male actor (sorry to not get the name) playing Miss Trunchbull.

No problem with this? After all it’s just acting.

The problem is when the non-oppressed group gets to play the juicy roles, even when they are telling the stories of an oppressed group e.g Queer as Folk.

@MegtheShark

Unsure about this one.

Being famous or successful doesn’t stop him being from an oppressed minority, just as it wouldn’t stop a black person or a woman being oppressed.

I feel uncomfortable saying someone like Obama is an oppressed minority while a white under class school boy in the city is not oppressed.

If Obama had sexuality assaulted women, had multiple marriages, children by multiple women and been openly discriminatory there is no way he would have been president.

Trumps ethnicity enabled him to become president despite his history. There is no way a black candidate (or a female one) with that history would have ever been voted in.

I’m not entirely sure what you mean by under class, but if you take an under class boy who is white and one who is black, the child who is black is part of an oppressed minority and at a greater disadvantage to the white boy.

@SimonJT I was being flippant.

I think in this instance it’s the fact that the story they are telling is such a huge part of gay history that they are casting gay men. Which makes sense to me; I believe that a large part of the cast of The Inheritance were also gay, but this was not a choice so much as them wanting to be part of telling the story.

In general, it shouldn’t matter. They are playing the person, not their sexuality. Many gay actors are playing straight with no issues, it should go both ways. For instance, one of the lead actors in Bridgeton is gay playing straight, and I’ve not seen it remarked on anywhere. The fact that it’s just happened and nobody cares is, I think, is far more progressive than insisting on gay playing gay/straight playing straight.

@Jaypreen

Unless you're saying that gay actors don't want parity. They want special privilege? The right to play both sexualities but straight actors cannot expect to do the same? This leads to harmony and fairness for you does it?

All minority groups deserve equity.

Why stop at just sexuality top trumps though?

How many working class actors are there? How many have had top billing roles or won an Oscar? You could name a couple (same as you could name a couple of BAME or LGBT ones) but do they really have equal representation?

@MegtheShark

Why stop at just sexuality top trumps though?

How many working class actors are there? How many have had top billing roles or won an Oscar? You could name a couple (same as you could name a couple of BAME or LGBT ones) but do they really have equal representation?

There have been huge drives in the last 20 or so years to improve access to the arts for those who aren’t from wealthy families. Obviously this is more UK centric, there doesn’t seem to be as much progress in the US.

It's called acting for a reason, otherwise it'd be a documentary.

I didn't see anyone having an issue with Andrew Scott playing a straight character in Fleabag, Ian Mckellen in LOTR, Jodie Foster in Hannibal, Cynthia Nixon in SATC, etc - and for good reason - they're actors playing a role.

@georgarina

It's called acting for a reason, otherwise it'd be a documentary.

I didn't see anyone having an issue with Andrew Scott playing a straight character in Fleabag, Ian Mckellen in LOTR, Jodie Foster in Hannibal, Cynthia Nixon in SATC, etc - and for good reason - they're actors playing a role.

Sigh.

It isn’t about ability to act. Its about representation.

And do you think gay men are underrepresented in acting? Because I don't.

@Pukkatea

I don't think Russell T Davies has ever said that straight men shouldn't ever play gay roles, he just personally wants to cast more gay men in his own shows which is absolutely fine.

Seems fair

I didn't see anyone having an issue with...Ian Mckellen in LOTR

Gadalf is actually dendrosexual. In the extended director's cut he has a very steamy scene with Fangorn

@SnowflakeCulture

They are not straight anyway, even acting kissing is still kissing, if they were truly straight they wouldn't do it - so it's a non-issue!

Wtf 😂

@CalishataFolkart

David Suchet playing Lady Bracknell and a male actor (sorry to not get the name) playing Miss Trunchbull.

No problem with this? After all it’s just acting.

The problem is when the non-oppressed group gets to play the juicy roles, even when they are telling the stories of an oppressed group e.g Queer as Folk.

or John Travolta playing Edna Turnblad in Hairspray.

Dare I mention Richie Madden on this thread? I find it very wrong that there's speculation about how he lives his life outside of his job, its nobody's business and for me this is the crux of the argument. We treat performers as public property but they deserve respect and a private life the same as everyone else. RTD might want to dispense with that for his project and that's up to him and the performers involved but as a wider argument sexuality shouldn't make any difference to the viewer. Actors are selling an illusion.

wanders off to rewatch Andrew Scott as hot priest. you know the scene (fans self)

I think this is more about getting publicity than anything else. Which actually seems a bit unfair to the actors — basically if you don't want everybody saying "oh of course he's gay, he was in RTD's thing" you're stuck. It feels a bit like reducing them down to just one (protected) characteristic...

As an aside, in the original Broadway cast of RENT, there was a real mix of gay playing straight and straight playing gay.

@georgarina

It's called acting for a reason, otherwise it'd be a documentary.

I didn't see anyone having an issue with Andrew Scott playing a straight character in Fleabag, Ian Mckellen in LOTR, Jodie Foster in Hannibal, Cynthia Nixon in SATC, etc - and for good reason - they're actors playing a role.

Apart from the representation bit, as far as I can remember, there wasn't a Mrs Gandalf in the LOTR films (or books). Wizards didn't have great love stories in Tolkien's writing (I suppose the old Priests/Shamans/Ascetics/Monks thing going on there).

And Jodie Foster wasn't in Hannibal (plus Starling's sexuality wasn't relevant or even mentioned in the film, that would just be your default assumption that she would be heterosexual).

"I can't think of many gay men on a soap playing a straight man...welcome to suggestions from others."

I only watch hollyoaks but can name a couple from there.

Nathan Sussex who played Buster
Jimmy Essex who played Adam

There are probably more but they're off the top of my head.

Plus you have the obvious ones from American TV, Jim Parsons, David Hyde-Pierce, Neil Patrick Harris, John Barrowman etc..

Unattractive women. There’s a subsection that is vastly under represented on tv.
Representation comes from the programme planners - heads of drama in large broadcasting companies. Actors are very very low down in the food chain by and large.

@RonObvious

All things being equal, then yes, anyone should be able to play any role, regardless of sexuality. However, all things are not equal. Openly gay actors are rarely cast as straight male leads, so to cast straight actors for the few roles available for gay actors seems grossly unfair.

Once we start seeing gay actors being cast in straight roles, then we can start worrying about whether straight actors should be cast in gay roles.

Luke Evans?? This statement is grossly incorrect. There are plenty of gay men cast as straight actors. And vice versa.

Sexuality shouldn't make an iota of difference to casting. This is purely about acting ability. If there isn't a gay man who can act well enough for the role then what is the issue to cast a straight man? And vice versa (as per my example above).

I feel people are making issues out of things that shouldn't be made an issue out of and taking unnecessary offence.

for discovery, i meant Grey, who is trans, not the adira, who is non-binary (and makes perfect sense for the character as they are the minds/memories of many people of different sexes from the past)

Being non-binary still makes no sense for Adira in respect to her having access to past hosts memories and experiences. They were a non binary human female before they got the symbiote.
The Trill do not change sexual preference or 'gender identity' when they receive a symbiote. They have access to the symbiote's experiences, they don't become someone else.

In discovery, the whole thing feels shoehorned in to appeal to the woke youth. I doubt people around in the 29th century will give a shit about pronouns.

@Jaypreen

Its an entirely "natural argument" that's why you can't address it without employing your adolescent intersectional buzzwords.

Sorry..what do you mean?

I don't think gay parts should be reserved for gay people (no more than straight parts should be reserved for straight people).

However, because it's about AIDS, I think it's acceptable to specifically cast gay men.

@donquixotedelamancha

I think it's fine to say actually this is a story about Something that disproportionally affected gay men and so that's who I'm casting

Why?

Where is the line? If I sell fake tan can I refuse to employ people with dark skin?

What? Not comparable.

@SimonJT

Well, Anthony Cotton going for a role as Ste Hay in Hollyoaks who hates himself for being gay and is aggressive and angry - and vice versa.

@Wheresmykimchi I’m confused as to what you are replying to as there have been lots of replies. Help!