[Sca-cooks] Re: Hollywood gays (was movie night at therock)

[A F Murphy]

It is the "default assumption" problem. If nothing is specified about a
character, most casting agents and directors "see" a white, able-bodied,
straight, male. (Yes, we're still having trouble getting *Women* in many
incidental roles! And we're a *majority*! ) Now there are exceptions...
and they speak volumes. Nurses and clerical workers and teachers are
women. Drug dealers and prostitutes are most commonly Hispanic these
days, or else Black. Doctors might be Asian, but aren't of other
minorities unless specified. They might, finally, be women, but  if so,
they are still mostly pediatricians or ob/gyns...

Some people with some control are finally accepting that this is a
problem... *sigh*. So there are starting to be a few exceptions, but not
many... there are so many layers... you have to convince the agent to
submit, the casting agent to cast, the director to accept, and, for that
matter, the actor to go out for a role that experience has taught
him/her that s/he won't get... which can feel like a waste of time!

Anne

Gorgeous Muiredach wrote:

> At 12:54 PM 4/11/2002, you wrote:
>
>>     Given the high (er) percentage of gays in the entertainment field
>> and
>> the high(er) levels of creativity generally associated with them, why
>> have
>> gay relationships been presented is such lights? It's not like it's a
>> horribly taboo subject any more, yet the subject is treated as either
>> scary
>> & tragic or one of Liberace's wet dreams.
>
>
> Sieggy, good points...
>
> Along the same lines...  Why are most people with disabilities in the
> media
> are villains, or over achievers?  Why are there so few "incidental"
> characters with disabilities?  Only one I can think of is in Notting
> Hill.  Other than that, it's the villains in the bond movies, in Wild
> Wild
> West, etc...  <shrug>
>
> After all, conservative estimate show 20% of the US population having a
> disability of one form or another...  That's 1 in 5!
>
> <going back to my hiding spot now>
>
> Gorgeous Muiredach
> Rokkehealden Shire
> Middle Kingdom
> aka
> Nicolas Steenhout
> "You must deal with me as I think of myself" J. Hockenberry
>
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