[LGBT+] 🌈 👩‍❤️‍👩 👨‍❤️‍👨 Who should play homosexual roles?

Is it okay for straight people to play homosexual characters? Should homosexual people play heterosexual roles? These two questions seem like a lot to handle, but in recent years, they have become problems for film producers, performers, and even the audience.

In 2020, gay director Ryan Murphy directed The Prom and invited a group of movie stars. Among them, the gay character Barry, played by James Corden, remains an oddly dressed, swaggering, and offensive stereotypical figure. As a result, many people blame the casting: it is inappropriate for a straight guy to play a homosexual role.

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The Prom (2020)

I think that is unfair to attribute the failure of screen characters to actors' and actresses’sexual orientation , to deny the value of performing, and it also offends the other filmmakers on the production team. Bad heterosexual characters are related to actors and actresses (or even writers), not their sexual orientation.

Could heterosexual people play homosexual roles?

Not a problem at all!

In the case of the population proportion, homosexual performers must be fewer than heterosexual performers. Therefore, I don't think there is anything "incorrect" about heterosexual people playing homosexual roles. Strictly speaking, it may be a matter of demographics. A great number of examples have proved that heterosexual people are fully qualified to play homosexual roles:

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Brokeback Mountain (2005)

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A Single Man (2009)

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Ammonite (2020)

  • It also reminds me of another Cate… Ms. Blanchett and Rooney Mara, who was fascinated by her, have given Carol a place in film history forever.
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Carol (2015)

In addition to the big screens, there are many examples of small screen actors who SLAYED.

Should homosexual people play homosexual roles?

Very reasonable!

There is nothing wrong with straight people playing homosexual roles. But, in an environment where homosexual people are still disadvantaged, while homosexual characters are fewer than heterosexual characters, more and more people have come to realize that there is still a heterosexual hegemonic logic behind it.

In recent years, many filmmakers refused to obey this hegemonic logic. On the one hand, it is the producers' attitude. They are arranging homosexual roles for homosexual performers.

In 2020, Netflix produced the film version of The Boys in the Band, which is a remake of a stage play. All actors in the film are openly gay actors, including Jim Parsons and Zachary Quinto.

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The Boys in the Band (2020)

Written by Russell T. Davies, It's a Sin was released in 2021. The TV show is about the history of queers fighting against HIV and gender discrimination in the 1980s. All performers in the show are homosexual.

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It's a Sin (2021)

In 2021, No Time to Die was released. Gay actor Ben Whishaw played the character Q. It is not the first homosexual character in the 007 series, but it is the only non-villain homosexual character that has been seriously described.

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No Time to Die (2021)

On the other hand, we have to take into account the performers’ attitude. They hope to express their support for gender minorities through their own choices.

The heterosexual actress Julianne Moore played a lesbian mother in The Kids Are All Right (2010) and was nominated for best actress at many film festivals. However, she was not sure she would play a lesbian today, preferring to see an LGBTQ cast instead.

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The Kids Are All Right (2021)

The heterosexual actress Scarlett Johansson was confronted with a casting debate. She originally planned to play a transgender (FTM) role, but she hesitated due to the voice of LGBT+. In the end, she decided to quit the cast and expressed her hope that the role should be played by a transgender performer.

With the restart news of Prison Break, Wentworth Miller, a gay actor, said that he would not return to the cast because "I just don't want to play straight characters." Tough attitude, but it's just what the disadvantaged community needs.

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Prison Break (TV Series)

By this logic

Could homosexual performers play heterosexual roles?

If the performer’s gender orientation and the role's gender orientation must be consistent, could homosexual performers play heterosexual roles?

Neil Patrick Harris, a gay actor who played a straight man in How I Met Your Mother, believes that the fun of performing is to explore roles that are completely different from his own. If he gets to choose, the most important thing is fitting the role.

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How I Met Your Mother (TV Series)

Bisexual actress Kristen Stewart says that although she has been thinking about this problem, she does not want to go to extremes and bring this problem really into a "gray zone".

We don't mind seeing women throwing some punches or men wearing dresses on the screens. However, films have the responsibility to let the audiences know that these images are just for the plots, and do not represent real queer people.

More important, queer characters on screen should be as dimensional as straight characters, rather than being perfunctory with stereotypes. If you think about it, this is actually what the audience expects from every character. Who will care about the gender of the performer when the character becomes a classic?

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