Should actors only portray their race/gender/sexuality/religion?

[HappyHighwayman]

From the PW:

I'm reading an article about how only trans actors should play trans characters in movies and TV. Does that mean only gay people can play gay people? Can only muslims play muslims and jews play jews? Should we cancel the movie Philadelphia because Tom Hanks isn't gay and doesn't have AIDS?

Or is this a special case where other characters can be played by anyone but trans can only be played by trans?

Is Whoopi Goldberg whiteface ok?

She's not Jewish and has no Jewish ancestry and chose the name. is that similar to the white lady who pretends to be black and renamed herself an African name?

To expand upon it, I don't find "whiteface" offensive, but I do find blackface offensive, because of the old "don't punch down" advise, but I feel we may be taking it too far.

Cliff Curtis is one of my favorite supporting actors in movies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Curtis

He is Māori and I've seen him play white guys, latin (he was amazing in Training Day), Muslim, etc. He has great range. Is it offensive?

 

[GAJ]

IDK, Nazis always seem to be played by British actors! :laughing

That always seemed very odd to me same for British actors playing Americans and vice versa.

 

[TylerW]

My topline view of this is (unsurprisingly) this: representation matters. There's just not that much work out there in large budget films for trans actors, and there's no reason that a trans person shouldn't have the opportunity to portray their own gender on the screen.

The representation matters because seeing someone who you can identify with, whether you are trans, or pansexual, or Filipino, instills the belief that they could someday do the same, if they wanted. NASA Astronaut Leland D Melvin directly credits seeing Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura in Star Trek as the inspiration for his career.

This topic came up recently when Halle Berry stated she wanted to portray a trans man in a film, and then almost immediately retracted the statement amidst the backlash. I do think this was a good choice, but I am also reminded of Tom Hanks in Philadephia. It was a pretty impactful story for me in my youth, being one of my first opportunities to see what homophobia looked like in the corporate world in the 90's. And for better or for worse, it seems like the actors in a film are the biggest driver of whether people see a movie or not. Not that Denzel Washington is any slouch, but would as many people have seen that film if a out gay actor played the main character? Would as many people have seen the film? I don't know.

And while that line of thinking is riddled with safe, cowardly choices, that doesn't mean they can't be meaningful.

But I know that for me I'm exhaused of living in a world where 98% of the media we consume is portrayed , written, directed and produced by white, straight, cisgender people of abrahamic faiths.

 

[HappyHighwayman]

IDK, Nazis always seem to be played by British actors! :laughing

That always seemed very odd to me same for British actors playing Americans and vice versa.

Ever notice the French and Romans are also always English?

 

[CocoLoco]

Ever notice the French and Romans are also always English?

Yes.

 

[afm199]

But I know that for me I'm exhaused of living in a world where 98% of the media we consume is portrayed , written, directed and produced by white, straight, cisgender people of abrahamic faiths.

Seriously?

 

[HappyHighwayman]

I have to assume other countries tend to cast their own race, ethnicity and religious actors more than American white ones.

 

[afm199]

Ever notice the French and Romans are also always English?

You know, when the Spaniards and Bulgars are English, it just bothers me. Can't they get Illyrians to play Bulgars? They're close.

 

[byke]

Intent is what makes up the biggest slice of the rationalist's offensive pie.

 

[Bassem]

opcorn

 

[HappyHighwayman]

I respect when white actors drop out of some roles because of the character, e.g. in Hellboy Daniel Dae Kim's character was originally cast by a white dude who dropped out out of respect, but Daniel Dae Kim is American and played a shitty British access dude. I saw the movie and the character being Asian adds or removes nothing from the character.

People seem ok with White washing to appease china (e.g. The Ancient One in Dr. Strange).

 

[Kurosaki]

Gay people have always been playing straight characters and straight people play gay characters.

Wherever this discussion is going overall, toss that one out.

 

[HappyHighwayman]

opcorn

We are being respectful and this need not turn into a circus

 

[stangmx13]

IMO all actors can play all roles only when there are no marginalized groups. Until then, society needs to try its hardest to increase the representation of the marginalized groups and to reduce roles going to a person that doesnt represent that group. I dont think all trans roles need to go to only trans people for example. But if no one even tries to find a trans person for that role, they fucked up.

 

[HappyHighwayman]

Are Jews considered marginalized? They're rich and powerful but also experience mainstream anti-semitism today (look at all the black athletes coming out in support of Farrakhan in just the last few weeks).

Do they need to be a practicing jew, a genetic jew, or a cultural Jew to play one?

 

[TylerW]

Seriously?

You know the answer to that question.

 

[TylerW]

Gay people have always been playing straight characters and straight people play gay characters.

Wherever this discussion is going overall, toss that one out.

Yeah, this came up when my partner was rewatching The L Word recently. Even in that series there were gay characters played by straight actors, straight characters played by gay actors, gay characters played by gay actors, and so on.

But it was also largely produced for a heterosexual audience, with only vague nods do queer culture and lifestyle.

 

[stangmx13]

Are Jews considered marginalized? They're rich and powerful but also experience mainstream anti-semitism today (look at all the black athletes coming out in support of Farrakhan in just the last few weeks).

Do they need to be a practicing jew, a genetic jew, or a cultural Jew to play one?

I found it pretty weird that Al Pacino played one in The Hunters and he def dropped the ball a few times with his acting. But there were plenty of actual Jewish people playing those roles in the same show. So the group was represented, independent of whether or not its marginalized.

 

[i_am_the_koi]

I'm curious as to the future of this.

My gf is in theater and there's been a lot of talk about certain plays an their character representation.

Hairspray being a prime example that the writers are requiring POC to play the roles of POC regardless of location. So somewhere that is primarily white with limited POC that are into acting, available to perform, and skilled enough to do so, have to make sure they can fill the roles before putting on the performance.

But as the OP was about Trans people, and there is a large contingent of non-straight actors, how does the role reverse work? Can a LBGQT+ actor play a straight role?

Can a POC play a role for a white person? Isn't that what is making Hamilton so popular?

I fully support equal rights, but worry about a affirmative action level detriment to performance arts if places can't perform shows based on the fact they got get actors that qualify for the role, not because of their skill but because of their color or lack there of.

 

[wazzuFreddo]

Most of what Hollywood is pumping out these days is straight up garbage anyway