Piping hot take: I don’t give a shit if straight actors play queer characters as long as they do so with empathy and authenticity. When you say shit like “only queer actors should play queer characters” what you’re actually saying is only OUT queer actors should play queer characters. If you’re assuming an actor (or anyone else, for that matter) who hasn’t declared their sexuality is straight, you are participating in heteronormativity.
you’re also saying that you, as an audience member, are entitled to private and intimate details of actors’ personal lives, fwiw.
if you ever read any interview with Tim Curry, he’s always very clear about finding this absurd. we all pretty much assume Tim Curry is queer, but we’ll never know, because he has absolutely point-blank refused to discuss his dating life with the public or the media, because it’s nobody’s business but his (and anyone he’s dating ofc).
it’s also like–
some of you younger folk really need to go watch the documentary on Paul Reubens. “Peewee as Himself.” Like, the context might help a little? for why so many of us who grew up before Obergefell et al really, really, really fucking hate this narrative where the public has a right to every single facet and detail of an actor’s life? especially a queer actor?
actors, musicians, comedians, entertainers, etc., don’t owe their audiences jack fucking shit about their personal lives. we can all get over that absurd entitlement any time.
I was just talking with my partner about this a few weeks ago.
Lee Pace is similarly an incredibly private man. For a long time we the public knew absolutely nothing about his dating life or anything about his family outside of little bits and pieces he shared, and even that was deliberately as vague as possible.
He played a trans woman in Soldier’s Girl. It’s based on a true story, and he actually met with the trans woman his character is based on. During the interview, he said something to the effect of having several stark realizations about himself after working with her and learning her story and her journey and her life.
I make the joke that anyone transgender heard the distinct sound of an egg cracking during that interview. And yet, Pace did not come out. Not until he was forced to, years later.
As, simply, “queer”.
We now know he is married to a man. We know he identifies as queer, mostly because he was forced to by an interviewer who has a reputation for forcing very private celebrities to come out or risk losing status. We know he has dated men and women. By his own admission that playing Calpernia gave him very strong gender feelings and he saw a lot of himself both in the fictionalized character he played and in the real woman whose presence he was wow’d by.
Lee Pace might be a trans woman who has found it better to boymode for the sake of an acting career. Lee Pace might be a trans woman who avidly does not want to invite a spotlight into that part of his life- and who could blame him? Lee Pace might be an egg who has just barely started to crack, peeked out from beyond the shell and is not yet comfortable leaving the closet. Or Pace might be nonbinary, genderqueer, gay-as-gender, or… simply a cis gay man who feels it is nunya and enjoys being a little fruity and feminine in his spare time.
I don’t claim to know the inner workings of Pace’s mind, sexuality, or gender. But I do think that it would be wrong to force Pace to share what he clearly is not comfortable sharing for the entire world to see.
When it comes to celebrities who are respectful and also private, I don’t think it is a bad thing if what we as fans know about them doesn’t quite match up with the demographic they’re playing. Sometimes, there’s a reason they found a piece of themselves in the role. And especially when it has the blessing of the real life person that role is based on (such as in the case of Calpernia) or of the real life LGBT people working with that celeb every day - maybe the people directly involved with this know more about this person than we do watching from the other side of the screen.
a lot of my autism masking is just making myself more palatable for other people and my therapist said “does spock make himself ‘more palatable’ for others?” and had me promise to keep unmasking like:
Shaggy Rogers is a young adult human man that eats dog treats and his friends don’t even care. They act like it’s normal. Not only do they know he loves eating dog treats, but they know he’ll do scary dangerous shit just to eat dog treats, and they use that to their advantage. “Oh you don’t wanna get asbestos poisoning in the scary abandoned building? What if we fed you a dog treat?” And he says yes and he does it and eats it and they act like that’s a normal thing for a human guy to do. But then again, he also eats 10 feet tall sandwiches in one bite, so maybe he’s not even human. Still fucked up that they manipulate him like that though. But whatever. Forget I said anything.
if i wasn’t supposed to eat the dog cookies, then why did the dog cookies taste better than the people cookies i bought so i would stop eating the dog cookies???
Everyone’s all “ohhh 2026 bring back physical media” until I start talking illuminated manuscripts and then suddenly we’re not on the same page anymore
Please don’t fall victim to internet misinformation. There is no floating head. It’s a regular horse, it’s neck is just hidden due to the position of the camera. I made an image to help you understand the what’s actually going on.
perish the thought, dude. *playfully pushes you by the shoulder* haha, like, cease these peculiarities. *becomes extremely violent and starts hitting you with heavy fists without provocation* disabuse that fucking notion
i think we need to bring back calling people internet famous instead of calling them influencers like there needs to be something borderline derogatory injected back into it
