You may have been reading these past few weeks about that article in “Newsweek” by Ramin Setoodeh entitled “Straight Jacket”. It about how he believes gay actors cannot convincingly play straight. He uses Sean Hays - whom you probably all know best as Jack from the TV show “Will and Grace”, and who is currently staring in the Broadway revival of “Promises Promises” - as his shining example. Setoodeh stated that Hays’ portrayal of a heterosexual man in the musical isn’t believable. Hayes is just too gay.
Oh dear. That is awfully tricky stuff to be printed in a national news magazine. A lot of other people thought so too and a firestorm of responses quickly erupted.
One of the more prominent online responses came from Hayes’ co-star in the show - the amazing and genius (my humble opinion) - Christen Chenoweth. Chenoweth wrote a poignant and eloquent letter to “Newsweek” in defense of Hayes and all the other out gay men who are working, as actors. Along with support for Hays’ performance she also states that Setoodeh’s article is homophobic.
Oh dear again. This kind of statement is prime fuel for that firestorm, and indeed the storm did grow.
I read both the “Newsweek” article and Chenoweth’s response, and as a gay man as well as someone who works in this business they call show, I was cheering for Chenoweth. I agreed with her thoughts on how difficult it is to be an out gay man, or woman for that matter, and be a successful, working actor or performer. There is just no precedent right now for accepting gay actors as “actors” as opposed to just “gay”. Neil Patrick Harris maybe.
The final piece of this crazy puzzle for me, however, was a response to both of these pieces written by screenwriter, producer and playwright, Aaron Sorkin for The Huffington Post. He supports Chenoweth’s statements but also cuts Setoodeh some slack. Sorkin’s main point, though, was that America, and the media in particular, have just gone crazy in terms of that we are calling “news”. Due to the fact that we have such easy access to information these days, we are demanding something new every time we turn on our computers. In order to meet that demand, the media is then “reporting” on more and more outrageous stories. Sorkin, in his article, makes a point for us – the news consumers – to stop demanding such trash from the media. Every time we click on Perez Hilton or turn the channel to Extra, we are saying, “Give us more gossip and negativity!”
Reading Sorkin’s article made an impact on me and made me realize that I was just as much to blame for all the gossipy reporting out there as those actually putting fingers to keyboards. I click on Perez every day, and often devour the gossip for an hour or more. It’s a form of entertainment. But I forget, as do we all, that each story is actually someone’s life.
I have decided that I am going to quit Perez Hilton ( I am only using this site as an example, there are many other gossip sites out there as well. Perez just has the distinction as being the most well known). I am removing the site from my bookmarks and will instead click on the real news, or just not click at all. I may be only one of millions getting their daily gossip fix, but if I let myself believe that my one voice doesn’t count at all, then I should just go ahead and quit now. So my friends, think about the bigger picture and then maybe make a change.
For the Newsweek article click here:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/236999
For the Chenoweth response click here:
For the Sorkin piece click here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-sorkin/now-that-you-mention-it-r_b_574210.html
I am often guilty of reading Perez, and I had quit reading his site before (and returned for more later--thanks, unemployment). But it is true that we are giving validation to these stories and asking for more every time we read the gossip. Kudos to you for taking a stand.
ReplyDelete