Posted on 02/13/2006 9:40:35 AM PST by Lunatic Fringe
Sir Ian McKellen has said openly gay US actors are prevented from having successful Hollywood careers.
"It is very, very, very difficult for an American actor who wants a film career to be open about his sexuality," the gay British actor said.
"And even more difficult for a woman if she's lesbian. It's very distressing to me that that should be the case."
The Lord of the Rings star added: "The film industry is very old fashioned in California."
He was speaking at the Berlin Film Festival, where he received a lifetime achievement award.
There were rumors that Wayne and Grant were gay? That's too far fetched even for Ken Anger...
Rock Hudson and Richard Chamberlain had good careers, even as leading men, though it was well known they were gay.
Oh? How so?
When I first mentioned it, people around me thought I was simply overreaching and seeing things that weren't there. I later read an interview with Ian, who played Magneto in the films. He stated in the interview that the homosexual undertones of the film were intended, specifically mentioning the scene that I thought was ham-handedly obvious. Remember when the kid that can control fire goes home to his parents? The confrontation with his parents was a "coming out of the closet" scene. Remember the line from the mother, "couldn't you just quit being a mutant?" That's the tipoff line.
The director of XMen and XMen 2 is homosexual (check out the costume he okayed in the new Superman movie). The movies were written as kind of an Aesop's Fable about homosexuality. Replace the mutant powers with homosexuality, and compare the themes running through both movies:
1. They are different
2. The differences are genetic
3. They have no choice but to be who they are
4. They are actually superior to other people
5. Other people don't recognize that they're superior
6. Society at large doesn't accept them
7. Society at large will condemn them and make using their distinctive powers illegal
8. They have to go into hiding to protect themselves
9. Someday, society will accept that they're superior
10. Everyone who isn't one of them is stupid at best, dangerous at worst
All of these themes play strongly into the homosexual self-image of the superior being both blessed and cursed by the fates hunted and hounded by an unenlightened ignorant bunch of savages who do not understand them.
In the interview, he specifically mentioned the coming out scene. I thought the fact that his power was to control fire was a subtle joke (flaming faggot). The actor didn't confirm the themes I mentioned, but specifically did state that the scene I've talked about WAS a coming out of the closet scene. Once you accept that, the entire theme of the movies falls into place.
I have always thought Cary Grant was gay. Was surprised when he fathered a child (his only one) at such an advanced age.
You may be thinking of Richard I.
Haven't seen it. I liked her a LOT as Dory in Finding Nemo. I thought she was the best part of the movie. I don't care for her stand up act, and thought her other show, Ellen, was lame, even before she came out of the closet. Talk shows aren't my cup of tea. I prefer football, South Park, King of the Hill, and Smallville. I'll throw on a DVD before watching any talk show, though, until Limbaugh goes back on TV.
Ah. Yeah, I see your point. Now that I think about it, the "Can't you just quit being a mutant" jumped out at me too. Oh well, I still enjoy the LOTR movies despite "Gandalf the Pink".
By all reports, he was actually a very down to earth guy and a horn dog. Not particularly suave in real life. But one of those Brits scarred by poverty early on. He used to charge for autographs.
That's one interesting rumor.
>>>Have a friend that lives across from Flynn's estate. On quite nights you can hear the squeals of high school girls.>>>
For real!?! That is interesting and cool.
I thought his character was called Gandolph the Gray, not Gandolph the Gay! Bummer!
He usually passes out before...
>>>Brendan Fraser. A much under appreciated actor. He'll take one in the nads for a laugh and can really act. He was excellent in The Quiet American.>>>
You are correct. He doesn't get the credit he deserves. Besides, he was funny and GORGEOUS in George of the Jungle. I HAD to buy that one for my kids of course. Couldn't let them miss such a funny movie (and a tan Brendan running around in a loin cloth) hehe.
That was a pointlessly offensive and ignorant throwaway statement - especially as the modern breed of homosexuals - angry, uber-entitled homogenital supercitizens - were practically invented in San Francisco. For instance: does that complete tit skilled commentator Mark Morford hail from the UK?
There were the same rumors about Randolph Scott and Cary Grant when they were roommates, as well.
Cinema snobs downed his Bedazzled, but I thought it was a hoot.
That's Flynn's legacy. The estate is in very good condition and used by the current owner to store his classic autos. Was lucky to have been through the estate.
I'm not disputing your post, but the X-men comics created in the early 1960's had nearly all of these elements but it had nothing to do with gay subtext. Plenty of comic book readers , then and now, are in the awkward, self-conscious teenage demographic. Anything about kids who are socially "different" who end up being heroic is very appealing. For this same reason, Spider-Man is the bookish, nerdy teen who ends up the hero. This had nothing to do with "gay" at the time, and that is worth mentioning.
I agree that the "coming out" scene in the film was a deliberate choice by the director. But the other characteristics of the X-men mythos were not created with anything homosexual in mind. Many subtexts can be drawn in these stories, including the one where the admittedly gay director sees parallels between Xavier-Magneto and MLK-Malcolm X.
Marvel mutants have been a fairly obvious metaphor for black/Jewish/gay/whatever for forty years.
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