|
Poll: Better Role Model for Gay Teens: Adam Lambert or Frank Ocean
View Poll Results: Better Role Model for Gay Teens? Adam Lambert or Frank Ocean
|
Frank Ocean
|
|
70 |
73.68% |
Adam Lambert
|
|
25 |
26.32% |
Member Since: 8/6/2012
Posts: 20,242
|
And what i find interesting is how GLAAD is quick to point out homophobia but not speak out against internalized homophobia. Is GLAAD really here for the gays? that can be up for debate and even if they were we need to take a stand and break this cycle.
|
|
|
Member Since: 10/12/2010
Posts: 9,881
|
Xtina
|
|
|
Member Since: 4/13/2011
Posts: 8,569
|
Quote:
Originally posted by Kworb
But that's nothing new, pop stars have been simulating sex acts on stage for decades. But two males can't do it because that's perpetuating a stereotype? Nonsense. You can't judge things differently because of the type of sexuality involved. That's what bigots do.
|
It may not be "new" but that doesn't make it any better. Who does that? Not even Rihanna simulates actual sex on televised performances. She is sexual in her nature, but not actually that vulgar.
Attention seeking mess tbh. Not role model behavior (not that he has any duty to be, but that's what the thread is about).
|
|
|
Member Since: 8/6/2012
Posts: 20,242
|
It's not new but how many of those did it on an all ages televised event that wasn't even cable?.
I think if anyone else did this they would get in trouble too and since this is the internet age more knew about it.
|
|
|
Member Since: 6/15/2012
Posts: 4,586
|
|
|
|
Member Since: 12/15/2011
Posts: 13,205
|
Adam, there's something fishy about Frank, don't know what's, and he didn't even admit that he was gay, he's claiming to be bisexual because it's the trend right now.
Adam seems a very honest man, it's like this's me, like me or leave me, yes he overacts sometimes but he means well.
|
|
|
Member Since: 9/22/2011
Posts: 9,178
|
It depends, both offer something different.
Beyond his letter, Frank has hardly discussed or entertained questions on his sexuality. Avoiding cynical interpretations, he shows a more fluid side of male sexuality that has largely been absent in media representations of men who sleep with men. Frank defies stereotypes and labels, and the fact he operates in the realm of R&B/hip hop, largely thought to be particularly unfriendly to gay men says a lot about the time we live in.
Adam Lambert on the other hand, plays it pretty straight with his embrace of flamboyant gay archetype(s) in media. But that's not to say he's a walking caricature of a homosexual man. While some like to use Frank as a sort of, "see, we're not all flaming queens, we can be normal just like you"-arguments, Adam doesn't care what the straight world wants gay people to act like. His image and presentation are uncompromising in the face of a world that still refuses to take effeminate or flamboyant men seriously.
|
|
|
Member Since: 10/30/2011
Posts: 10,415
|
I like all of the thoughtful posts so far
But not the poll results
|
|
|
Member Since: 6/8/2008
Posts: 24,791
|
Quote:
Originally posted by Arking
It depends, both offer something different.
Beyond his letter, Frank has hardly discussed or entertained questions on his sexuality.
|
He actually has:
Quote:
GQ: You're talking about the relationship you wrote about on your Tumblr page—the one that you likened to "being thrown from a cliff" when you were 19. How did that change your songwriting?
Frank Ocean: It became effortless. Like breathing. Because now I have something I really need to say. It was Mind****.net. It was a floodgate. It opened up the works.
GQ: Let's talk about your open letter on Tumblr. Posting that must've felt like the hardest way.
Frank Ocean: Yes, absolutely.
GQ: So why did you do it? Were some people raising questions about the male pronouns in a few of the songs?
Frank Ocean: I had Skyped into a listening session that Def Jam was hosting for Channel Orange, and one of the journalists, very harmlessly—quotation gestures in the air, "very harmlessly"—wrote a piece and mentioned that. I was just like, "**** it. Talk about it, don't talk about it—talk about this." No more mystery. Through with that.
GQ: You'd written the letter back in December, for inclusion in the liner notes. Were you afraid of the aftermath when you finally posted it in July?
Frank Ocean: The night I posted it, I cried like a ****ing baby. It was like all the frequency just clicked to a change in my head. All the receptors were now receiving a different signal, and I was happy. I hadn't been happy in so long. I've been sad again since, but it's a totally different take on sad. There's just some magic in truth and honesty and openness.
GQ: Exactly how did your perspective change?
Frank Ocean: Whatever I said in that letter, before I posted it, seemed so huge. But when you come out the other side, now your brain—instead of receiving fear—sees "Oh, **** happened and nothing happened." Brain says, "Self, I'm fine." I look around, and I'm touching my ****ing limbs, and I'm good. Before anybody called me and said congratulations or anything nice, it had already changed. It wasn't from outside. It was completely in here, in my head.
GQ: Did you worry it would derail your career?
Frank Ocean: I had those fears. In black music, we've got so many leaps and bounds to make with acceptance and tolerance in regard to that issue. It reflects something just ingrained, you know. When I was growing up, there was nobody in my family—not even my mother—who I could look to and be like, "I know you've never said anything homophobic." So, you know, you worry about people in the business who you've heard talk that way. Some of my heroes coming up talk recklessly like that. It's tempting to give those views and words—that ignorance—more attention than they deserve. Very tempting.
Some people said, "He's saying he fell in love with a guy for hype." As if that's the best hype you can get in hip-hop or black music. So I knew that if I was going to say what I said, it had to be in concert with one of the most brilliant pieces of art that has come out in my generation. And that's what I did. Why can I say that? Why I don't have to affect all this humility and **** is because I worked my ass off. I worked my face off. And the part that you love the most is the easiest part for me. So I'll do it again.
GQ: I'm sure if you'd wanted an excuse not to reveal the relationship, you could have found ten people in the industry who would have said, "Wait."
Frank Ocean: The pitch is, "You'll encounter less resistance in life if you say, 'No, I'm going to just keep dating girls.' " But then you're minimizing the resistance that you're feeling from yourself on the inside. There's so much upkeep on that ****. So much upkeep on a lie. But at least everybody else is cool with how you carry on with your life. That's what they say. But know what fear does to your strength. You don't even feel smart or capable. You just feel broken—and not just your heart. Just a broken person.
GQ: So do you consider yourself bisexual?
Frank Ocean: You can move to the next question. I'll respectfully say that life is dynamic and comes along with dynamic experiences, and the same sentiment that I have towards genres of music, I have towards a lot of labels and boxes and ****. I'm in this business to be creative—I'll even diminish it and say to be a content provider. One of the pieces of content that I'm for **** sure not giving is **** videos. I'm not a centerfold. I'm not trying to sell you sex. People should pay attention to that in the letter: I didn't need to label it for it to have impact. Because people realize everything that I say is so relatable, because when you're talking about romantic love, both sides in all scenarios feel the same ****. As a writer, as a creator, I'm giving you my experiences. But just take what I give you. You ain't got to pry beyond that. I'm giving you what I feel like you can feel. The other ****, you can't feel. You can't feel a box. You can't feel a label. Don't get caught up in that ****. There's so much something in life. Don't get caught up in the nothing. That **** is nothing, you know? It's nothing. Vanish the fear.
|
http://www.gq.com/entertainment/musi...#ixzz2REoTVq5g
Quote:
"I won't touch on risky, because that's subjective," he says. "People are just afraid of things too much. Afraid of things that don't necessarily merit fear. Me putting Nostalgia out … what's physically going to happen? Me saying what I said on my Tumblr last week? Sure, evil exists, extremism exists. Somebody could commit a hate crime and hurt me. But they could do the same just because I'm black. They could do the same just because I'm American. Do you just not go outside your house? Do you not drive your car because of the statistics? How else are you limiting your life for fear?"
Though he thinks of himself as existing outside of conventional music genres – and the broad ambition of new album Channel Orange touches on everything from Marvin Gaye to Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix – Ocean's roots are in R&B and hip-hop, neither of which are known for their nurturing attitude towards the rainbow flag. Which makes what he just did seem remarkably courageous. "I don't know," he demurs, looking down. "A lot of people have said that since that news came out. I suppose a percentage of that act was because of altruism; because I was thinking of how I wished at 13 or 14 there was somebody I looked up to who would have said something like that, who would have been transparent in that way. But there's another side of it that's just about my own sanity and my ability to feel like I'm living a life where I'm not just successful on paper, but sure that I'm happy when I wake up in the morning, and not with this freakin' boulder on my chest."
Ocean didn't come out spontaneously, though. He wrote his letter in December 2011, to include in the sleevenotes for Channel Orange, pre-empting any potential speculation that might arise from some of its songs obviously addressing men. "I knew that I was writing in a way that people would ask questions," he explains. "I knew that my star was rising, and I knew that if I waited I would always have somebody that I respected be able to encourage me to wait longer, to not say it till who knows when." He's not one for playing the game, clearly. "It was important for me to know that when I go out on the road and I do these things, that I'm looking at people who are applauding because of an appreciation for me," he says. "I don't have many secrets, so if you know that, and you're still applauding … it may be some sort of sick validation but it was important to me. When I heard people talking about certain, you know, 'pronouns' in the writing of the record, I just wanted to – like I said on the post – offer some clarity; clarify, before the fire got too wild and the conversation became too unfocused and murky."
Later that evening, when he performs to a near-hysterical crowd, a line like "You're so buff and so strong, I'm nervous … You run my mind, boy" sounds astonishingly subversive, hammering home how rarely we hear overtly same-sex songs, no matter what the genre. Asked why he didn't fall back on the generic "you", he shrugs: "When you write a song like Forrest Gump, the subject can't be androgynous. It requires an unnecessary amount of effort. I don't fear anybody … " He laughs, making eye contact at last, his face lighting up, " … at all. So, to answer your question, yes, I could have easily changed the words. But for what? I just feel like it's just another time now. I have no interest in contributing to that, especially with my art. It's the one thing that I know will outlive me and outlive my feelings. It will outlive my depressive seasons."
|
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012...sive-interview
|
|
|
Member Since: 9/9/2012
Posts: 3,674
|
Frank. I dislike Adam Lambert a lot.
|
|
|
|
|