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Celeb News: Stonewall director: We needed a white "straight-acting" hero
Member Since: 2/4/2014
Posts: 8,486
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Stonewall director: We needed a white "straight-acting" hero
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The trailer depicts the film’s handsome white protagonist, Danny Winters (Jeremy Irvine), arriving in the West Village on a bus from his Indiana hometown, meeting a colorful gang of queer street femmes and tossing the first brick to incite the Stonewall riots, which would inspire the first Gay Liberation March a year later in New York City. Critics online quickly took issue. From the looks of things, said naysayers, Danny — a fictional character inserted into a historical event of monumental significance to the LGBT community — was being painted as Stonewall’s hero, rather than the real-life trans women, butch ****s, and drag queens of color many argue were at the forefront of the turmoil that hot summer night.
But Emmerich wasn’t caught completely off guard by the negative reactions. “Some people warned me,” he said, referring to the waves of angry takes under which he’s since found himself. “But I said, ‘Well, you know, so be it.’”
The trailer doesn’t mischaracterize Emmerich’s film: Danny is the centerpiece of Stonewall, a decision Emmerich made, in part, in an effort to attract a wider audience who could connect with him. “You have to understand one thing: I didn’t make this movie only for gay people, I made it also for straight people,” he said. “I kind of found out, in the testing process, that actually, for straight people, [Danny] is a very easy in. Danny’s very straight-acting. He gets mistreated because of that. [Straight audiences] can feel for him.”
Emmerich, who has previously directed blockbuster features like Independence Day, Godzilla, and The Day After Tomorrow, said he wanted to educate young people about the riots. He felt the best approach would be a personal one. “When do we see a personal film from you?” Emmerich said his friends kept asking him before he took on the Stonewall project. It’s partly because of the personal element imbued in the film, Emmerich said, that has led to some of the protests surrounding his approach. “As a director you have to put yourself in your movies, and I’m white and gay,” he said.
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http://www.buzzfeed.com/shannonkeati...ll-controversy
So basically he and other mainstream audiences cannot identify with a non-white character. So much for "I see no color."
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Member Since: 9/16/2011
Posts: 50,981
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The way I legit burst out in laughter at that title. What an insult to our entire community.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 3,156
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 11/4/2010
Posts: 26,597
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the GP prefers a straight acting-white male? what a shocker 
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 12/7/2011
Posts: 27,655
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He's such an idiot. 
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Member Since: 9/3/2011
Posts: 14,867
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Quote:
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“I kind of found out, in the testing process, that actually, for straight people, [Danny] is a very easy in. Danny’s very straight-acting. He gets mistreated because of that. [Straight audiences] can feel for him.”
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Defeats the object entirely and patronises straight people tf tbh.
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Member Since: 8/18/2013
Posts: 15,732
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It sucks but it's the way it is.
The most people rather want to see white, heterosexual men on the screen.
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Member Since: 8/7/2015
Posts: 2,283
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not masc4masc materialising IRL 
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Member Since: 2/4/2014
Posts: 8,486
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Quote:
Originally posted by Joaquin
the GP prefers a straight acting-white male? what a shocker |
Must be why that gay bar tour was so effective for Nick Jonas even with his so-so looks. 
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Member Since: 4/4/2014
Posts: 10,514
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Quote:
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“You have to understand one thing: I didn’t make this movie only for gay people, I made it also for straight people,” he said. “I kind of found out, in the testing process, that actually, for straight people, [Danny] is a very easy in. Danny’s very straight-acting. He gets mistreated because of that. [Straight audiences] can feel for him.”
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I'm glad he flopped. I hope it's remade at some point by a director who cares.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 5,723
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Disgusting. No wonder this flopped.
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Member Since: 8/7/2015
Posts: 681
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God he is so indignant. Such trash; can't see how what he did was wrong. Well guess what, the heteros weren't here for this **** to begin with, and he totally isolated the audience that would have supported this type of film.
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 11/4/2010
Posts: 26,597
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Quote:
Originally posted by Priyanka Chopra
Must be why that gay bar tour was so effective for Nick Jonas even with his so-so looks. |
it's not my fault that gay guys prefer masculine guys
masc4masc
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 8,579
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The race comment is cringeworthy. Truly, cringeworthy. Unless race TRULY matters to who the character is (for example, Exodus should NOT have cast white British people as Egyptians ), you should just give it to whoever gave the best addition. White/latino/black/Asian/etc. Race literally should not have factored into his casting AT ALL from what I hear about the character
As for wanting a film centering around a gay guy... fair enough, but don't exclude others. So either pick a different event or make your own movie. As for "straight acting".... I get you don't want to write a campy stereotype, but you don't need to go out of your way to "un-gay" a character or whatever. I mean, honestly, is it that hard to write a character with their OWN PERSONALITY (meaning he'll probably have "gay" and "straight" characteristics) who happens to be gay and have the experiences of a gay person?
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Member Since: 6/9/2012
Posts: 3,964
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Being historically accurate isn't making a movie just for gay people, it's being a historically accurate historical film. This director's ******** excuses are a headache
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Member Since: 2/2/2014
Posts: 6,765
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Quote:
Originally posted by Brunette Ambition
It sucks but it's the way it is.
The most people rather want to see white, heterosexual men on the screen. |
Except that's not true at all for black, asian, hispanic and any non-racist person.
People are used to what they see. White heterosexual male sells because they don't give any other race/gender/sexuality the opportunity to. Straight/white/male privilege at its finest.
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 23,375
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Well look how well having a straight acting white male lead worked out for you 
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 11/4/2010
Posts: 26,597
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Quote:
Originally posted by Grumpy Gills
Well look how well having a straight acting white male lead worked out for you |
mte
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Member Since: 3/15/2013
Posts: 21,846
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Straight people were never going to be interested in the film to begin with, so he completely alienated and ruined the movie for the audience that actually could've supported it What an idiot.
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Member Since: 4/4/2014
Posts: 10,514
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Quote:
Originally posted by Repo
The race comment is cringeworthy. Truly, cringeworthy. Unless race TRULY matters to who the character is (for example, Exodus should NOT have cast white British people as Egyptians ), you should just give it to whoever gave the best addition. White/latino/black/Asian/etc. Race literally should not have factored into his casting AT ALL from what I hear about the character |
It does. It's widely cited and agreed that drag queens and trans women of color were the instigators of the Stonewall riots. White cisgender males were not the primary people involved, yet the film is based on one (and a fictional one, at that).
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