Tag: Hollywood

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Desperate Housewives’ Tuc Watkins vs Modern Family’s Jesse Tyler Ferguson

Over the weekend, an “inner-tribe” debate began between Tuc Watkins (formerly of Desperate Housewives and Showtimes Beggars and Choosers) and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (of Modern Family).

In a recent Facebook post, Tuc said he found it difficult to watch Modern Family because the gay couple (played by Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet) were too stereotyped: ‘It feels a little bit like the gay equivalent of “blackface.” It doesn’t feel “modern” at all.’

Tuc went on to say, ‘I’m sure I scrutinize their characters more than the others. Maybe I can’t see the forest for the trees. But there’s probably a kid stuffed into a high school locker answering to that stereotype who doesn’t think it’s very funny either. The writers on that show are some of the funniest writers on television today. Why spend their time promulgating stereotypes that polarize us?’

Ferguson issued a rebuttal of sorts in the form of an open letter to Watkins:

Sorry you feel that way Tuc. I know lots of guys who are just like Cam and lots of guys who are just like Mitch. We can’t be expected to represent every gay person. We can only represent these two people.

Also, Mitch is basically a version of me…so I never know how to take it when people say that he is stereotypical. And in defense of Cam, I still can’t figure out how a clown & football coach who also happens to be gay is a stereotype.

When all is said and done, it’s a family sitcom. I feel our writers do a fantastic job of servicing 11 characters each week in just 22 minutes.

I am incredibly proud to play Mitch and I have a lot of pride in our show. As a closeted kid of the 80′s I would have loved to have had a show like Modern Family to watch with my parents. It would have meant a lot to me to see who I secretly was reflected on television.

TV has come a long way and it continues to forge new ground. I am thrilled with the work that you did on Desperate Housewives. It opened the door for shows like ours and hopefully we can hold that door open for many more shows to follow us. At the end of the day we can’t please everyone..and we shouldn’t try to.

Kinda just like life, right?

Take care. Jesse Tyler Ferguson.

So, today, Watkins comes back with an apology of sorts. Kinda sorta.

Dear Jesse,

I’m glad to see that a FB post can stoke a fire that burns in the LGBT community, and supporters of our community.

Many doors have opened in gay people’s fight for equality. Civil rights, marriage rights, and depictions of us individually and collectively on television. Great strides have taken us from tolerance into acceptance and towards true equality.

Stereotypes still exist. They probably always will. And while the truth is usually somewhere in the middle, stereotypes polarize us. No news there. But while an explanation of a stereotype can make good, logical sense, it still leaves the stereotype intact.

I’m glad to have played gay characters, but at the same time have been frustrated by the stereotypes I feel I’ve been party to in playing those roles. I’ve begged wardrobe designers so I wouldn’t have to wear paisley shirts, directors to reconsider a “snap” at the end of a scene, and writers to remove “Hey, gurl!” from dialogue.

I did it because when I was growing up, trying to figure out where I fit it in, I couldn’t seem to locate a role model. The stereotypes I saw made me think, “Well, I don’t identify with that so I must not be gay.”

I can appreciate that one man’s roadblock may be another man’s role model. I feel like my growth was stunted, but understand that another person’s may have been bolstered. I believe that, as a community we want to make the path easier for those who come after us. I want that. I’m certain you do to.

Some audience members can laugh through a character, but it can also distance others. We each come to the fight with our own baggage…as well as our own weaponry. “Revolutionary times call for revolutionary means.” My comments were extreme, and my use of the word “blackface” inexcusable. I regret creating dissension among the ranks, especially when we’re all in this fight together.

I see your point. I hope you’ll consider mine.

Sincerely, Tuc

What do you think readers? Does the Modern Family couple of Cam and Mitch hurt or help the LGBT community more?

(via Gay Star News)

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Mickey Rooney passes away at 93

Mickey Rooney, Hollywood legend and forever “Andy Hardy,” passed away today at the age of 93.

From USA Today:

Rooney leaves behind a colorful Hollywood legacy that spanned 80 years and more than 200 films, including Boys Town and The Black Stallion. Rooney won two honorary Oscars, the first in 1938, the second in 1982.

Rooney certainly knew how to put on a show. But of all the characters that Rooney inhabited — from Puck in the 1935 film production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to his Oscar-nominated turn as a preternaturally mature teen in 1943’s The Human Comedy — not one could compete with or begin to overshadow Rooney himself.

Laurence Olivier called Rooney “the greatest actor of them all,” yet he was the unlikeliest of stars. At 5-foot-3, Rooney was short, with pointy, elfin features and a spirited, in-your-face energy more suited to selling cars than starring in films. Yet during the Depression, when jobs were scarce and the national mood grim, audiences loved his joie de vivre and his down-home appeal.

He switched to the silver screen at age 6, playing the title character Mickey McGuire in 78 film shorts based on the old Toonerville Trolley cartoons from 1927 until 1933. In 1932, he changed his moniker to the catchier Mickey Rooney and five years later, landed the role that would define him for the rest of his career: the feisty teen-about-town Andy Hardy, with a cheeky grin, irresistible boy-next-door charm and plenty of romantic mishaps.

The 15-part movie series was such a smash that from 1939 to 1941, Rooney became the Tom Cruise of his time: the No. 1 box-office draw in the country.

Like Macaulay Culkin in the 1990s, Rooney had trouble making the transition from kid star to adult actor.

But Rooney, ever the realist, knew his time at the top would be short-lived. “I tell you, there are 150 million kids waiting to fill the reservoir,” he told USA TODAY in 1994. “I say bravo to the youngsters. I had my day at bat.”

But by the 1960s, Rooney told the London Times in 1988, “the work was very sparse indeed: there was just no demand for me.”

Well, not quite. Rooney kept right on acting, playing a horse trainer in 1979’s The Black Stallion and returning to the stage and dazzling audiences in the 1979 Broadway spectacle Sugar Babies, which earned him a Tony nomination. Rooney “is the heart, soul and body of the enterprise,” raved Newsweek.

“I was a very famous has-been until this show,” Rooney told the Associated Press in 1979. “Now, it’s almost like the resurrection of a career, of someone saying, ‘He didn’t cop out on us, he’s still there.'”
Mickey Rooney

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Rick Santorum: The Devil controls hollywood

Rick Santorum, champion of the down-trodden,  says you can fight the Devil by buying a ticket to see his new movie.

From Right Wing Watch:

While speaking on a network where televangelists on a daily basis tell viewers that God will reward them financially if they send in contributions, the former senator and presidential candidate spent most of the time criticizing movies for being too materialistic.

Santorum, who has previously said that Satan has control over mainline Protestantism and universities, thanked viewers in advance for seeing the movie.

“This is a tough business, this is something that we’re stepping out,” Santorum said, “and the Devil for a long, long time has had this, these screens, for his playground and he isn’t going to give it up easily.”