Homosexuality in Acting?

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scameter18

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I understand and believe that by Catholic teaching, the gay lifestyle, especially gay marriage/civil unions, is sinful. But, how does this apply to artistic things, such as sculpture, literature, film, etc.? For example, if I was in a movie and played a gay man, without sexual/pornographic scenes, would that be wrong - whether the movie portrays it as ok or not?

Furthermore, if I play an online roleplaying game, or rpg of any kind, and play as a gay/lesbian/bisexual character and do not portray such a thing as evil in the game, but freely say outside the game that I think it is wrong, is that a sin?
 
Yeah. Why do gays not deserve equal rights? It’s because of you deranged Catholic imbeciles that take it upon yourselves to “cleanse” the world from anything “impure”, even when you go against your own morals and teachings. Idiots.
 
Please ignore eonNEXUS’ post in this thread. It was not my desire to discuss the validity of homosexuality in this topic. If you wish to discuss it with him, send him a private message. Thank you.
 
scameter18 said:
Please ignore eonNEXUS’ post in this thread. It was not my desire to discuss the validity of homosexuality in this topic. If you wish to discuss it with him, send him a private message. Thank you.
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So it wasn’t your desire, eh? Nobody cares.
Homosexuals, however “wrong”, “corrupt”, and “sinful” you see them to be, are people. People have rights: the right to happiness, for example. Why deprive them of a right when the only argument you have against it is “well, because my religion says its wrong”?
 
scameter18 said:
I understand and believe that by Catholic teaching, the gay lifestyle, especially gay marriage/civil unions, is sinful. But, how does this apply to artistic things, such as sculpture, literature, film, etc.? For example, if I was in a movie and played a gay man, without sexual/pornographic scenes, would that be wrong - whether the movie portrays it as ok or not?

Furthermore, if I play an online roleplaying game, or rpg of any kind, and play as a gay/lesbian/bisexual character and do not portray such a thing as evil in the game, but freely say outside the game that I think it is wrong, is that a sin?
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Personally, I would simply choose a different character, or don’t try out for the part of a homosexual… Just avoid the scenario altogether.
 
Ponyguy said:
Personally, I would simply choose a different character, or don’t try out for the part of a homosexual… Just avoid the scenario altogether.

FWIW: Mr/s “eonNEXUS” is not helping his/her cause very much with his/her abrasive remarks…
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So now I cannot voice my opinion because it “offends” you and your religious fantasies?
 
I think this question can be applied to any mortal sin.

We believe it is wrong to murder someone - would it be sinful to play the part of a murderer in a play? Or to play a murderer in a video game?

I don’t know the answer but I sure wish I did because I love some pretty ‘bad’ video games. 😦

eonNEXUS → It is possible for us to think of the homosexual lifestyle as sinful without ever posing a threat to homosexuals. Our religion teaches us to LOVE all sinners and that includes homosexuals, liars, murderers, etc. etc. etc. Please take your personal war to the people that would attack a gay man in the street simply because of his sexuality not here where people are simply engaging in spiritual search.
 
The acting profession is not short of the real thing! If I were casting, I wouldn’t need to look far for someone with relevant experience, why would I cast a heterosexual?
If I were in that position, I would look carefully at the script. If it was making a crusading point about the desirability of such a dangerous lifestyle, I wouldn’t do it.
 
eonNEXUS said:
So now I cannot voice my opinion because it “offends” you and your religious fantasies?
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it offends people when you call them deranged, imbeciles, and idiots. you seem to be totally accepting of homosexuals, and your kind of people (yes i am profiling you) preach total acceptance… accept and respect our beliefs even if you disagree with their truth
 
VetA said:
it offends people when you call them deranged, imbeciles, and idiots. you seem to be totally accepting of homosexuals, and your kind of people (yes i am profiling you) preach total acceptance… accept and respect our beliefs even if you disagree with their truth
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Because they’re goddamn people, not some kinds of animals. What would you say if every country in the world suddenly decided to ban Christian marriages and Christianity? You would go berserk! What is different between you religious people and homosexuals? Nothing. Exactly.
 
Well, that is also what I’ve thought: many things such as literature, film, roleplaying, etc., involve bad things like murder, yet I’ve never heard that it is wrong to play an evil character. I mean, Lord of the Rings was a Catholic novel - as Tolkien said in his letters - yet he had many evil characters and violent actions, so was the novel, and thus the author, sinful? No, that is silly. Art is fake, and as StevieD said, unless they’re intentionally doing it to say that homosexuality is permissable, I don’t see the problem with it. As I said in my roleplaying, I never out of character said it’s ok, and frankly I’ve never been asked. Furthermore, many of the characters I have had homosexual relationships with in roleplay are my opposite gender in real life, so the homosexuality is fake. I don’t see any sin here, and I am not provoking sin in the other person in any way, especially since I don’t do anything sexual in the roleplay. But if anyone thinks otherwise, please tell me.
 
I have seen people acting as the devil in Christian movies… and yet my heart tells me its wrong. Just as my heart tells me those novels about angels and movies about angels are wrong… but I have no scripture, no doctrine to back up this feeling of ‘wrongness’. So it could just be my own discomfort caused by what my upbringing taught me that is causing me to feel it’s wrong!
 
nickybr38 said:
I have seen people acting as the devil in Christian movies… and yet my heart tells me its wrong. Just as my heart tells me those novels about angels and movies about angels are wrong… but I have no scripture, no doctrine to back up this feeling of ‘wrongness’. So it could just be my own discomfort caused by what my upbringing taught me that is causing me to feel it’s wrong!
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Hmm, entertainment has use in our society. How many people do you think ran back to the Church when watching the “Exorcist” or “The Passion”? Both movies had horrific villains in them, it gave the viewer a visual representation of Evil.
 
Neal McDonough doesn’t do sex scenes and made it known before accepting roles. but despite that, he still got fired from Scoundrels for refusing to do a sex scene. he actually has a major role for one season on Desperate Housewives, as the husband of neighborhood tramps Edie. but despite the nature of the show and the nature of the character of his on-set wife, there still weren’t any sex scenes for him

so take it from this guy. he doesn’t take roles that would go against his Catholic faith
 
It is not inherently sinful to portray a sinner on stage or in film. I am an actor and this is something that comes up a lot for me. I am very often cast as the villain or at least someone with a dark secret, and I have, in my time, been called upon to simulate unspeakable acts of violence and evil. On stage and screen, I have shot people, stabbed people, strangled people, beaten people, molested children, raped people, broken necks, committed suicide, spoken curse words, kissed both men and women. How do I deal with it as a Catholic? I remember that it isn’t real. When I kiss a man while acting, it isn’t actually happening any more than when I stab one while acting.

However, I do not perform in works that are specifically blasphemous or denigrate the Catholic Church, or perform in the nude. I think it comes down to author’s intent, and not the individual actions of the characters.

From the perspective of acting technique, it is impossible to perform a role truthfully if you have judged your character as “immoral” or “evil.” You must see the world of the play as your character sees it. Recently I was cast as a man who has a sexual relationship with his best friend’s nine year old son. Under normal circumstances, I probably would not have chosen the role, but it was either take the role or lose a bunch of work that I cannot afford to lose, financially, not to mention the confidence of people I depend upon to assist me in getting work. At any rate, I began the rehearsal process blinded by the disgust I had for the character. It destroyed my work. I instead had to focus on the character’s need, on the question of why Harry would be attracted to a nine year old boy (played by an adult female, thankfully), and what he sought to gain from the relationship. It became about pursuing an objective in order to fulfill a deep-seated need, and I was able to give a very good performance. And in being truthful to the circumstances of the character, I was able to let the audience discover for themselves what a depraved and evil person Harry was, as opposed to beating them over the head with it. The play was not about heroicizing child molestation, but rather condemning it, so it was not morally wrong to play a child molester.

As far as roleplaying games go, I cannot comment on that with any degree of specificity, as I have no experience in the matter, but I would ask yourself why you have chosen to create a homosexual character in the game. Is it inherently more enjoyable as a gay character than a straight one? What are you accomplishing by doing this? The sinfulness would be determined by your motivation for doing so.
 
Genesian said:
As far as roleplaying games go, I cannot comment on that with any degree of specificity, as I have no experience in the matter, but I would ask yourself why you have chosen to create a homosexual character in the game. Is it inherently more enjoyable as a gay character than a straight one? What are you accomplishing by doing this? The sinfulness would be determined by your motivation for doing so.
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Thank you very much for your reply. I was hoping to get an actor’s perspective, and you certainly gave it.

As for your question, I originally played male characters on the roleplaying game I mentioned (I am male in real life), but I do not have a very assertive personality normally, so I tended to be completely ignored and never got any roleplay. So I decided to play as a female character and felt more comfortable and got more roleplay as it. I’ve tried male characters again, but have never felt as comfortable. Not all of my relationships with my female characters have been homosexual. I have had a couple heterosexual ones too. But, in homosexual relationships, I always talk to the player of the other character, out of character before we have a relationship, and I always make sure they are female in real life and that they know my gender as male. I feel more comfortable with this because they’re female in real life, rather than roleplaying a relationship with a male. This is the main reason. And the fact that I seem to relate better to female characters in the game, for the most part. Why that is, I don’t know.
 
when you play a video game, you move lights and create sounds from the television by pressing buttons on your controler. is that a sin? i think not. yes it is media(basically) but as long as it does not propaganda sinful thoughts, then go for it!
and please consider the following about homosexuality being a sin-

Murder- Taking someone’s life
Homosexuality- When someone shows affection and love to the same sex
Pan-sexuality and Bi- sexuality - Unconditional love for someone regardless of who they are

just saying 😉
 
So was it wrong for Julia Roberts to play a prostitute in ‘Pretty Woman’?

Even though that role had a couple of scenes showing some of the pretty horrible things that go along with being a prostitute - such as violence?

And even though in the end she made the decision (even before Richard Gere ‘rescued’ her) that she was going to stop working as a hooker?

I do think it’s all to do with the motivation for doing it and the message sent by the piece you’re doing.

Personally I wouldn’t take a role in Desperate Housewives - even if the individual character is OK, the whole show just sends awful moral messages left right and centre.
 
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