writing and soaps

[gwynnega]

I'm still revising chapter 15 of the Jo book. It is very slow going, but today as part of my work on the chapter, I got to look at nifty photos of NYC newsstands. This weekend I finished revising a poem and sent it out. It's the first poem I've finished in ages--novels take up so much brain space!

Also this weekend I filled out my Rhysling ballot. And I watched a ton of Dark Shadows. In the 1970 eps I'm currently viewing, a malevolent head in a bell jar has been introduced. The Head is portrayed by an actor who, so far 1) has his eyes closed or 2) stares evilly at the camera. (Oh, and once he blinked. Accidentally, I think.) I wondered whether the Head actor would get an on-screen credit, and sure enough, he did! The credit roll listed the actor as portraying "THE HEAD." Heeeeee.

***

Trouble in Gaytime:

Around the time I was at Wiscon last month, a story broke in which an actor from The Young and the Restless, Chris Engen, walked off the set because he allegedly took issue with having to play a gay-themed story. He was fired and replaced with Michael Muhney (from Veronica Mars). Sure enough, immediately after Engen's final episode, Adam, the (straight) character he'd portrayed, seduced his gay male lawyer in order to keep said lawyer from investigating his nefarious deeds. This happened VERY off-camera--the characters didn't even kiss on screen. The irony is that, up until this point, Adam had set his father up for murder, injected Botox into his eyeballs (ewww) to fake blindness, and tormented his father's pregnant wife until she miscarried. But apparently Engen had no trouble playing any of this stuff--just off-screen gay sex. Fortunately, Michael Muhney, whose first episodes on Y&R aired last week, has quickly made the character of Adam his own and has surpassed Engen's portrayal.

So this weekend, a story broke that an actor from One Life To Live, Patricia Mauceri, who has been on the show since 1995, was fired for refusing to play a story beat in which her character Carlotta Vega, a Latina mother, expresses gay-friendly sentiment! "She objected to Carlotta's positive attitude about homosexuality, saying it conflicted with her personal beliefs." Needless to say, since this is a soap opera, the character of Carlotta is far from squeaky-clean, but apparently that never conflicted with the actress's personal beliefs.

It boggles my mind that, in this current economic climate, these actors have opted to trash their steady gigs because they can't bring themselves to do their jobs when gay material is concerned...

Comments

[usedtobeljs]

Beware THE HEAD! It sounds like an outtake from Young Frankenstein. ;-)

The homophobia in those cases just blows my mind.

Hugs hugs, and happy revising!

[gwynnega]

The homophobia in those cases just blows my mind.

Mine too. I find it really baffling that a promising young actor like Engen opted to commit career suicide (walking out of his contract in the middle of a front-burner storyline) instead of playing the material.

::hugs::

[sovay]

I wondered whether the Head actor would get an on-screen credit, and sure enough, he did! The credit roll listed the actor as portraying "THE HEAD."

That's awesome.

It boggles my mind that, in this current economic climate, these actors have opted to trash their steady gigs because they can't bring themselves to do their jobs when gay material is concerned...

Or never mind the economic climate—what about basic professionalism and decency? That is not so awesome.

[gwynnega]

Dark Shadows: even the end credits are entertaining!

Or never mind the economic climate—what about basic professionalism and decency?

Absolutely. But professionalism and decency aside, one would think these actors would at least value their own self-interest (i.e., having a job), as opposed to shooting themselves in the foot. But apparently their bigotry is a more powerful motivator...

[ratphooey.livejournal.com]

Isn't acting about portraying other people? WTF?

Idiots. They should be bounced out of their union!

[gwynnega]

Yep. It's called ACTING, people! And in the world of daytime, there's absolutely no time to spare to deal with this kind of unprofessionalism.

[willowgreen.livejournal.com]

I guess to some extent, I have to admire these actors for having the guts to stick to their idiotic, wrong-headed principles. And I can kinda sorta, almost see their point of view. I mean, no reasonable person would imagine that they approved of framing people for murder, causing miscarriages, or injecting people's eyeballs (double eww) just because they did those things on a soap opera. But someone *might* think they supported gay rights in real life if they pretended to do so on TV, since that's actually a reasonable and valid position to take in reality. Uh, yeah......

That newsstand stuff is SO depressing--newsstands are one of the things that make New York New York. Have you ever read "The Cricket in Times Square" by George Selden? If you haven't, you must--the main setting is a tiny newsstand in the Times Square subway station. It's beautifully written--seriously, Hemingway could have written it, but it wouldn't have been as good--and it's an absolutely wonderful story.

[gwynnega]

Ironically, Chris Engen quit over a storyline that doesn't actually condone gay rights, per se--because Adam is straight and only did the deed to stay out of jail. I bet Chris Engen would've had no problem with Adam sleeping with a female lawyer to keep her from investigating his nefariousness.

No, I haven't read "The Cricket in Times Square"--thanks for the rec!