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Old 08-07-18, 12:58   #23
Dennis's Mom
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Originally Posted by tomblover View Post
Point being, when has a female actress ever played a male role, where the male role isn't a transgender person? When has a male actor ever played a female role, that hasn't been a transgender person?
Women outright playing men is rare. Linda Hunt won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for playing a male dwarf in The Year of Living Dangerously. Debra Winger played a male chain smoking angel in Made in Heaven, but the part is uncredited. There are roles where female characters pretend to be men (Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs).

Men get to play females much more frequently. Louie Anderson is currently playing Christine Baskets on Baskets on TV. John Travolta as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray. Virtually every sketch comedy troupe has men playing women. (My personal favorite is the "Temps!" bit from KITH.) Usually for laughs because I guess women aren't funny?

I have issues with this because it feels like selective outrage and misogyny. Didn't see any outrage over Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl. Other people mentioned high profile non-trans actors in trans roles. I have to wonder had they cast a man in this part--you know, a "respected actor"--if people would be this upset.

I also feel this outrage willfully misunderstands the craft of acting. The entire point is to bring to life another person. The idea that only a "trans" actor can do justice here isn't good argument. No one argues that only blind people can play blind people, or crippled people can play crippled people. No one was upset that Sean Penn didn't have a murdered daughter experience when he was in Mystic River.
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