Not for the first time, a straight actor playing a gay character in a film has caused a stir. This time, James Corden has come under fire for his portrayal of has-been gay actor Barry Glickman in Ryan Murphy’s Prom.
The Netflix adaptation of the 2018 Broadway musical follows a group of down-and-out stage stars, who descend upon a small Indiana town to rally behind a lesbian student banned from bringing her girlfriend to prom. The main subplot follows Barry building up the courage to reconnect with his mother, who was unsupportive when he first came out.
“The issue, for many critics, is that Corden’s portrayal of a gay man is inauthentic”
What the critics are saying
The exuberant role was originally written for and played on Broadway by Brooks Ashmanskas, a gay man. The issue, for many critics, is that Corden’s portrayal of a gay man is inauthentic. Throughout the film, Corden employs effeminate gay stereotypes, mincing and prancing with exaggerated hand flourishes.
In The Metro, Michael Chakraverty wrote that “[Corden’s] characterisation rests upon lazy cliches that have been used as a tool to oppress queer people for decades”, his acting akin to primary school bullies’ playground mimicking. Chakraverty says that because Ashmanskas is a longstanding member of the LGBTQ+ community, the actor “understood the context within which his character existed – whereas Corden doesn’t flesh him out further than an extended limp wrist”.
Digital Spy’s Ian Sandwell hated watching Corden “camp it up to the point of being regressive and offensive, hitting every gay stereotype along the way”. He argues that although this characterisation stays true to the original Broadway role, given Murphy’s commitment to diverse representation (his Pose series set the record for the most trans actors cast in a scripted series, and the two actresses playing The Prom’s loved-up teen couple identify as queer), “it’s baffling that Murphy didn’t cast a gay actor as Barry, which could have made the character, and the emotional journey, work.”
“Richard Lawson thought the performance was so “insulting” that “no more straight actors” should play gay men”
Similarly, The Guardian’s Benjamin Lee criticises Corden’s “regressive and clumsy attempts to try and camp it up”, while ultimately laying the blame at director Ryan Murphy’s feet for casting Corden and “allowing him to gayface quite so grotesquely”.
Many reviewers echoed the belief that a gay actor should have been cast – NewsWeek’s Samuel Spencer asked “Was Titus Burgess busy?”
Going one step further, Vanity Fair’s Richard Lawson thought the performance was so “insulting” that “no more straight actors” should play gay men “until the sins of The Prom are properly atoned for.”
Is such a drastic ban justified?
Corden was simply playing the role in the way it was written and directed, so is it his straightness which makes him inherently unfit for the role, or simply a lack of acting talent?
It should go without saying that we are only talking about cis gay characters – cis actors should never play trans characters, not only because it denies trans actors vital job opportunities but because it reinforces misleading perceptions of trans women as “men in disguise”.
“With queer writers and directors on board to steer the project, depictions of gayness in films can be groundbreaking regardless of the actor’s sexual orientation.”
No one would deny that gay actors can “codeswitch” to play straight characters – to suggest otherwise would be regressive and offensive. Without the flexibility to play outside of one’s own sexuality, the world would never have been blessed with portrayals like Noémie Merlant’s in Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Josh O’Connor’s in God’s Own Country and Trevante Rhodes’ in Moonlight. With queer writers and directors on board to steer the project, depictions of gayness in films can be groundbreaking regardless of the actor’s sexual orientation.
Industry gatekeeping
There is no universal way that gay people look, dress or behave; there is no fundamental difference between gay and straight people, and so often the performances in which straight actors are most themselves are also the most sensitive and powerful. It could be unnecessarily othering to suggest straight actors should never play gay characters, drawing up barriers that do not need to exist.
More worryingly, however, by gatekeeping gay roles, we run the risk of forcing people to come out before they’re ready. Although being out in Hollywood is far less dangerous than it once was, there will still be countless actors “passing” as straight, remaining in the closet to protect themselves against judgement, ostracisation and even abuse in their public and private lives. Alternatively, actors might wish to avoid being typecast as gay characters for the rest of their careers.
We have already seen examples of gatekeeping gone wrong. YA author Becky Albertalli, whose debut Simon Vs The Homosapiens Agenda was adapted into the 2019 movie Love, Simon, was hounded by readers for writing about queer characters as a straight woman. She came out as bi in an explanatory essay, where she said it was “brutally hard” to be “held up again and again as the quintessential example of allocishet inauthenticity” and criticised for “profiting off of communities I had no connection to”.
“straight actors should certainly ask themselves if they are right for the part before auditioning.”
She said she’d feel “uncomfortable, anxious, almost sick with nerves” when reading “searingly personal” discussions of her sexuality online. She noted that coming out in the essay “doesn’t feel good or empowering, or even particularly safe” but that she was tired of being “scrutinized, subtweeted, mocked, lectured and invalidated”.
Poignantly, she asks “can we make space for those of us who are still discovering ourselves?”
Gatekeeping is not the answer, but straight actors should certainly ask themselves if they are right for the part before auditioning. Questions such as, “can I research this character’s life experiences thoroughly enough to authentically embody them, or will my portrayal rely on pre-existing assumptions and outdated stereotypes?”, and “can I be a good ally, batting away homophobic press questions and using my voice to stand up for the community?”
The queer community loves to uplift queer actors, so their loud and public approval or disapproval might continue to be the ultimate test of casting success and failure. Let the Tweets and Rotten Tomatoes speak for themselves.
If directors want to avoid an outcry, they might reconsider casting decisions like Corden’s in future.
Alice Hiley
Featured image courtesy of Jade87 on Pixabay. Image licence found here. No changes were made to this image.