"Out and proud" actor Max Rhyser -- who can be seen in
my the new film
"Violet Tendencies" -- gives a lengthy interview in the new issue of INSTINCT magazine about the importance of being, well, out and proud in show business.
Since I wasn't familiar with Rhyser, I did a little digging around and found some info about
a new Web series the article mentioned he'll be starring in this fall, called "In Between Men." Although I haven't seen any of it yet, it struck me as a little odd that the premise of the show this "out and proud" actor is starring in is about four "all-American guys who feel caught between two worlds, not truly knowing where they fit in" that "draws attention to masculine, straight appearing gay men who find it difficult to relate to many aspects of the gay community and feel they have more in common with their straight peers." Even odder is that the show's creator and executive producer -- Quincy Morris, who is black -- goes on and on and on about how the show is all about "diversity" because he never saw himself represented in movies, television shows or on the Web, yet it stars a bunch of worked-out white boys. (Did Michael Jackson do the casting on this right before he died?) Each cast member then proceeds to give this little song and dance about how this is a (finally) show with characters who are "real people" -- "not stereotypes" -- yet these guys couldn't BE any more stereotypical Chelsea boys. One of them is even a (hot) bartender in a Chelsea gay bar in real life and looks like THIS:(!)
Don't get me wrong: If you wanna do a show about "straight-acting" gay guys then fine, do a show about straight-acting gay guys. I'm not saying every gay series must depict the full spectrum of gay life, just as I understand that one show about a pill-popping nurse doesn't mean that
ALL nurses are pill poppers.
But there's something a little off about this show that rubs me the wrong way, the way everyone seems so defensive and awkward trying to explain the "concept" -- which is what, really? that part of being diverse in the gay community is that some of us are straight-acting Abercrombie & Fitch models? -- and you can't help but already feel a disconnect between what the creator is saying and doing. We shall see.
"In Between Men" premieres on the Web this fall.
"Out and proud" actor Max Rhyser -- who can be seen in 
Since I wasn't familiar with Rhyser, I did a little digging around and found some info about a new Web series the article mentioned he'll be starring in this fall, called "In Between Men." Although I haven't seen any of it yet, it struck me as a little odd that the premise of the show this "out and proud" actor is starring in is about four "all-American guys who feel caught between two worlds, not truly knowing where they fit in" that "draws attention to masculine, straight appearing gay men who find it difficult to relate to many aspects of the gay community and feel they have more in common with their straight peers." Even odder is that the show's creator and executive producer -- Quincy Morris, who is black -- goes on and on and on about how the show is all about "diversity" because he never saw himself represented in movies, television shows or on the Web, yet it stars a bunch of worked-out white boys. (Did Michael Jackson do the casting on this right before he died?) Each cast member then proceeds to give this little song and dance about how this is a (finally) show with characters who are "real people" -- "not stereotypes" -- yet these guys couldn't BE any more stereotypical Chelsea boys. One of them is even a (hot) bartender in a Chelsea gay bar in real life and looks like THIS:(!)
Don't get me wrong: If you wanna do a show about "straight-acting" gay guys then fine, do a show about straight-acting gay guys. I'm not saying every gay series must depict the full spectrum of gay life, just as I understand that one show about a pill-popping nurse doesn't mean that ALL nurses are pill poppers.
But there's something a little off about this show that rubs me the wrong way, the way everyone seems so defensive and awkward trying to explain the "concept" -- which is what, really? that part of being diverse in the gay community is that some of us are straight-acting Abercrombie & Fitch models? -- and you can't help but already feel a disconnect between what the creator is saying and doing. We shall see. "In Between Men" premieres on the Web this fall.
1 comment:
The anxiety about masculinity just wafts off this project and the whole A&F "straight-acting" obssession.
The level of performativity involved in these kinds of carefully crafted identities makes the assertion that some of us are just, you know, straight acting and can't connect to popular images of gay men laughable. Which is not to say that there aren't a broad range of kinds of gay people, but the ones that obsess about acting a particular way tend to be performing a role rather than simply being who they are.
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