As gay men, are you offended by gay characters in film who are depressed/suicidal?

[Paws]

I'm offended by any gay character shown in mainstream movies or series.

 

[RaKroma]

I get just get jaded when independent gay themed films have to be either tragic or very stereotypical and trashy. Though I liked Bruno as pure comedy and shock value, I can't remember when was the last mainstream Hollywood movie with a main gay character other than Milk.

 

[goldenmoth]

I get quite pissed off how the only way straight people are willing to see a film with gay people in it is if it ends with the gay person dying horrible.

Consider every Academy award nominated movie with a gay person of the past few years. You'll see I'm right.

 

[oakpope]

I liked the movie Shelter and as far as I recall no one was suicidal in it. And it finishes well

Stereotypes are surely one of the hardest thing to fight. It needs at least a generation or two to abolish one. But we will go there as we will become more and more "normal" and we won't have to be stereotypical to be seen (as in Pride Parade).
But we're a minority, and straight men aren't that interested in our lives, normal and boring, so movie producers are not really enticed to portray mundane gay character, who are boring to the audience. Sex, murder sell. And as we are bored when the obligatory sex scene between the hero and his splendid lover is displayed, straight would be bored (at best, disgusted otherwise) if that was male same-sex. And that is nowhere near to end I'm afraid.

 

[Soilwork]

I liked the movie Shelter and as far as I recall no one was suicidal in it. And it finishes well

And you go ask any straight person if they saw that movie and they'll say "no."

They haven't even heard of it.

 

[vulgar_newcomer]

The entire LOGO network cable channel and its bullshit low budget rag movies and stupid ass shows offends me. Its awful piece of shit.
Most of its own shows make Gay people cliche and bad as any straight production.
Who the fuck wants to watch RuPauls drag race endlessly???? Or Noahs Arch?

 

[SonOfSlobone]

Well it's not as if there aren't any depressed or suicidal gay people IRL. So I'm not offended, I'm a firm believer in each movie has to be judged according to its own merits. And I think by now there are plenty of movies that show a positive side of gay life, just not many mainstream ones.

 

[figjam]

I just wanted to ask you guys, do you ever feel offended when a movie or TV show portrays a gay character as a depressed maniac who hates himself, drug addict, and/or suicidal? I know some people who feel that it spreads this image that all gay guys want to kill themselves or something, but I just wanted to get opinions from you all. I may or may not be writing something that features such characters...

Question is - have you seen a movie not portraying a gay man as depressed and suicidal? The only one that comes to mind is "Another Gay Movie"....

 

[pat grimshaw]

.... either have to be loudmouthed weirdos who act like freaks (Chris Rock, Chris Tucker, Eddie Murphy)....

(Jar Jar Binks)

As to the main topic 'Are you offended by gay characters in film who are depressed/suicidal?', the situation has gotten so very much better since the 1990s. But I think it's normal to have depressed or 'conflicted' gay and/or straight characters in film dramas because you need conflict to have a dramatic film.

I think we need a particular example to discuss this properly. I can think of ghastly examples from the past (Advice & Consent, The Fox, Cruising, The City and the Pillar, etc)

 

[Thingsandstuff]

Not sure I'd say "offended" but "bored silly and pissed off at" maybe.

Straight people will only go to a movie with gay characters if they can laugh at them or feel sorry for them. So they either have to be humiliating caricatures like the stupid, flaming faggot in Sex and the City 2 (sorry but no other word fits) or the guys in Brokeback Mountain who are miserable for the whole movie and then die at the end.

And it's not just gay people...

Black characters either have to be loudmouthed weirdos who act like freaks (Chris Rock, Chris Tucker, Eddie Murphy) or they have to be sad victims who just need a white person to believe in them (have you see The Help or The Blindside?).

It's nice when we finally get some realistic representation of ourselves in movies. But it doesn't happen much.

Not sure I entirely agree with this. Yes, there isn't enough variety of good gay characters in film but usually pretty much every character (gay or not) in a dramatic film, will have some sort of struggle/drama/conflict. Brokeback Mountain didn't have more or less drama than any other serious movie about forbidden love (eg. an affair). Also saying it's not realistic is basically ignoring where and when the movie is set and saying that a story like that would never have happened then and there.

Furthermore, Sex and the City is hardly a showcase of multilayered and complex characters with real issues. Yes the gay characters were shameful but so was everyone else. Women should be more offended than us to be honest.

On a side note: Are people forgetting last year's "The Kids are Alright"? It got decent buzz and a few Oscar nominations. (I'm praying no one says "it doesn't count cause it's lesbians)

 

[Soilwork]

Not sure I entirely agree with this. Yes, there isn't enough variety of good gay characters in film but usually pretty much every character (gay or not) in a dramatic film, will have some sort of struggle/drama/conflict. Brokeback Mountain didn't have more or less drama than any other serious movie about forbidden love (eg. an affair). Also saying it's not realistic is basically ignoring where and when the movie is set and saying that a story like that would never have happened then and there.

Furthermore, Sex and the City is hardly a showcase of multilayered and complex characters with real issues. Yes the gay characters were shameful but so was everyone else. Women should be more offended than us to be honest.

On a side note: Are people forgetting last year's "The Kids are Alright"? It got decent buzz and a few Oscar nominations. (I'm praying no one says "it doesn't count cause it's lesbians)

It doesn't.

If that movie had a gay male couple it never would have been made.

 

[frankfrank]

So they either have to be humiliating caricatures like the stupid, flaming faggot in Sex and the City 2 (sorry but no other word fits)

Yeah, it's hard to find a single word which means the same thing as "like" in this case, because "similar to" or "analogous to" is TWO words, lol

 

[Thingsandstuff]

It doesn't.

If that movie had a gay male couple it never would have been made.

ok well, I still see it as a step to the right direction. I guess the post was about gay men not just gay characters.
Still, I see nothing wrong with Brokeback Mountain in terms of it being unrealistic (and see everything wrong with Sex and the City to nitpick just the gay characters)