Discover Top Posts Tagged with #bi actors

Monty Clift in the back of a car (circa late 50s/early 60s, unknown photographer).

#montgomery clift #actors #lgbt actors #bi actors #bi tag #1960s #not my photo #source: pinterest

The little moment in ON THE WATERFRONT ('54) where Eva Marie Saint drops her glove was unscripted. Rather than stopping the scene, Elia Kaza

I don't want to fall too far into the debate about whether danmei/gay romantic stories are aimed at a straight female audience, and whether that's appropriative and exploitive,* but the erotic allure of sexual ambiguity is part of the mix.

Someone posted a clip of Marlon Brando in a sweaty T shirt in A Streetcar Named Desire, which reminded me of this iconic scene from On the Waterfront. Brando was always sex on wheels onscreen, unadulterated charisma, and also known as one of Hollywood's biggest bi male stars (along with Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, and Errol Flynn). The difference with Brando is in how he used his unique mix of hypermasculine body and effeminate manner to intensify his effects.

This scene is famous because Eva Marie Saint dropped her glove by accident and Brando picked it up and improvised using it - pure Actor's Studio technique - and she kept going too. From a performance pov, it's fascinating to see them both playing the scene and the characters while also reading and responding to each other's cues in the improv, giving the scene an extra level of uncertainty, anxiety, and instability.

But from a romance pov, the through line of the scene is this: man is trying to hit on shy woman and is trying (ineptly) to be gentle about it while still signaling his attraction. Woman, although shy, is trying to signal that she's not saying no. The man takes the woman's glove but doesn't return it to her - instead he puts it on. This is within the trope called "indirect kiss" but it's also, crucially, more than that. This burly, testosterone-driven man (he's a thug and a boxer) briefly reveals a feminine aspect. It's not a female disguise - that is, it's not cross-dressing. It's his own hidden self becoming temporarily visible. The two are, briefly, sharing a female body. Eva Marie Saint ends the moment by taking the aggressive male role: she pulls the glove off Brando's unresisting hand because the scene is about to end and she can't leave it there.

This scene gets taught in acting classes as an example of pure mastery of improv by both actors and of the Actors Studio style of naturalism in acting. But it's also a moment in which Brando uses his own genderswitching identity to maximum effect.

The result is that the uncertainty and anxiety of the scene are converted, for a moment, into pure erotic power.

And this idea is what some of the very charismatic actors in danmei dramas do - they draw on the play of gender ambiguity to heighten the sense of shared body, complex attraction, and open identity. I'm thinking here of Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo in The Untamed, or Zhang Zhehan and Gong Jun in Word of Honor. And the thing that makes good danmei so effective is when you get two actors who are equally willing to go there, and are in sync. (I don't think Eva Marie Saint gets enough credit for the glove scene, where she picked up and perfectly responded to every one of Brando's cues on the fly.)

I think it happens so rarely in Hollywood or most European filmmaking because western actors are so uncomfortable acknowledging that gender is a spectrum not a binary. Heath Ledger is maybe one exception. But no one did it as well as Brando. Once you see it, you see it in all his performances - where he was often cast in hypermasculine roles and subverted them every time.

In Streetcar Named Desire - written by a gay playwright who made gay identity a subtext (or text) throughout his work - Brando's sexual presence onscreen is unmatched. (Paul Newman did a version of it in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, but not at the same level.)

*Yes, yes, and also no, no, and also It's Complicated.

#Brando #Bi actors #gender ambiguity onscreen #On the Waterfront glove scene #tennessee williams #danmei acting #eros romance and charisma #sex on wheels Brando #the untamed #wang yibo #word of honor #xiao zhan #zhang zhehan #gong jun #Eva Marie Saint #Actors Studio naturalism wasn't exactly naturalism was it?

Mara Wilson, known for classics like Matilda, is proud of her bisexuality. Read more about Mara here: https://bi.org/en/famous/mara-wilson1626393237

#bi visibility month #bi visibility #bi actors #mara wilson #matilda #mrs doubtfire #lgbt #bisexual #queer

Wrapped on my webseries yesterday 🙌🏻

#badass female characters #lgbtq #webseries #dark comedy #lgbt fans deserve better #representation matters #gay media #lesbian characters #poc representation #Native American actors #bi actors #latina

Happy Bi Visibility Day to them.

#bisexual people #bi actors #bi actresses #bisexuals #bi tag #bi visibility #montgomery clift #josephine baker #anna may wong #wong liu-tsong #sammy davis jr #narrator's voice: now what you're seeing here is bi sitting #i used anna may's birth name out of respect #also her and sammy were known to bi in close circles despite them being suspected as straight #lgbt history #lgbt #lgbt people #bisexual

Love when actors were changing lines in a script 'cause there like "nah, I'm saying this". My favorite one is just a photo of Monty Clift super concentrated on fixing a script in 1950.

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A post shared by Montgomery Clift 🥀 (@montycliftdaily)

#montgomery clift #lgbt actors #bi actors #bi tag #1950s #donald sutherland #1990s #feel free to add other bts tidbits of actors keeping dialogues etc #not calling out wroters obvs. but sometimes the actor/actress might have a better perspective on the direction for their character #and fuck j*ss whedon #Instagram

Sister: We could see Paper Towns today.

My bi ass: Eh, I didn't like the book that mu--WAIT CARA DELEVIGNE'S IN IT LETS SEE IT!

#bi actors #cara delevigne #paper towns

Okay Bisexual community. I want you all to try and go see the new movie Strange Magic. Not only is it a cute, feel good film. But the main character is a kick ass female. Which in and of itself rocks. But the main characters are voiced by Evan Rachel Wood and Alan Cumming. Two very vocal bisexual celebrities. This movie had like no publicity so I didnt even know it existed until I went to the movies. It is so beautifully animated. Its definitely worth supporting. And its perfect for this valentines time of year (although I went alone). So find a friend and go see this movie! I loved it.

#biseuxal #bisexuality #bi community #bi actors #alan cumming #evan rachel wood #strange magic #movie