So, I'm wondering what you guys think about homophobic actors/authors/singers/etc. I know there are quite a few out there, some are even a bit surprising to find out about. But I am curious if you can still enjoy their entertainment after finding out about their disdain for the community. Do you care about their opinions, and continue to enjoy what they offer? Or after finding out about their opinions stop supporting them altogether?
Nicholas Sparks is utter trash. He is racist, homophobic, and antisemitic. He is a triple threat of hate! He work is highly overrated regardless, so I never gave him much thought prior to information about this getting out. In general, if I am doubtful about an artist's or creator's work, I just won't purchase it. Even if I want to consume it, it is all too easy to get it by other means these days.
Orson Scott Card is an amazing science fiction writer that I cannot stand because of his rampant conservatism and homophobia. Ender's Game is one of the best SF books I've ever read but knowing that piece of trash wrote it made me not enjoy it as much reading it the second time...
Nope, if I don't like you as a person, it's highly unlikely that I'll look at any of your art, even if it's good. It's one thing if they're just an asshole, but if they're a homophobic asshole, I won't make any exceptions On that note, I can't think of any notable celebrities off the top of my head that are openly anti gay. I'm sure there are some, no one I care about though. Authors and Artists who's stuff I like tend to be interesting and likeable people I relate with quite a lot ^_^ I guess it's cause I have naturally good taste and judgement~
It's a tricky road to go down. Like the "Wizard of Oz" books? Don't read up on the author. Like "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" or its sequel or "Matilda" or "James and the Giant Peach"? Don't read up on the author. The writings of Charles Dickens or T.S. Eliot? Marion Zimmer Bradley? The paintings of Edgar Degas or Pablo Picasso? They're all horrible people in their own ways, from small scale personal to large scale awfulness, but they created works of art that people still enjoy to various degrees. I'm hesitant to read Ender's Game but I will eventually because it's a sci-fi classic. Thank goodness it's in the library!
I'm far more likely to separate art from creator if they're older classics. Product of their times and all that. For people that are around and able to change their minds, I won't quit enjoying their work for one comment but a larger pattern I will. I never finished Ender's Game in high school and once I learned about Orson Scott Card I never will. I avoid any and all Tom Cruise movies these days.
Came to this thread for Ender's Game. What a shame about him >.< but we can always make lots and lots of trashy gay Ender slashfic. Roald Dahl? I thought he was cool O.O guess I don't know enough about him to hate him.
I heard about Enders Game. I was really wanting to see the movie/read the book, when I found out about the author. Is homophobia evident in his writing? Because I've heard some people say it is. While others more so press on his attitude to the LGBT+ community outside of writing.
Ender's Game was the reason I clicked on this thread but I'm kind of surprised it's already been mentioned so many times. About a month ago I was flipping through the channels and saw Ender's Game on HBO. I didn't know much about the story, but for some reason I was intrigued so I decided to watch. I thought the movie was decent, but knew it was based on a book and had a feeling that this particular story could be pretty interesting to read with additional depth. While looking up the book, I found several references to Orson Scott Card's homophobia. I debated reading it for a bit, but eventually decided to go through with it. In the end I'm looking for entertainment and with that in mind it doesn't make much of a difference if the author is a jerk. I'm sure we all patronize establishments run by homophobes without knowing it on a regular basis; it sucks, but if we isolated ourselves to only the people we could agree with on everything I think we'd be pretty limited. Obviously if OSC was one of those extremists who thought all gay people deserved to be executed or something I'd think differently, but as far as I know he hasn't been that crazy, just very socially conservative and not supportive of gay people. Additionally, I read his defense of his beliefs and while I certainly don't agree with them, I don't think he's full of hatred as often portrayed. For what it's worth, they're great books and I don't regret making this choice. It's definitely something that was in the back of my mind at times, but I would have been missing out on something special had I placed more importance on OSC's personal and political beliefs. I don't know the man and what he thinks really doesn't matter much to me.
I loved Ender's Game when I read it, but after I heard about how homophobic Orson Scott Card is, it kind of made me not want to read the others.
I saw about 10 or 20 minutes of the EG movie at work one day and developed an instant crush on Asa Butterfield. I liked it and related to him a lot considering he was in a military academy and making the mistake of sticking out.
No, no, no, no. I don't remember a single time in all of Ender's Game when anything remotely related to homophobia was mentioned. Where is this coming from? I'll tell you where. People's perceptions of the author are leaking into their perception of the art. They see what they want to see, even if it wasn't there in the first place. Ender's Game is clean, and it's brilliant, and don't scrap it (without reading it yourself) just because of "rumors" of homophobia. Because there isn't any. The end. As for beliefs, take OSC's work with a grain of salt. He's a mormon, so what do you expect? (This is not to insult any potential mormons, of course, as it is simply a generalization) When it comes to artists... I prefer judging them by their work and not by who they are as a person. If I boycotted ever human being I disagreed with, I'd be getting nowhere and would miss out on a lot of good art. Most of the time, art is what you make of it. It is open to interpretation, and that's why art is so special. Of course the artist's heart bleeds into their work, inevitably, but that doesn't mean that their work cannot still be good to you for a different reason. Even if you interpreted it in an entirely different way than the creator intended. It doesn't matter because it's all subjective anyway. Honestly, the less we know about the artists/authors/actors, the better. I always try to distance myself from any information on these people. I don't need to know about their lives, and what they believe is none of my business. If I like their art, I like it because I like it for whatever reason I like.
Honestly I'm very good at separating people from talent. Even if I hate you as a person I can still enjoy their work. I just will borrow someone else's copy and not buy my own. And unless their prejudice views are openly stated in the book, I ignore the author completely. And the same with movies and music. I have never paid attention to actors, authors, etc. Unless they are fiiiiiiiine people. lol. But I mainly pay attention to the story line anyways
Mel Gibson. I can't quote some of his rants and stupid comments during interviews, but they were quite a bit out of line. I've never watched many of his movies. I could never decide whether or not he was talented or attractive ... too much of a pretty boy type when young and seems like he's been through the ringer in recent years, so he looked better at mid-career. I know that his crazy and highly publicized behaviors with his younger girlfriend (maybe past tense now) have not helped him much, that's for sure.
And it's interesting how distance in time or not knowing enough can be the deal breaker on whether or not to read someone. Being cruel to your wife or wishing the extermination of an entire segment of the population can't always be seen as being the majority opinion back then, they had just as much choice in thinking or doing what they did as people do today. But we naturally have a disconnect between "the past" and the here and now and that lets us keep on enjoying A Christmas Carol and The Wizard of Oz without thinking about the people who wrote it.
OK, I read several little biographies of Roald Dahl, but nothing seemed to stand out that made him seem evil. Is there some deep, dark secret I missed?
I wouldn't say evil but I guess it just depends on what your level of tolerance is for his not-so-goodness. Here's a review of a biography about him that mentions the most cited incident (his thoughts on Israel regarding events in 1983) which includes half of this quote from him: "I mean there is always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere; even a stinker like Hitler didn’t just pick on them for no reason." You can imagine who the "them" are in that sentence. Here's another article about why his books have always been troublesome (for parents). It does say his "personal reputation is justifiably tainted, but his work has been unfairly assailed. When it comes to literature for adults, we’ve mostly stopped judging a work by its author’s personal morality. Why should we hold children’s writers to a stricter standard?" I don't think that kind of "judging" has necessarily stopped because people are people. Everyone has their limits though.
