# Films & television shows that have been 'de-gayed" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 4, 2006, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438 "2006-05-04T19:43:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![mike1dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@mike1dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mike1dog)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/61 "2006-05-06T03:51:59Z")
Weren’t the homosexual acts in [Midnight Express](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077928/) totally left out of the movie? ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/62 "2006-05-06T03:57:09Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Um…what? A show featuring five gay men who make constant reference to being gay has been de-gayed? Are you trying to make a joke or are you just really unclear on the concept? The Fab Five have let themselves become eunuchs for the kingdom of Mammon. The show’s all about product placement, while showcasing a homogenised anodyne version of this neutered (homo)sexuality. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/63 "2006-05-06T03:59:38Z")
There’s a scene in the “Midnight Express” movie where a guy comes up behind Billy Hayes (in the shower, I think), puts his arms around him and basically asks for sex. Hayes turns him down. And I’m glad that someone else has replied to the “Bruce Banner” nonsense. Kenneth Johnson, in his commentary on the DVD release of “The Incredible Hulk” movie, also points out that the rumor is false, and as stated above, he simply dislikes alliterative names. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/64 "2006-05-06T05:44:33Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > In the movie, the boy’s father is scandalized because the boy wants to be…_a folk singer!_ Aye, there’s none so queer as folk. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/65 "2006-05-06T06:15:15Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > Aye, there’s none so queer as folk. Genius. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/66 "2006-05-06T13:17:53Z")
> [@Sir Rhosis](#): > > There’s a scene in the “Midnight Express” movie where a guy comes up behind Billy Hayes (in the shower, I think), puts his arms around him and basically asks for sex. Hayes turns him down. And in reality, Billy Hayes had sex with men while in prison. He did not, however, bite out anyone’s tongue, spitting it into the air in a slow motion spray of blood. But in the movie the sex was out but the tongue biting was in. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/67 "2006-05-06T19:15:49Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > And of course, _Suddenly, Last Summer_ in which Sebastian Venable, despite being at the heart of the story, is never allowed to be on-screen. I thought he appeared in the flashback, when Elizabeth Taylor’s character finally told what had happened to him? At least in this movie, cryptic and eliptical as her explanation is, the idea that Sebastian is attracted to men and, oddly enough, used his pretty girl-cousin to draw them, does come through. When Vivien Leigh’s Blanche in _Streetcar_ talks about her young husband, the most we get is that he’s “sensitive” and poetic. I grew up with this version of _Streetcar_; the first time I saw an unabridged performance of the play, it surprised me how much more she had to say about him. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/68 "2006-05-06T19:25:07Z")
One could argue that Sebastian Venable isn’t allowed to appear in Tennessee Williams’ play, either. A major theme of the play is that we know him only through the subjective accounts of others. The movie opened the narrative up to show Sebastian, although we never see his face. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/69 "2006-05-06T19:41:57Z")
Right, his body appears on-screen but not his face, which is what I was trying (poorly) to express. Not having read the play, I think saying he “wasn’t allowed” to appear is perhaps a mischaracterization. The play begins well after his death, and AFAIK there was nothing equivalent to the Hayes/Breen office mandating that he not appear on stage, so his not appearing was a choice based on structure rather than censorship. Williams could have included flashback scenes including Sebastian, but chose not to structure the play in that fashion. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/70 "2006-05-06T19:56:42Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Right, his body appears on-screen but not his face, which is what I was trying (poorly) to express. Yes, once I saw Walloon’s message above, I remembered and realized that’s what you meant. Actually, the gay man dead and unseen before the play opens, but with the aftereffects of his death being very important to the story, is fairly standard for Tennessee Williams–Sebastien Venables, Blanche’s husband, and _Cat on a Hot Tin Roof_’s Skipper all fall into that category… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/71 "2006-05-06T20:43:47Z")
(Noted in the other thread.) The 1946 film version of _The Big Sleep_ ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Big\_Sleep](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Sleep)), OTOH, glosses over a couple of things made very clear in the book, and without which the plot doesn’t make much sense: (1) The mysterious “bookstore” where Marlowe’s investigation begins is actually a rental pornography business. (2) Carol Lundgren is Arthur Geiger’s gay lover and is acting to avenge his death. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/72 "2006-05-06T20:48:56Z")
No cite, but I read once that as _54_ ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120577/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120577/)) was originally filmed, Shane, Anita and Greg formed a bisexual three-way menage. Studio execs required the ending to be entirely revised, rewritten and re-shot before theatrical release. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/73 "2006-05-07T07:11:12Z")
James Van Der Beek had a graphic gay sex scene in a movie (I think [this one](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0292644/)) that was removed by the studio (and to the great relief of his agent) for ratings purposes. (It was graphic enough that Van Der Beek’s character was known to be the bottom by those who saw it.) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/74 "2006-05-07T13:42:28Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > _Queer Eye for the Straight Guy_. De-gayed couldn’t express it better. Gorblimey, how heavily \*has \* it been edited for the Chinese market? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/75 "2006-05-07T16:37:56Z")
How much gayer could _Queer Eye_ get? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/76 "2006-05-07T17:41:38Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > How much gayer could _Queer Eye_ get? For the foreign market they digitally removed Carson and replaced him with James Garner. I heard. ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/77 "2006-05-07T19:21:17Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > How much gayer could _Queer Eye_ get? Plenty. Get five gay men in the same room together, and I can assure you that the conversation would only be fit for premium cable. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/78 "2006-05-07T20:56:34Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > For the foreign market they digitally removed Carson and replaced him with James Garner. Only in Singapore. Hong Kong’s more conservative - they’d never use the star of gender-bending _Victor Victoria_. We get Rock Hudson. ---
**Author:** ![nevermore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a587f6/32.png) [@nevermore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevermore)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/79 "2006-05-07T23:09:27Z")
I heard that the screenplay for _Bend It Like Beckham_ had lesbian content, but they tossed it. shame; if there’d been lesbianism I might’ve had some interest in watching it. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/80 "2006-05-08T01:02:29Z")
> [@nevermore](#): > > I heard that the screenplay for _Bend It Like Beckham_ had lesbian content, but they tossed it. shame; if there’d been lesbianism I might’ve had some interest in watching it. The only reason they binned it was because the money men didn’t think it would wash in a flick about birds who enjoyed playing with balls. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438.md?page=5)