# Most degrading or humiliating scene for an actress/actor **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 22, 2003, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102 "2003-07-22T07:24:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/41 "2003-07-23T01:11:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gatopescado \* > \*\*There is a mighty big world outside the dimmly lit (movie) theater recesses. “Cafe Society” isn’t confined to the Bile What Spews from Hollywood. \*\* So why do you feel the need to come into a thread about films just to spew about the topic? Can’t you take the hate to the Pit or stick to non-Hollywood related threads, especially since you don’t seem to have anything constructive to contribute here. And I’m gonna toss a vote in for the kid in _American Pie_ who got caught with the apple pie. Truly a humiliating scene for a character. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/42 "2003-07-23T01:20:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gatopescado \* > \*\*This is pure Bullshit! (in my opinion) … > > My opinion of the vast majority of those involved with moviemaking are they are too lazy/spoiled/pampered/privledged or whatever to do something more important with their lives.\*\* I think you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. Go work on a movie sometime, and then get back to us. And I don’t mean, try to be the fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the acting community that makes more than a million dollars a role. I mean the overwhelming majority that’s happy just to put on a paper hat and stand in the background. From that perspective, it’s _much_ more degrading to be one of the generic cheesecake girls in the average testosterone flick. Can you imagine showing up on the set, being handed two postage stamps and a handkerchief by the costumer, and then spending the day having some pumped-up Michael-Bay-style wunderkind yell at you through his megaphone, “Hey! You, with the saggy ass! Shake your tits more! No, bend over! This way, you stupid cow!” I know you’re proud of your opinion, **gato** , but it’s hugely, hugely misplaced. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/43 "2003-07-23T01:43:00Z")
The gang rape of the maid (played by **Silvana Gallardo** ) in the movie **Death Wish 2** is very graphic. Rather than describe the entire scene, just look up this movie in the user comment reviews on the IMDB: [http://us.imdb.com/CommentsShow?0082250](http://us.imdb.com/CommentsShow?0082250) The actress is naked for quite some time on film and if that’s not degrading enough, there are 5 punks constantly jeering and cheering. I think this is the kind of scene the original poster intended. Since this was a “Cannon” film and since the actress doesn’t have too much star power, she went through quite a bit for what was probably a small salary. ---
**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:** [July 23, 2003, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/44 "2003-07-23T01:47:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gatopescado \* > This is pure Bullshit! (in my opinion) If these actors are so humiliated by doing something **that is going to be filmed and shown around the world for everyone stupid enough to shell out money to see** , why the hell don’t they just say “No thanks!”? I’ll give you a hint: They do it for the money! They got to support that Ferrari and Cocaine lifestyle! “Explore difficult and dangerous material in emotional safety”? Are you kidding? Would this be “Charlie’s Angels” or “Bruce Almighty”? Wow, this paragraph had me pretty shaken, but then I looked back at the top and saw that it was only his opinion. I mean, initially I had assumed it was God speaking from the mount, but thankfully he clarified that he’s just some random crank on the internet. > [@](#): > > Certainly these pampered individuals have some kind of free will and can turn down a roll they feel is degrading. What? And have to get a real job? The old butt-to-butt scene doesn’t sound too bad all of a sudden. In my experience, most jobs, real or otherwise, are in some measure degrading. The difference is, when Robert Mitchum ends up trying to jumpstart his career as the next Leslie Nielsen in a seventh-rate _Airplane!_ knock-off ([Backfire!](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0112440), for those of you keeping score at home), it’s on cable five nights a week for everyone to see. Whereas when your manager screams at you for twenty minutes because you keep forgeting to ask customers if they want a hot apple pie with their Big Mac, it’s a private humiliation between you and him, and whoever happens to be in the McDonalds at four in the morning. > [@](#): > > Sorry. My opinion of the vast majority of those involved with moviemaking are they are too lazy/spoiled/pampered/privledged or whatever to do something more important with their lives. And you base this opinion off of your personal, first-hand knowledge of how many movie stars, exactly? > [@](#): > > They are about the same as whores if you ask me (and nobody really did! sorry about that!), meaning they do little or nothing for big bucks and the question of integrity is only a question of how much money. Ah, the easy, leisure-filled life of a whore. How I envy them. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/45 "2003-07-23T02:25:00Z")
A scene in the fourth Lexx movie “Tales from a parallel universe: Gigashadow”. Brian Downey, as Stanley Tweedle, is hung naked by his wrists and ankles while his giggling tormenters approach him with a garden hose. ---
**Author:** ![Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/46 "2003-07-23T02:33:54Z")
I sat through Robin Hood:Prince of Thieves feeling totally embarassed for EVERYONE on the screen. Come to think of it I felt the same in Dances with Wolves… how humiliating to have to prop Costner up… ---
**Author:** ![Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/47 "2003-07-23T02:37:57Z")
Another thought that occured while the last was loading… I always feel sad for an actor or actress who is trying their absolute DAMNEDEST and the movie is still an utter turkey… or like poor Bela reduced to Ed Woods movies… I havent ever felt that sex scenes were humiliating for the actor… they read the script they agreed to the scene… but to be stuck having to do turkeys so you can eat… thats humiliating… _my two cents_ ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/48 "2003-07-23T03:08:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gatopescado \* > \*\*Sorry. My opinion of the vast majority of those involved with moviemaking are they are too lazy/spoiled/pampered/privledged or whatever to do something more important with their lives. They are about the same as whores if you ask me (and nobody really did! sorry about that!), meaning they do little or nothing for big bucks and the question of integrity is only a question of how much money. > \*\* It’s quite obvious from this that you know very few actors. Or whores, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/49 "2003-07-23T03:39:50Z")
I think of Orson Welles: His last role was that of Optimus Prime in the Transformers Movie. Orson Welles – how sad to have something like that be your last hurrah. ---
**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:** [July 23, 2003, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/50 "2003-07-23T03:56:20Z")
Coulda been worse. Coulda been a frozen pea commercial. ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/51 "2003-07-23T04:42:01Z")
Or Paul Masson Light – how much weight did he lose drinking that anyway? ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/52 "2003-07-23T04:44:32Z")
> [@](#): > > I think of Orson Welles: His last role was that of Optimus Prime in the Transformers Movie. Nope, Peter Cullen was always the voice of Optimus. Welles voiced Unicron. ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/53 "2003-07-23T06:16:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by shy guy \* > \*\*Nope, Peter Cullen was always the voice of Optimus. > > Welles voiced Unicron. \*\* Same effect – possibly worse, as he wasn’t the star robot. ---
**Author:** ![Grousser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Grousser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grousser)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/54 "2003-07-23T06:43:33Z")
Sorry for being late to reply, I don’t want you to think I was trolling starting this thread (I got a little paranoia for that). > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by McJohn \* > **"That is the most disrespectful thing I’ve ever seen a director do to an actor."** That was exactly my intention to explore in this thread. And I said it has to be related to sex, because comic stuff doesn’t count (like animal costumes or the diarrhea scene in D&D). > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Zebra_ > **Grousser > I need some clarification(…)Are you saying that if you were an actor you could not act these scenes? Are you having sympathy for the actor or the character they are playing, because they are two different things you know.** Of course, if I were an actor. That’s the reason of why I’m not an actor. Because I wouldn’t stand it. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Murcielago \* > **The Ned Beatty Deliverence scene tops my list, I was never able to see him in anything else without that coming to mind.** This is one of the secondary effects of why I wouldn’t do it. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by gatopescado_ > **If these actors are so humiliated by doing something that is going to be filmed and shown around the world for everyone stupid enough to shell out money to see, why the hell don’t they just say “No thanks!”?** I don’t share gatopescado’s attitude, but the idea in the quoted text is another point of my inquietude. I wouldn’t want to be remembered for a scene being raped, or giving a blowjob, or some stuff like that, even though the most intelligent persons know that all is simulated. But judging the reviews of Gallo’s **The Brown Bunny** with Chloe Sevigny’s _acted_ blowjob, the limits between fake and reality are being dangerously reduced. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/55 "2003-07-23T07:14:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ddgryphon \* > Same effect – possibly worse, as he wasn’t the star robot. Definitely worse, since he voiced a _planet._ Granted, a transforming robotic planet, who was eventually retconed into one of the dark gods of the universe, but still… “Orson Welles == planet” is definitely not the highlight of his career. And in a related vein, I hear Leonard Nimoy refuses to talk about his work in _Transformers: The Movie_ as well, so apparently he finds it rather degrading as well. ---
**Author:** ![Grousser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Grousser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grousser)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/56 "2003-07-23T07:18:25Z")
Did I enter the Twilight Zone or the thread took another course in my abscence? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/57 "2003-07-23T17:13:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dooku \* > \*\*Do a search, **Eve**. I’d say 40% of the time **gatopescado** strolls into a thread just to spread his cranky vibe. > > I’ve come across his shtick before - he’s just one of those dudes that must post his negative opinion on whatever subject strikes his crotchety fancy. He doesn’t seem to be trolling as much as strongly opinionated and grouchy, IMO. \*\* What do you know about me or my life!?! Movie stars have **RUINED MY LIFE!!!** They put concrete blocks in piles of leaves so I tear up my car!! They erect Carbon-Fiber mailboxes that break my baseball bats! **They are ALL out to get ME!! THEY ARE RUINING MY LIFE!!!** . . . (wait for it!) . . . FUCKO OFF! (again!) 😃 Actually, **Dooku** , I think you’re the only person who actually understands me! Excuse me, I’m getting a little misty…(sniff)… * * * Why do people who bitch that artists “sell out” download so much of their stuff for free? ---
**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:** [July 23, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/58 "2003-07-23T18:10:32Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Grousser_ > That was exactly my intention to explore in this thread. And I said it has to be related to sex, because comic stuff doesn’t count (like animal costumes or the diarrhea scene in D&D). Only sex can be degrading? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/59 "2003-07-23T18:23:37Z")
From my understanding of Orson’s life, he brought quite a bit of it on himself with his personality and perfectionism. Far more humiliating was probably the time he arrived at Ma Maison in a small Italian convertible and it had to be disassembled in order to get him out. (For some odd reason, his daughter withdrew his Oscar from an auction today even though it would have fetched her a considerable six figure sum at least.) I have trouble feeling sympathy for Bela for several reasons. He wasn’t a young man when he hit it big- he was middle-aged and had lived hand to mouth and missed meals for years, so he should have known to save the money. During the height of the Depression and slightly beyond, he earned well over $500,000, a VAST fortune in those days that if properly invested in CA real estate and oil, etc., could have put him into Bob Hope and Gene Autry territory, but instead he frittered it away on mansions and parties and $400 tips and divorces and ultimately wound up too broke to pay child support for his only child (though his ex-wife could hardly have been more understanding- she actually went to court to have his alimony eliminated and child support reduced as she and her new-husband were in comfortable circumstances and she still had feelings for him). I read an interview with Imogene Coca in which she said she found her role in FAMILY VACATION humiliating and degrading. I’ve no idea why, because I thought she was hysterical and her final scene was one of the funniest of the 1980s. Sir Alec Guinness admitted that one reason he took the role of Obi Wan was because he was being constantly offered roles in low budget horror flicks (including lesbian vampire flicks) and the temptation to take them was becoming increasingly real as his legitimate offers and paychecks decreased. He didn’t want to become another Christopher Lee style window dressing for schlock (though Lee survived nicely to re-emerge in two of the most successful trilogies of all time). ---
**Author:** ![Stonebow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Stonebow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stonebow)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/60 "2003-07-23T18:26:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > \*\*Only sex can be degrading? 😕 \*\* Only if you do it right. 😉 I think that the OP focuses on sexual scenes because of the intimacy forced upon the viewer. That can make trauma in these scenes particularly disturbing. In a way, the viewer shares in the degradation occurring on-screen, usually as the victim. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102.md?page=4)