# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/61 "2003-07-23T18:37:22Z")
The second thread crapper I have saw today alone. Yeesh, I hope we get another Cafe Society Mod soon. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/62 "2003-07-23T18:42:29Z")
Oh and Ned Beatty by a mile. :eek: ---
**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, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/63 "2003-07-23T23:31:56Z")
Please! Don’t twist it! I’m not saying that only sex can be degrading. It was just to explore “sexual degrading scenes”, the other type of humiliating scenes was explored in another thread, but if this is getting misunderstood, then don’t continue! My OP was legitimate and there’s not a morbid intention in it. :o (unless _I_ am misunderstanding you) ---
**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 24, 2003, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/64 "2003-07-24T01:52:52Z")
As far as sexually degrading scenes, **Camille Keaton in “I Spit On Your Grave”** (a film I’ve never seen) went through quite an ordeal in that film. The assault on **Adrienne Corri in “Clockwork Orange”** was rather graphic for a mainstream film. I take it this is what Grousser is referring to ? ---
**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 24, 2003, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/65 "2003-07-24T02:18:44Z")
Well, how do you mean, “degrading?” Degrading for having to film it, or degrading for having people watch it in theaters? Ned Beatty’s rape scene was degrading from the standpoint of the character, and uncomfortable to watch for the audience, but I doubt it was a degrading experience for the actor in any real way. It’s been years since I’ve seen it, but I don’t think there’s any nudity: mostly, I remember his close-up reaction shot, which he could have done just as convincingly with his pants on. It was a good role in a good film that received strong popular and critical acclaim and gave Beatty a permanent place in movie history. Being raped up the ass is certainly degrading, but I don’t think it necessarily follows that _pretending_ to be raped up the ass is degrading in any measure. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/66 "2003-07-24T03:13:08Z")
Try to look kindly on those folks. I have an actress friend. She was in a few pictures and was starting to get noticed. Then she had a dry spell. She was ready to take anything. After all, these folks have house payments like the rest of us. If she takes the crappy part she screws her career. If she turns down the crappy part she loses her house. Guess which she did… ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/67 "2003-07-24T04:04:39Z")
I think the prison rape scene in **American History X** is particularly difficult to watch. I have no clue what Edward Norton thought of it, but I’m uncomfortable watching it. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/68 "2003-07-24T04:40:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ddgryphon \* > \*\*Same effect – possibly worse, as he wasn’t the star robot. \*\* His Unicron role was still many, many energon cubes better than his turn as [Othello](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0045251). :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/69 "2003-07-24T13:27:06Z")
**Grousser** So the thread is about ‘sex scenes you would not want to be the actor’. Is that what you were going for? You see some people think the thread is about being in a role or scene that in retrospect, after seeing the finished filmed the actor must be embarrassed about being in it. But you are saying, or trying to say (I think) ‘I would never play that role, that would just be too shocking and disturbing to myself to even just _act_ like I was being raped by hillbillies like Ned Beatty did in Deliverence.’ ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/70 "2003-07-24T13:29:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*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. > > * * * > > Why do the artists that bitch the loudest about free downloading get so much radio airplay? \*\* Cafe Society is about ‘The Arts’ in general and this thread is about acting. So…why are you in this thread? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/71 "2003-07-24T19:46:38Z")
I haven’t been able to come up with a scene that strikes me as appropriate for this thread, and ultimately I think it’s because I disagree with the thread concept. No matter how humiliating or degrading a character’s experiences in a movie, there’s a difference between acting them and experiencing them. It’s like the difference between performing dangerous stunts on Fear Factor and actually doing dangerous stunts in the real world, or the difference between pretend fighting in a war movie and facing real bullets that will really kill you. Even if you’re being asked to do the exact same thing in a movie that people do in real life – say, give a blowjob – the essential movie experience is at one remove from the real thing. The movie experience CAN’T be as humiliating or degrading as the real thing, because it ISN’T the real thing, even if it mimics the real thing exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/72 "2003-07-24T20:27:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elf6c \* > \*\*Yeesh, I hope we get another Cafe Society Mod soon. ☹ \*\* You got a problem with the thread? Funny, I haven’t seen an e-mail from you. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/73 "2003-07-24T21:00:39Z")
I haven’t been able to come up with a scene that strikes me as appropriate for this thread, and ultimately I think it’s because I disagree with the thread concept. No matter how humiliating or degrading a character’s experiences in a movie, there’s a difference between acting them and experiencing them in real life. It’s like the difference between performing dangerous stunts on Fear Factor and actually doing dangerous stunts in the real world sans helmets, nets or bungee cords, or the difference between pretend fighting in a war movie and facing real bullets that will really kill you in a war. Even if you’re being asked to do the exact same thing in a movie that people do in real life – say, give a blowjob – the essential movie experience is at one remove from the real thing. The movie experience CAN’T be humiliating or degrading in the same way the real thing is, because it ISN’T the real thing, even if it mimics the real thing exactly. I mean, if I see Sharon Stone exposing her pussy in Basic Instinct, my opinion of Sharon Stone really doesn’t change – she’s still an actress playing a character, even if that character does expose herself to the cops and the audience. I think we’re comparing apples to oranges here. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/74 "2003-07-24T21:02:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* > \*\*You got a problem with the thread? Funny, I haven’t seen an e-mail from you. \*\* Well, it certainly isn’t \*\* elf6c\*\*'s fault that your psychic reading powers need recharging. 😉 At the very least, I thnk we deserve a John Edward level of professionalism when you moderate. **Ukulele Ike** : “I’m getting a vibe.” **Audience** : “Ooohh… what kind of vibe?” **Ukulele Ike** : “Someone’s unhappy. In a thread. Somewhere. On some message board. Did I say ‘somewhere’?” **Audience** : “More, more! We want more!” **Ukulele Ike** : “That someone’s name starts with a letter of the alphabet–” **Audience** : “Why not a number?” **Ukulele Ike** : “Bite me, audience member.” **Audience** : “Ooohh, can a psychic moderator be insulting when talking with the dead? Can someone ask **Manny**?” **Ukulele Ike** “Ahem. As I was saying: someone is unhappy around here. And that person is…” **Narrator** : As the horrendously powerful **Ukulele Ike** lunged forward with his answer, escape for **elf6c** and the rest of the SDMB audience seemed hopeless, when suddenly, **SkipMagic** suffered a sudden attack of having something else better to do. **SkipMagic** : “Oh, look: I can download porn!” **Narrator** : The psychic peril was no more. The quest to keep on ignoring the _Report this post to a moderator_ link could continue. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/75 "2003-07-24T21:43:46Z")
For convenience’s sake, I’m going to translate Gatopescado’s posts in this - and future - threads, for all posterity. “They got something I don’t! They have a talent I lack! I don’t know what I’m talking about!” Thank you. From now on, whenever anyone spots “Gatopescado” on the message board, they can just skip any post that he writes and just mentally insert the above passage. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/76 "2003-07-24T21:57:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sampiro \* > \*\*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). \*\* Yeah, but nobody ever cries for Peter Cushing, who was pretty much in the same boat as Alec. Peter’s character didn’t get to live for the later movies. ☹ Alec Guiness at least was doing some things like “Murder By Death” (which I think is the movie he said he first saw the Star Wars script.) ---
**Author:** ![Grousser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Grousser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grousser)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/77 "2003-07-24T22:10:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zebra \* > \*\ ***Grousser** > > So the thread is about ‘sex scenes you would not want to be the actor’. Is that what you were going for? > > You see some people think the thread is about being in a role or scene that in retrospect, after seeing the finished filmed the actor must be embarrassed about being in it. > > But you are saying, or trying to say (I think) ‘I would never play that role, that would just be too shocking and disturbing to myself to even just _act_ like I was being raped by hillbillies like Ned Beatty did in Deliverence.’ \*\* Ok, let’s pretend the thread name is “sex scenes you would never perform”. But if you were an actor and some scene you once filmed now embarrases you, then it’s the same thing. My idea is that maybe actors (or the most of them) manages the concept that reality and fake are two well-separated things, despite of what you see in screen. I know the difference, but still I wouldn’t want my children to watch a degrading scene that I once did, no matter how fake it was. And for this: > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zebra \* > **In Intimacy, for example, Kerry Fox went beyond what most mainstream actesses would be willing to do in a scene, but the situation being depicted isn’t degrading at all; it’s just two adult lovers have some oral sex in private, which is fairly normal, I understand.** I agree, it’s fairly normal. But why the need to depict it so graphically? I’m still wondering what Chloe Sevigny would say to her parents, friends, relatives (or whoever): “No, I didn’t do a blowjob to Vincent… I was only _faking_ it. It’s my job.” Yeah, sure. (That would lead me to another kind of thread) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/78 "2003-07-24T22:41:30Z")
Bill Cosby and all of **Leonard Part 6**. ---
**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 25, 2003, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/79 "2003-07-25T00:38:03Z")
Evil Captor So there is a difference between acting and real life? I agree that there _should_ be but some folks tend to blur that line. **John Wayne** of whom I am NO fan whatsoever, was able to parley his tough war-ravaged veteran _movie persona_ into making people think he fought in **real** wars, when he never served a day in the military. Fans can be bad about blurring the fantasy/reality line too. I’ve heard that **Susan Lucci** gets verbally attacked by total strangers who think that she’s really Erica Kane (sp?) and always doing those nasty things that her _character_ does. I’ve also heard that **Barry Morse** (Inspector Gerard in “the Fugitive”) was constantly harrassed by people telling him “You are going after the wrong guy !! It’s the one-armed man that did it !!” ---
**Author:** ![DarRRva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/53a042/32.png) [@DarRRva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarRRva)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102/80 "2003-07-25T01:48:22Z")
I think the most degrading scene for any actor would have been for Anthony Hopkins to be next to Keanu Reeves in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, with Reeve’s appalling accent. In fact, the way this was shot, it looks as if they were shot seperately and edited together later, perhaps at Hopkins’ request. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-or-humiliating-scene-for-an-actress-actor/190102.md?page=5)