Ian McKellen got real candid about Hollywood sticking up for straight, white men.

More

Ian McKellen got real candid about Hollywood sticking up for straight, white men.

Hollywood has some serious issues. It treats women terribly, overlooks people of color, and erases disabled and LGBTQ people from its stories, for starters.

Someone who doesn't need reminding of the industry's embarrassing failings is openly gay actor Ian McKellen.

Photo by Tristan Fewings/WPA Pool/Getty Images.

The 78-year-old stage and film actor who's spent the better part of his life working in the industry got candid with Time Out London about Hollywood's tendency to only defend and empower white men and their heteronormative stories.

Take Albus Dumbledore, for instance. Years ago, author J.K. Rowling divulged that the wizard headmaster in "Harry Potter" is gay. Yet in the newer movies in the franchise, filmmakers have shied away from allowing the character to display any sense of explicit queerness, to the disappointment of many fans.

Time Out London's Phil de Semlyen asked McKellen, who routinely gets mistaken for the actors who actually played Dumbledore on screen — Richard Harris till his death, then Michael Gamdon — about the ongoing controversy: "The younger Dumbledore isn't explicitly gay in the new 'Fantastic Beasts' movie. Why do you think there are so few gay characters in blockbusters?"

McKellen responded:

"Isn't he? That’s a pity. Well, nobody looks to Hollywood for social commentary, do they? They only recently discovered that there were black people in the world. Hollywood has mistreated women in every possible way throughout its history. Gay men don't exist. 'Gods and Monsters' [in 1998], I think, was the beginning of Hollywood admitting that there were gay people knocking around, even though half of Hollywood is gay."

You can't knock him for a lack of candor.

Photo by Ernesto S. Ruscio/Getty Images.

Do you think his comment seems melodramatic or unnecessarily harsh? They seem pretty on-the-nose to me.

Keep in mind, Hollywood is just now reckoning with its massive sexual abuse epidemic, its white-washed and racist systems of production, and the fact the industry is still run by an overwhelmingly straight, cisgender, white, and older group of men who choose which projects get made and by whom.

McKellen's comments also come on the heels of a damning new report from GLAAD on LGBTQ representation in film.

In its Studio Responsibility Index, the advocacy group found a sharp decline in the percentage of queer-inclusive movies across the largest production studios. Between 2016 and 2017, that figure dropped from 18.4% to 12.8% — the lowest since GLAAD began tracking data six years ago.

It's easy to assume progress just happens. But it doesn't.

McKellen rightly suggested that Hollywood continues to fail women, people of color, and other marginalized groups. But he's also been around for quite a long time, and he's hopeful the future is bright for LGBTQ people — on screen and off.

"When I go to schools to talk about gay rights, the kids can't believe it," McKellen explained of younger generations showing acceptance. "It's not an issue for them."

Queer kids deserve to see a world on screen that reflects their own. And if it takes a gay wizard flicking his wand to help send that message, sign me up for the next train to Hogwarts.

Learn more about GLAAD's Studio Responsibility Index findings here.

P&G Good Everyday

Let's Do More Together

Meet the people infusing their communities with love and support when it’s needed most

True

If the past year has taught us nothing else, it's that sending love out into the world through selfless acts of kindness can have a positive ripple effect on people and communities. People all over the United States seemed to have gotten the message — 71% of those surveyed by the World Giving Index helped a stranger in need in 2020. A nonprofit survey found 90% helped others by running errands, calling, texting and sending care packages. Many people needed a boost last year in one way or another and obliging good neighbors heeded the call over and over again — and continue to make a positive impact through their actions in this new year.

Upworthy and P&G Good Everyday wanted to help keep kindness going strong, so they partnered up to create the Lead with Love Fund. The fund awards do-gooders in communities around the country with grants to help them continue on with their unique missions. Hundreds of nominations came pouring in and five winners were selected based on three criteria: the impact of action, uniqueness, and "Upworthy-ness" of their story.

Here's a look at the five winners:

Edith Ornelas, co-creator of Mariposas Collective in Memphis, Tenn.

Edith Ornelas has a deep-rooted connection to the asylum-seeking immigrant families she brings food and supplies to families in Memphis, Tenn. She was born in Jalisco, Mexico, and immigrated to the United States when she was 7 years old with her parents and sister. Edith grew up in Chicago, then moved to Memphis in 2016, where she quickly realized how few community programs existed for immigrants. Two years later, she helped create Mariposas Collective, which initially aimed to help families who had just been released from detention centers and were seeking asylum. The collective started out small but has since grown to approximately 400 volunteers.

Keep Reading Show less

community

popular

People who downplay the threat of this pandemic are as deadly as the disease itself

Images via Canva and Unsplash

If there's one thing that everyone can agree on, it's that being in a pandemic sucks.

However, we seem to be on different pages as to what sucks most about it. Many of us are struggling with being separated from our friends and loved ones for so long. Some of us have lost friends and family to the virus, while others are dealing with ongoing health effects of their own illness. Millions are struggling with job loss and financial stress due to businesses being closed. Parents are drowning, dealing with their kids' online schooling and lack of in-person social interactions on top of their own work logistics. Most of us hate wearing masks (even if we do so diligently), and the vast majority of us are just tired of having to think about and deal with everything the pandemic entails.

Much has been made of the mental health impact of the pandemic, which is a good thing. We need to have more open conversations about mental health in general, and with everything so upside down, it's more important now than ever. However, it feels like pandemic mental health conversations have been dominated by people who want to justify anti-lockdown arguments. "We can't let the cure be worse than the disease," people say. Kids' mental health is cited as a reason to open schools, the mental health challenges of financial despair as a reason to keep businesses open, and the mental health impact of social isolation as a reason to ditch social distancing measures.

It's not that those mental health challenges aren't real. They most definitely are. But when we focus exclusively on the mental health impact of lockdowns, we miss the fact that there are also significant mental health struggles on the other side of those arguments.

Keep Reading Show less

mental health