Do I Sound Gay? Q and A with David Thorpe
Seemingly overnight, America has learned to embrace its LGBTQ community, even if that embrace is more of a stiff one-armed pat on the back. Yet no matter how tolerant the country has become, there are still members of the gay community that take issue with aspects of the lifestyle. In David Thorpe’s debut documentary “Do I Sound Gay?” the writer-producer-director turned the camera on himself to ask that very tough question.
From September 11-17, Thorpe’s film will be shown at the Nickelodeon Theatre, located at 1607 Main Street, with a special post film discussion with the director on Sunday, September 13. We spoke to the Columbia-native about making the film, what his family really thinks about the movie and if he still thinks he sounds gay.
I’m incredibly excited to show the film at Nickelodeon. I grew up going to the Nickelodeon. Its hard to put into words how much it means to me to be able to come back with my own film.”
David Thorpe
creator of the documentary “Do I Sound Gay”While growing up in Columbia, where did you like to hang out?
“[laughs] I liked hanging out at a cafe on Main Street that’s now closed,” said Thorpe. “You would always get a great mix of southerners and alienated high school kids and whoever else happened to be around. They had a great jukebox.”
Do you keep in touch with anyone in town?
“I lost touch with a lot of friends in high school but what’s great about this film is that it reconnected me with my Irmo friends, my Columbia friends,” said Thorpe. “And my parents still live in Five Points. I come back a fair amount.”
How does your family feel about the film?
“They were a little puzzled at first,” said Thorpe. “They thought that I was happy with who I was. They didn’t know that I still had anxiety and conflicts about being gay. Not to mention sounding gay. But they are so proud now. My mom brags quite a bit about me.”
So, do you think you sound gay?
“When I hear my voice played back I do think I sound gayer than I sound when I’m just speaking,” said Thorpe. “But a lot of people don’t like their voices and don’t like to hear their voices played back. That’s very common. But I think for many gay men what they typically react to is how gay they seem to sound when they hear their voices. A lot of gay men have told me its not just, “oh my voice sounds so weird” or “I don’t like to hear it played back”. They were actually taken aback that they sounded so much gayer than they thought.”
At one point early on in the film you likened sounded gay to sounding like a “braying ninny”. Did you receive any backlash from the LGBTQ community because of that remark?
“Knock on wood I haven’t had negative backlash from the gay community,” said Thorpe. “Of course I thought not everybody might be ready or willing to talk about shame or internalized homophobia but I’ve found the opposite. By and large the LGBT audiences recognize the struggle that I depict in the film. A lot of gay men particularly can identify with issues around their voices. Which is not to say that every gay man feels the anxiety that I felt but I think its something every gay man can grasp. We all understand how conspicuous we are as gay people.”
The most surprising and also gratifying response to the film has been that it seems to prompt people to think about themselves. Its made people think about their own lives and aspects of themselves they wish they were more comfortable with or had to learn how to be proud of.”
David Thorpe
creator of the documentary “Do I Sound Gay”If you could have any other voice, who’s would it be and why?
“James Earl Jones has a classic voice,” said Thorpe. “George Clooney...Clive Owen. We’re so attracted by how movie stars look but to be a true charismatic star you need to have really compelling voice. We don’t talk about it as much but voice plays a big role in our sense of somebody as attractive or interesting or compelling.
This story was originally published September 8, 2015 at 8:01 PM with the headline "Do I Sound Gay? Q and A with David Thorpe."