He hides Dirty Dancing the film in his room, but laughs at his Uncle Dean's skinny jeans. He's acts much more macho on screen than he's ever implied to be. Is this intentional or is the actor playing the character wrong?

I for one am glad he's not your average stereotypical camp gay guy. But i agree i do think he is playing the character wrong and should have put more research into the role.

I'm not sure it's possible in soap to play a character wrong and get away with it. A character is meant to be a certain way, how the creative bosses and writers of the show wants, if an actor comes in and doesn't play the character as they are meant to be, it won't carry on for very long as they will be corrected. Since this character has been there a while now, id say that he must be playing it in a way the writers are happy with and feels represents their vision and plans.

He's not implied to be camp. He's implied to have a very feminine side that's all.

How do these two things contradict each other? I wouldn't call Johnny "macho" and I wouldn't say the writers have implied he's camp either. Characters don't have be defined by one word, with all their actions being dictated by that, people in real life aren't like that so why should fictional characters be.

A feminine side we don't see.

Okay maybe I haven't articulated well.

What I'm trying to say is it seems there is a softer more feminine side to him we don't get to see.

He is gay.
He is not camp.
He likes musicals.

Camp does not = Musicals.

Agreed.

Gosh!

People are a mass of contradictions - be they gay, straight, black, white, male or female. I think it's always refreshing when we see a character who doesn't fit into a little stereotypical box because that's generally the way people are in the real world.

I'm not a massive fan of Johnny as a character, but he's very well rounded as a character, for better or worse. His sexuality is not his defining feature.

agreed

I'd like to see the writers switch Johnny onto drag in the next year. This is one issue that is never touched in soaps due to fear of stereotyping I guess.
Linda could start noticing some of her clothes are missing but assume it is Nancy borrowing them. It would be played as a serious storyline but would eventually have a happy outcome where Johnny starts up a cabaret act in the Vic and adopts a drag mother.
I think Sam Strike has the acting chops to play it really sensitively and sweetly.

I can't suss whether this is a joke or not…

I'm gay I love Musicals but I am definitely not camp (a lot are surprised when they learn my sexuality haha)

I think Johnny is a great representation of gay people on TV; different to your Christian Clarke or Sean Tully

forget his campness, I was more appalled by his attitude torward his poor mum, shes just craving attention WTF

Yeah there are plenty of gay people who aren't in the least bit camp. Doesn't mean they can't like musicals. Having said that, it is kinda cute when a little bit of gay comes out. This has happened once 3 months ago when he said "its fashion" in a slightly camp way. Would be fun to see him get drunk and start mincing a bit, not sure if SS has it in him to pay camp though! !

I think Dirty Dancing is a terrible film.

I do think they are stereotyping gay men. By making Johnny like girly films just because he's gay. I'm sure some where out there there's a gay man who likes an action movie.

I'm gay and I love action movies I quite like a musical every now and then too but action movies are awesome.

Back to the topic though I'm not camp (I have my moments on odd occasions) and I'm gay. In fact Johnny as a character and his story inspired me to come out - partly because Johnny is the closest representation of a gay man in the media today to myself, so I can relate to him in various circumstances, situations, mannerisms and other things.

Yeah, this is the problem I have with him and the rest of his family. As a character by itself, I think he's very well-rounded. He's not one thing or another. Just because a character is gay and they like "feminine" associated things (which is in itself based on stereotype) does not meet they are camp. I think the way Johnny is written is that he likes those things because he likes those things.

I don't think he is playing the character wrong at all. Being gay is about having romantic feelings or relationships for/with the same gender, not about appearance, or the way you act, or the way you speak, or dress, or just the way you are in general. Therefore aside from Johnny preferring blokes I don't see a right or wrong with Sam Strike and how he plays a gay male character. Johnny's a lot like me in a number of ways so for me I kinda associate with him a bit. Therefore for me Sam Strike is doing an amazing job in portraying Johnny. A lot of people have a checklist of how a gay person should act and that is what defines them as gay - its about how that person feels inside, in their minds, in their hearts (and in other areas too haha) especially towards those of the same gender, not how they act in general.

You should see Sam Strike when he isn't playing Johnny, he is actually quite bolshy and very different to the character he plays. He does put a camp touch on Jonny which i don't like.

I wouldn't say bolshy is the word. I'd go with awkward, but then both the actor and the character are awkward in the way they act. I find it rather cute.