Posted on 08/10/2019 3:38:49 AM PDT by NorseViking
Scarlett Johansson is only half right. Even the best actors can’t credibly represent every character.
Hardly a week goes by without attempts to police which actors can play certain roles. There is fierce debate over what kinds of parts should be played by what sort of person. Should Bryan Cranston play a disabled person? Can 007 be a black woman? The underlying question is always: can any actor play any role?
A few weeks ago, Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson was interviewed by artist David Salle in As If magazine. In the interview, they discuss trends in acting and how art changes when it is judged primarily on a moral basis. Johansson says that ‘as an actor, I should be allowed to play any person, or any tree, or any animal because that is my job and the requirements of my job’.
This statement caused outrage among the Twitterati and self-selected cultural gatekeepers. Johansson had already aroused suspicion after playing an Asian character in the science-fiction drama Ghost in the Shell. And last year, after public pressure, she stepped down from a role as a transgender man in the film Rub & Tug. Her critics disagreed very strongly that she should ‘be allowed’ to play characters with a racial or gender identity different to her own. Following the interview, Johansson quickly put out a statement, saying that her words had been taken out of context and that she unequivocally supports the need for more diversity in Hollywood casting.
(Excerpt) Read more at spiked-online.com ...
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Or Danny Devito as George Washington.
Yes, that is exactly the question.
I’m tired of M-F Reagan on my M-F Mig!!
Imagine the outrage among the black and snowflake communities if someone were to make a biopic of Shaka, king of the Zulus, with Jack Nicholson — who without question is one of the greatest screen actors of all time — in the starring role.
I tried to watch the 2018 film, Mary Queen of Scots, which begins with Mary living in London and under house arrest by her cousin, Queen Elizabeth of England. The opening scene is Elizabeth at court, where the audience learns that one of her ladies in waiting is Asian and the chief of her privy council is black.
At which point it flunked my test for historical authenticity so I switched it off.
The only actor who can play and has played
any role is Dustin Hoffman.
Robert Duvall.
Can? Yes. Should? No.
All sorts of actors can play all sorts of roles badly.
Shakespeare had men playing women.
See post #9.
Reagan would be Asian in this case.
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