#scarjo
i feel like scarjo sayin she can play plants & animals in the context of playing women of color and trans men is uh, pretty telling
saying this as a non white woman. but. this is stupid as shit. it was an example based on the stupidest most ridiculous thing you could play as an actor. you know what an actor is? someone who pretends to be SOMEONE THEY’RE NOT while performing in a film, play, or television or radio. everybody has played a tree or an animal at a school play. everyone should be allowed to play anything regardless. and the fact that people are calling her out for being stupid but not calling out the actual men who cast her as trans and asian is uh, pretty telling
Hi! So while this post is obviously a short drag, not a comprehensive analysis/response to the overall problem, you are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT that directors/producers/casting directors often are not called out in the same way actors are and that’s a huge problem because it can obscure the underlying issues. However, while we do need to make sure we address this more comprehensively, it’s still an issue that actors (especially highly paid, very successful ones) choose to pursue and take these roles. It’s a problem to say any actor should be able to anyone they want when we can currently see that in practice this pretty much means any white/cis actor can play anyone they want, while often talented actors of color or actors who are trans never even get the chance to tell their own stories. It’s also a problem when we’re told the only way we can hear trans stories are if we let cis people play them (re: Rub and Tug being cancelled after Scarlett dropped).
Going back to what this post was specifically commenting on, Scarlett Johansson’s implicitly comparing people of color & trans people to plants and animals, this *is* a problem and it is worh commenting on because it is very revealing of her over all attitude towards marginalized communities. As I’m sure you know and have experienced, people of color and trans people are all too frequently dehumanized in society. This isn’t just everyone liking a good drag, it’s a frusteration with ScarJo’s continued and public endorsement of the roles of people of color being given to white people & the roles of trans men and trans women being given to cis women and cis men. At this point, we know representation DOES matter, so our choices to refuse to represent certain kinds of people and/or to represent them in highly damaging ways needs to be discussed. Again, I agree that we need to do this comprehensively by calling out the industry not just individuals, but we also need to talk about the kinds of rhetoric used to defend and uphold systems of misrepresentation.
Johansson bowed out of the film “Rub and Tug” after facing backlash for her decision to play a trans man, which she initially defended. “I’ve learned a lot from the community since making my first statement about my casting and realize it was insensitive,“ she told "Out” magazine. Her casting was criticized by trans actors Trace Lysette, Jamie Clayton and others who argued that transgender actors should play transgender roles. more here(x)
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