Feb 23, 2021

Fair warning, I'm on my soapbox below coz I think this is a chance to open up this discussion further from the disability perspective.

Coming from a disability perspective, one pertinent thing is that my community just wants representation and for the opportunity to change the narrative. We are one of the most underrepresented, pitied, and often the forgotten community that is time and time again utilised for inspiration p--- for the majority abled-community to feel better about themselves, coz life is alright and couldn't be as bad as having a physical/mental/intellectual/acquired/nonverbal/nonvisible/neurodivergent disability right? We're regularly portrayed as burdens, as people better off dead or given away or fostered or people that need to be fixed and saved. Or we're portrayed as being amazing in spite of hardship, or patronised for living every day like the next individual but put on a pedestal coz people can't imagine how we do it. Our story is not for you to fetishise, we're humans just like you that want to live life like everyone else - only that we need extra support to be on the same equitable playing field within society and fields of work such as film/tv/media etc that is historically exclusionary, inaccessible and ableist.

And that's why backlash occurred coz it was another example of able-Hollywood again not allowing people with disabilities a seat at the table to represent ourselves. To change the perception, to showcase our talent, to prove that we're an integral part of society that still undervalues and underestimates our contribution. You can't tell a story about a certain demographic without consultation to ensure that the messages or themes conveyed aren't in anyway harmful or that it has the potential for the population to view disabled people as not equal or put on a pedestal to fetishise. I'm sure Cranston, like many professional Hollywood actors, would've done his due diligence and ensured his role was a faithful and sincere adaptation of a quadriplegic man. But the onus is on the system, the institutions, the production companies, casting firms and actors like Cranston to utilise their influence and stature to do more to be truly inclusive and accessible for not only disabled people, but all marginalised groups to tell their story through any art form. If people have a hard time understanding why the backlash happens, keep asking those questions and we'll be here to speak. Don't get frustrated when there's nothing to be frustrated about, especially the crowd that clutch their pearls when their world is turned upside down by PC culture or whatever you wanna call it. You have the ability to turn the other cheek and ignore it. When it happens to us, we can't ignore it. We can't assimilate when the world doesn't allow us to. You have that privilege, we don't.

That's in part a fault of the system. A disabled actor/actress can be more than a no-name should they be afforded an equitable opportunity to succeed in their field. Every actor was a nobody at some stage.

That disabled actor won't get his chance if the system doesn't fix the issues of access and inclusion, and with your mindset every project would gear towards a mega star instead of the writers/producers/directors etc trusting their talent in delivering a story/movie/whatever worth watching.

Bryan Cranston worked his way there coz he had access and assimilates into an industry made to support people like him to succeed. Not everyone is afforded that opportunity to work their way up brother. This "keep working hard" mantra only takes you so far until you hit roadblock issues that curtail your career/life/whatever such as inclusion, support etc etc.

Do you honestly think it's crying and sulking about missing out on the job? It's more than that. It's just another example that frustrates those groups affected. By speaking up we're highlighting the issue and that's where change can hopefully begin to happen.

 

Feb 23, 2021

Actors should be actors but actors playing different races is just silly and unnecessary

 

Feb 23, 2021

 

Feb 23, 2021

 

Feb 23, 2021

I like that perspective. That feels much more reasonable and I can get onboard with that.

 

Feb 23, 2021

Also from another angle, what other roles are there for a quadriplegic actor other than quadriplegic characters? Bryan Cranston can have his choice of a million roles, people with disabilities don't have that.

Same with Trans, people can be up in arms over cis actors being turned away from trans roles - but those same people would be upset if a Trans actor played a Cis character.