Classic Conversation Thread

[Mekanos]

1 hour ago, JB33 said:

LMAO! L! M! A! O! I mean, of course most people have a problem with what ScarJo said. Of course.

 

If a trans actor said he/she (wait, which would it be??) should be able to play anyone they want, nobody would have a problem with that, right? There's literally nothing wrong with what Scarlett said. Nothing at all. People just want to be outraged though. It's like the news I saw today that the one movie theatre in Salmon Arm, BC had to cancel its screenings of Unplanned because the staff got death threats. Like, WOW!

Right, because there are a wealth of movie roles for trans actors. They're just taking up all the roles for cis people. And it isn't all like Hollywood has a deep seated casting problem where people wear certain identities and ethnicities as a "costume" and make a mockery of it going back to the blackface days. And casting a woman as a trans man doesn't at all reinforce the harmful idea that trans people are just glorified crossdressers. Nuh uh. 

Edited July 14, 2019 by Mekanos

[Guest]

My question to Scar Jo: How many Transgender has she cast in Black Widow in prominent role considering she is one of the producer? 

 

If zero then she doesn't have the right to play trans gender when she can't cast them in her movie. 

 

This is called 'White Privilege' 

[filmlover]

13 minutes ago, Webslinger said:

Just read about the re-litigation of the Scarlett Johansson Wants to Play a Trans Man Saga, and after trying to type out some semblance of the many, many, many thoughts I have about it, I just sighed and called it a day.

 

My shortened, brutally honest opinion? If she feels so passionate about this project and its artistic merit, stay on in another role and/or a major behind-the-camera capacity and use her clout to get the movie off the ground with a trans actor in the role. They're out there, and Johansson's involvement in a significant capacity could be enough to get the project off the ground even with an unknown lead. As is, this whole situation reads like she just wants to play a baity role without having to bear any responsibility for the implications her decision carries for continuing to shut a marginalized community out of representing itself on screen (a problem that's actually even further exacerbated by the fact that trans-masculine people tend to be even less visible than trans-feminine people, even within the trans community).

I bet she still wants her Ghost in the Shell director to make it too lmao. Why she ever put her trust in that dude not only after that flop (that already brought her a lot of scrutiny) but his behind-the-scenes infidelity that ended up being the only thing anyone remembered about Snow White & the Huntsman after it had vanished from theaters to tackle a subject of such importance is completely beyond any of us.

[Mekanos]

Also I'm still on the train that Black Widow is doing Winter Soldier numbers.

 

GA has never given much of a shit about the character compared to the others, to be frank, and the action will be more lowkey than the average Marvel movie. Won't even have the novelty of being the first female-led MCU movie. 

 

250/750

Edited July 14, 2019 by Mekanos

[Webslinger]

12 minutes ago, filmlover said:

I bet she still wants her Ghost in the Shell director to make it too lmao. Why she ever put her trust in that dude not only after that flop (that already brought her a lot of scrutiny) but his behind-the-scenes infidelity that ended up being the only thing anyone remembered about Snow White & the Huntsman after it had vanished from theaters to tackle a subject of such importance is completely beyond any of us.

Sanders at least has a good eye for visual style and exciting setpieces. Snow White and Ghost in the Shell were both misses for me, but at least they looked really pretty. Not sure where that would have factored into Rub & Tug, however.

[filmlover]

Meanwhile, there are currently billboards for the Dora the Explorer movie along I-95 near my exit. Of course on the rare occasion they pay for actual billboard marketing and not just the electronic ones (like Disney does for all of their movies, including The Lion King at the moment) it's for a movie I don't have even the slightest bit of interest in lol.

[DAJK]

So the house I grew up in for most of my life sold today. I have to be out of here for good on August 30

[cannastop]

1 hour ago, Webslinger said:

Just read about the re-litigation of the Scarlett Johansson Wants to Play a Trans Man Saga, and after trying to type out some semblance of the many, many, many thoughts I have about it, I just sighed and called it a day.

 

My shortened, brutally honest opinion? If she feels so passionate about this project and its artistic merit, stay on in another role and/or a major behind-the-camera capacity and use her clout to get the movie off the ground with a trans actor in the role. They're out there, and Johansson's involvement in a significant capacity could be enough to get the project off the ground even with an unknown lead. As is, this whole situation reads like she just wants to play a baity role without having to bear any responsibility for the implications her decision carries for continuing to shut a marginalized community out of representing itself on screen (a problem that's actually even further exacerbated by the fact that trans-masculine people tend to be even less visible than trans-feminine people, even within the trans community).

Kind of interesting how Hillary Swank played Brandon Teena in Boys Don't Cry, won an Oscar, and no one batted an eye about it. People don't even bring it up most of the time in regards to Scarlet Johansson. Times have changed, and for the better.

Edited July 14, 2019 by cannastop

[DAJK]

I'm probably going to take a lot of shit for this, but I don't think there's as big a problem with Johansen's comments as some people are saying. It is called acting for a reason, because you are playing a role that you are not. Armie Hammer's not really a cowboy, Storm Reid didn't get the role in WiT because her father went missing etc. There's plenty of situations where actors are becoming someone they are not, even when there probably are other people irl whose experiences are closer to that of the character than the actor who ended up playing the character. 

 

Do I think there is an issue in Hollywood with certain groups not getting as many roles? Of course! I cannot think of a single transgender actor/actress by name, and I'm even struggling to think of an Indigenous actor other than Wes Studi. But I think the problem here is that these people aren't getting roles in general, not just roles that most closely fit their identity. 

 

So would this mean then that a transgender actor cannot play a role where their character is cisgender? Of course not! Transgender and cisgender actors auditioning should be considered equally for the role, with the job going to whomever the casting director is the best actor for the part. If Hollywood starts casting transgender actors as transgender characters, and fails to cast them in other roles, than all of a sudden you get an environment where a transgender actor is stuck being typecast in transgender roles. 

 

I just think that transgender and cisgender actors should be considered equally for both transgender and cisgender roles. If Disney decided to do a live action remake of Tarzan, and the best person for the role was a transgender man, than of course he should play the part, even though Tarzan as a character is not transgender. I just think it works both ways, and people are failing to see the true problem here, and instead are focusing on a small part of it. 

[Mekanos]

9 minutes ago, DAJK said:

I'm probably going to take a lot of shit for this, but I don't think there's as big a problem with Johansen's comments as some people are saying. It is called acting for a reason, because you are playing a role that you are not. Armie Hammer's not really a cowboy, Storm Reid didn't get the role in WiT because her father went missing etc. There's plenty of situations where actors are becoming someone they are not, even when there probably are other people irl whose experiences are closer to that of the character than the actor who ended up playing the character. 

Are you okay with blackface?

 

If your answer is no, there is no reason for you to say yes to a cis person playing a trans character. Trans people's identities aren't costumes and treating them as such is harmful.

[Webslinger]

I just finished watching Serenity, and I have some questions. Actually, scratch that: I have all the questions - and that's despite the fact that I knew the ending going in. It's at the same level of "What on earth were any of these talented people thinking?!?" level of hilarious absurdity as Collateral Beauty and The Snowman. Like those films, I had a blast watching it for precisely none of the reasons the filmmakers intended.

Edited July 14, 2019 by Webslinger

[DAJK]

22 minutes ago, Mekanos said:

Are you okay with blackface?

 

If your answer is no, there is no reason for you to say yes to a cis person playing a trans character. Trans people's identities aren't costumes and treating them as such is harmful.

Why would I be okay with blackface? It was done, and always had been done, with the intention of being degrading and demeaning. A situation like Eddie Redmayne playing a trans character and blackface is very different. 

 

Being cisgender is not seen as a costume, and neither is being transgender. A role is a role, and an actor is literally hired to play a role. The problem here is that transgender actors are not being given the same opportunities in Hollywood (in any role, not just transgender characters). If I were to ask “why would it not be ok for a cisgender actor to play a transgender character, but fine for transgender actor to play a cisgender character” the answer would be because transgender actors do not have equal opportunities in Hollywood as it is. Unless you have another reason but I’m trying to look at the root of the problem rather than a symptom of it

[Mekanos]

12 minutes ago, DAJK said:

Why would I be okay with blackface? It was done, and always had been done, with the intention of being degrading and demeaning. A situation like Eddie Redmayne playing a trans character and blackface is very different. 

 

Being cisgender is not seen as a costume, and neither is being transgender. A role is a role, and an actor is literally hired to play a role. The problem here is that transgender actors are not being given the same opportunities in Hollywood (in any role, not just transgender characters). If I were to ask “why would it not be ok for a cisgender actor to play a transgender character, but fine for transgender actor to play a cisgender character” the answer would be because transgender actors do not have equal opportunities in Hollywood as it is. Unless you have another reason but I’m trying to look at the root of the problem rather than a symptom of it

Being trans is a key part of a person's identity. It is who they are on a fundamental level. To have a cis person portray them is to devalue trans identities the same way having a white person put on makeup to act as a black person devalues the identity of black people.

 

You should probably actually listen to what trans people have to say about this, so I'll do the hard part for you:

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/06/opinion/why-scarlett-johansson-shouldnt-play-a-trans-man.html

[filmlover]

4 hours ago, Webslinger said:

I just finished watching Serenity, and I have some questions. Actually, scratch that: I have all the questions - and that's despite the fact that I knew the ending going in. It's at the same level of "What on earth were any of these talented people thinking?!?" level of hilarious absurdity as Collateral Beauty and The Snowman. Like those films, I had a blast watching it for precisely none of the reasons the filmmakers intended.

The most dumbfounding part about the whole movie (and that's saying a lot considering how dumbfounding the whole movie is) has to be:

Spoiler

that not only did this kid create this video game in which his dead dad often has sex for money with a woman with a missing kitty (hahahahaha GET IT?!) but that there's like a half-dozen scenes in which his dead dad is completely naked. All in this video game designed by his son. How bizarre. I mean I get wanting to show off that Matthew McConaughey still has a body that most men approaching the half-century mark would kill to have, but...

 

[cannastop]

 

[Alli]

djokovic vs federer is insane

Edited July 14, 2019 by Alli

[MrPink]

😐

[JB33]

19 minutes ago, Alli said:

djokovic vs federer is insane

I can't handle the stress!!

[Porthos]

 

This is so great and so pure. 😂 😂 😂 

[oMeriMombatti]

2 hours ago, Alli said:

djokovic vs federer is insane

I am heart-broken  . Would have been much easier to swallow even if he had lost 3-6 in the 5th but this just sucks. I don't know how Federer will recover from this or me for that matter😰