If the outcry from some of the those in the Trans community about Scarlet Johansson playing a Trans character in the now dead and buried film ‘Rub & Tug’ (brilliant move guys)..the recent complaints lodged at superstar Dwayne Johnson are even more ridiculous.
In the film Skyscraper, Dwayne Johnson plays a veteran and father who is a unilateral below-the-knee amputee. Athlete and actress Katy Sullivan has taken umbrage with Johnson for: “taking roles away from our community”. Sullivan is a double above-the-knee amputee.
You can read her entire screed at Deadline.
This is the path that Identity Politics lead. At the end of the road of intersectionality lies madness. It is a cancer…that grows and grows until the host is dead.
- Women can only direct female characters.
- Blacks can only direct black characters.
- Gays can only direct and star in movies about Gays.
- Bald guys can only play bald guys.
- Bald guys can only direct movies about bad guys.
- Only women who have had a mastectomy can play women who have had a mastectomy.
- Only a woman who has had a mastectomy can direct a film about a woman who has had a mastectomy.
- People without freckles have no business starring in movies about people who have been saddled with freckles.
You are consuming yourself with your full-blown insanity.
Katy…if ‘acting’ is truly what you want do than make an argument for people to allow you to ‘act’. The technology is out there for you to ‘be’ whatever you want to be onscreen. Your missing limbs can be replaced with CGI one’s. You could play a normal woman, a woman with one leg, a centaur, a demon with hoofed feet. Use your imagination and impart this imagination on those you feel are not giving you an opportunity.
Of course, Katy…all this hinges on your quality as an actress.
While I know many of your ilk yearn for a socialist utopia we still live in Meritocracy. No one is going to make these adjustments for you if they believe you aren’t worth the effort.
The answer is not to ‘take’ from people like Dwayne Johnson…that path leads to ruin..for everyone.
The answer to ‘Diversity’ and ‘Inclusion’ has been the same one I have espoused for years.
Create. More. Characters.
Tell. More. Stories.
Create these ‘diverse’ characters you desire so much. Do not seek to take or replace characters that already exist.
Dwayne Johnson has earned his position. He has done it by entertaining audiences for decades. He doesn’t ‘owe’ you anything.
“This is a cash and carry world. Sometimes you pay a little. Mostly it’s a lot. Sometimes, it’s everything you have.”
If you are unhappy with the lack of ‘representation’ you see on screen that’s something you need to take up with the audience. It is your job, not Dwayne Johnson’s to prove that you are something worth seeing. Create more of these characters you want to see. Prove to the studios that audiences are interested in seeing ‘authentic’ amputee actors and actresses. But don’t think that this can be accomplished by simply moving you to the front of the line. That only leads to resentment and irritation…no one likes a line-cutter.
I have no problem with you starring in movies amputee or CGI…if you’re a good actress…I support your quest to act. I do have a problem with you trying to prevent people like Dwayne Johnson from doing the same thing.
That’s not inclusivity.
That’s not representation.
That’s not justice.
That’s fascism.
And that doesn’t get any play around these parts.
