Not long ago there was a bit of a kerfuffle about a secondary school pupil saying (or maybe not actually saying, which is what I seem to remember contributed to all the fuss) that she self-identified as a cat. Well, here is a link to a series of pictures of a man in Japan who has spent a large amount of money “transforming” himself into a dog. Okay, he didn’t actually have anything drastic done to himself personally but spent the money on a very realistic dog costume. Apparently he has wanted to be a dog since he was a small child and now has managed to make his dream come true and seems to be taken out for walks in his dog persona. Each to his own, I suppose!
People being what or who they are not is surely what acting is all about and yet the controversy about non-Jewish actors playing Jewish characters in films rumbles on. Cillian Murphy was criticised recently for playing Oppenheimer when he is clearly neither Jewish nor American. The latest example (victim?) is Bradley Cooper whose prosthetic nose in his role as Leonard Bernstein has been taken by some as an anti-semitic stereotype. Even Bernstein’s children have come out in his defence: “It breaks our hearts to see any misrepresentations or misunderstandings of [Cooper’s] efforts. It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose. Bradley chose to use makeup to amplify his resemblance, and we’re perfectly fine with that. We’re also certain that our dad would have been fine with it as well.”
Taken to its extreme this modern obsession with certain roles only being played by people of the same ethnicity or having the same disability as the character portrayed will lead to very restricted work for actors. Cillian Murphy is Irish and speaks with an Irish accent in his own voice. This comes as a bit of a surprise to those who only know him for his role in Peaky Blinders. Yet I don’t recall any Brummies objecting to the part not being played by genuine Brummie. And then there’s Meryl Streep who seems to absorb a whole gamut of national and regional identities in the roles she plays. Surely that’s what acting is all about!
I’ve been reading and hearing radio reports about badly behaved audiences recently. Someone commenting on the BBC Proms talked about how musical concert audiences in the past used to chat and call out bravo, cough without embarrassment, eat and drink during performances. Our reverential silence during musical concerts is a fairly recent invention but we have all learnt exactly when we are allowed to applaud. Classical music concert attendees are very well behaved these days but cinemas, it seems, suffer the most from misbehaving audiences.
According to Eva Wiseman it might be time for us to accept chatting and texting and making phone calls while watching films as a normal part of modern life. Some people think it’s a consequence of our streaming and watching films at home during the pandemic lockdowns. We got used to being able to pause a film and go and make a cup of tea or go to the loo. We organised popcorn or even ate meals while watching films, commenting on the actors abilities as we did so. Personally I prefer not to eat popcorn (horrible stuff, in my opinion!) or anything else while watching a film, wherever I watch it. And surely discussion of the plot or the acting can wait until the film is over.
And yet, modern cinemas appear to encourage eating and drinking during films, with seats equipped with cup-holders! Maybe they have just given in the inevitable, gone with the flow and made a money-making feature out it. You used to have to wait for the interval to buy your ice-cream or whatever. Of course, that was when there was a B movie, than an interval and then the main feature film. And sweets were on sale in the foyer but not the huge family sized packs available nowadays. And I seem to remember a time when crisps were frowned on as being altogether too-o-o-o-o crunchy!
However, we can also look back to a time when there was always a section of the cinema where people could smoke if they so chose. The rest of us had to accept that a certain amount of smoke would drift into the main auditorium. The banning of smoking is a definite improvement.
There was a time too when the back rows of cinemas were the preserve of courting couples - quietly snogging through the film! Those were the days! Does that still go on in modern multiplex cinemas with their various smaller screening rooms?
That’s enough nostalgia!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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