Pittsburgh Arts, Regional Theatre, New Work, Producing, Copyright, Labor Unions,
New Products, Coping Skills, J-O-Bs...
Theatre industry news, University & School of Drama Announcements, plus occasional course support for
Carnegie Mellon School of Drama Faculty, Staff, Students, and Alumni.
CMU School of Drama
Friday, December 02, 2016
Octavia Spencer, Dev Patel on Diversity in Film, Typecasting
Variety: Octavia Spencer won the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her role as Minny Jackson in “The Help,” and although she’s willing to play a maid again, she has yet to find a character that tops that one.
4 comments:
Jake Poser
said...
I love reading articles and having a video to follow up with the interview. It is super helpful in understanding the full conversation. This article/video in particular was quite interesting. Art is this funny thing. It's beautiful and sometimes not. Overreaching and sometimes not. Sometimes accessible by all and sometimes not. So I struggle with the idea of making art to make change. When we do so, is the art thats making the change or is it the catalyst that inspires people to go out and make change, and inspire change in others. Kind of like the chicken or the egg. Does art reflect life or does life reflect art... This conversation with Octavia Spencer (who I love) and Dev Patel was quite eye opening. It's wild to think that after winning an Oscar for playing a maid, casting directors and film makers could only see Octavia as a maid. Yes, she played an incredible award winning maid, however, she already did that. Its sad that makers could not see her skill but only a market and an easy way to make art using both her and the idea of her as a maid. Dev also finds it difficult to find roles that are pidgin holing. But I can't blame the actors. We must turn to our writers and our makers to write better roles for people of diverse backgrounds with different stories. The complexion of the world and our country is changing and I believe it is our jobs as art creators and educated thinkers to push and make way for those ideas in our industries, communities, countries and the world.
While I understand why typecasting exists, I can’t help but see it as unimaginative. Everything has specific qualities to it, and that is certainly true when looking at the style and work of performers and creatives, but that doesn’t mean that those qualities are only able to be successful in a specific situation. I personally think that the best art is art that applies very specific qualities in new and interesting contexts that are successful in unexpected ways.. It’s a particular shame when typecasting occurs from a successful role because not only does it demonstrate an ignorance of the nuance of performance, but also contributes to the removal of that nuance. I know that it’s difficult to look for diversity when it’s easy and profitable enough to continue to crank out the same old stuff, and I even think that there is room for that in the industry, but not at the expense of interesting and challenging work.
It is really hard to believe the degree of typecasting that is still found in Hollywood and in the entertainment industry today. Both Octavia Spencer and Dev Patel are amazing actors and should get roles that reflect their amazing talent. Actors should be seen for their talent, not just what they were in their previous role. I think that there many great points are made in this interview, like how film and theatre can unify its audience to feel the same thing. Spencer especially puts a great perspective on it, through the lens of her newest movie. How the people before us have been through worse times with little to no voice in their futures still approached their problems with perseverance and determination can teach us all on how to live our lives in today's tumultuous society. I agree with Spencer in how we need more of these kinds of stories in the world today.
Aside from the fact that I am obsessed with both of these actors, I think they both make incredibly intellectual points about how we aren't writing enough roles for actors that are people color what aren't just stereotypes. When I think about Octavia Spencer in "The Help" I remember how amazing she was, and she was nominated for an oscar and it was an incredible film over all but how many times can we ask an actor to play the same role. In the case of "The Help" there are great stories to be told from 60 years ago when they were only allowed to be maids and that is fine I suppose but we have to start telling stories for people of color now. Type casting happens all throughout how business, and I have heard a lot of old white men talk about how it is a very difficult issue and that they are trying their best and a whole bunch of stuff that just sounds like a way to get someone off their back for the duration of the interview. Alex is right that right now it is easier to crank out the same stuff that has made money and not make any attempts to change the face of the arts, but the thing is that that will change too. This country is changing tremendously, it already has and in 20 years the majority of people in the country will not be white anymore, and film and tv and theater has to start adjusting to that, because not only is it wrong and racist and incredibly embarrassing, soon it's no longer going to be profitable.
4 comments:
I love reading articles and having a video to follow up with the interview. It is super helpful in understanding the full conversation. This article/video in particular was quite interesting. Art is this funny thing. It's beautiful and sometimes not. Overreaching and sometimes not. Sometimes accessible by all and sometimes not. So I struggle with the idea of making art to make change.
When we do so, is the art thats making the change or is it the catalyst that inspires people to go out and make change, and inspire change in others. Kind of like the chicken or the egg. Does art reflect life or does life reflect art...
This conversation with Octavia Spencer (who I love) and Dev Patel was quite eye opening. It's wild to think that after winning an Oscar for playing a maid, casting directors and film makers could only see Octavia as a maid. Yes, she played an incredible award winning maid, however, she already did that. Its sad that makers could not see her skill but only a market and an easy way to make art using both her and the idea of her as a maid. Dev also finds it difficult to find roles that are pidgin holing. But I can't blame the actors. We must turn to our writers and our makers to write better roles for people of diverse backgrounds with different stories. The complexion of the world and our country is changing and I believe it is our jobs as art creators and educated thinkers to push and make way for those ideas in our industries, communities, countries and the world.
While I understand why typecasting exists, I can’t help but see it as unimaginative. Everything has specific qualities to it, and that is certainly true when looking at the style and work of performers and creatives, but that doesn’t mean that those qualities are only able to be successful in a specific situation. I personally think that the best art is art that applies very specific qualities in new and interesting contexts that are successful in unexpected ways.. It’s a particular shame when typecasting occurs from a successful role because not only does it demonstrate an ignorance of the nuance of performance, but also contributes to the removal of that nuance. I know that it’s difficult to look for diversity when it’s easy and profitable enough to continue to crank out the same old stuff, and I even think that there is room for that in the industry, but not at the expense of interesting and challenging work.
It is really hard to believe the degree of typecasting that is still found in Hollywood and in the entertainment industry today. Both Octavia Spencer and Dev Patel are amazing actors and should get roles that reflect their amazing talent. Actors should be seen for their talent, not just what they were in their previous role. I think that there many great points are made in this interview, like how film and theatre can unify its audience to feel the same thing. Spencer especially puts a great perspective on it, through the lens of her newest movie. How the people before us have been through worse times with little to no voice in their futures still approached their problems with perseverance and determination can teach us all on how to live our lives in today's tumultuous society. I agree with Spencer in how we need more of these kinds of stories in the world today.
Aside from the fact that I am obsessed with both of these actors, I think they both make incredibly intellectual points about how we aren't writing enough roles for actors that are people color what aren't just stereotypes. When I think about Octavia Spencer in "The Help" I remember how amazing she was, and she was nominated for an oscar and it was an incredible film over all but how many times can we ask an actor to play the same role. In the case of "The Help" there are great stories to be told from 60 years ago when they were only allowed to be maids and that is fine I suppose but we have to start telling stories for people of color now. Type casting happens all throughout how business, and I have heard a lot of old white men talk about how it is a very difficult issue and that they are trying their best and a whole bunch of stuff that just sounds like a way to get someone off their back for the duration of the interview. Alex is right that right now it is easier to crank out the same stuff that has made money and not make any attempts to change the face of the arts, but the thing is that that will change too. This country is changing tremendously, it already has and in 20 years the majority of people in the country will not be white anymore, and film and tv and theater has to start adjusting to that, because not only is it wrong and racist and incredibly embarrassing, soon it's no longer going to be profitable.
Post a Comment