The Independent: The curtain is yet to drop on Timothée Chalamet’s ballet and opera fiasco, with Whoopi Goldberg, Doja Cat and theatre stars weighing into the ongoing debate.
This month, the Oscar-nominated Marty Supreme actor, 30, has angered those in the arts community after telling Interstellar co-star Matthew McConaughey in a resurfaced interview that “no one cares” about ballet or opera.
4 comments:
I chose to read this article because – as someone who has stake in the survival of art forms such as ballet and opera, and as a former Timothee Chalamet fan (I had a poster of him in my childhood bedroom) – I was initially very disappointed to hear that this man whose imaginary personality I projected onto him for years, would disrespect certain mediums of art in the way he did.
There is a lot of discourse about whether the outrage from this situation is warranted. Some say it’s a massive overreaction, and that ballet and opera are in fact dying arts that nobody cares about anymore, so he was just simply making an observation. Others suggest that unless you are spending your evenings at the opera or the ballet (presumably for enjoyment, not for work), you are not qualified to have an opinion on this subject. I have had trouble with both interpretations because neither seems to understand where the reaction to Chalamet’s comments are coming from, while Camilla Kerslake, who is quoted in the article, does. The point is, he has reached a level of success, where he doesn’t feel like being disrespectful will hurt him – hence him saying “I just lost 14 cents in viewership, I just took shots for no reason”
Him losing the Oscar to Michael B. Jordan (who starred in a movie about the importance of all music and celebration in black culture, and the importance of music history) does not lose any irony points on me. I don’t think implying that such a fundamental baseline of modern art and entertainment is “useless” was exactly the right move for someone up for an Oscar, and I honestly think that this statement seriously damaged his chances of getting one (not that I think he really had that much of a chance to win over Michael B. Jordan. Sinners was a vastly better movie with vastly better acting in my opinion). Granted, I don’t think Timmy really cared all that much (as he seemed super willing to disparage his entire family of ballerinas), but there’s no way he didn’t see this statement was a bad idea. His statement isn’t even really backed by modern actors, but he's so far in his career that he doesn't even care.
This is such a hilarious example to me of how easy it is to distract the public from real issues. Anyways, to share my opinion on the matter, this was so stupid. Why does he care, why do we care, why do we care that they care if he cares, oh my god. To be honest I really don’t care for opera or ballet at all- does not mean it's not an industry worth keeping alive. Now I might not state that as publicly as Timothee, but he also didn’t say he hates ballet and opera- he said “noone cares about this anymore,” insinuating that this more formal kind of performance art is not popular, not profitable, PEOPLE don’t care. He said something along the lines of why are we trying to keep this thing alive? Which was stupid to say, perhaps that's something you tell your friend over coffee before the interview… but okay he has one opinion a lot of people disagree with and it wasn’t like an evil comment he just doesn’t care for ballet and opera (as ironically… someone who has many, many ties to that industry. IMO not a personal offense, just a weird irony that makes me giggle because why would he say that.) I will say one thing I hate more than his stupid choice of commentary, is people calling him a “boy” and excusing his words with ignorance. This is a small scale example, but we see this everywhere. Men who do stupid things are often looked over because they don’t know that- it makes me resent them. He’s 30. He’s an adult. He can own up to what he said, and redeem himself to those he offended if that matters enough to him- his baby face doesn’t remove him from the responsibility to deal with the consequences of his own actions.
think we’re a point where I can boo him now right? I can boo Timothée Chalamet for his point? I can boo him for saying terrible things about art forms that his parents worked in places that he grew up in? Places where he kind of learned how show business works? I can boo him for saying that some art forms don’t matter, and then going back on that take by saying that he didn’t care that he was losing $.14 in viewership? I can boo him for saying that modern art and modern entertainment is useless when he works in the modern art entertainment industry? I can boot him for dating Kendall Jenner? I used to be a big fan of Timothée Chalamet. I used to like his work. I don’t think I do anymore which makes me really sad because I love calm by your name and I love beautiful boy and I’m very excited for doom three however he’s a terrible guy and he’s immature but not because he’s just a boy or because he’s young but because he’s a manchild.
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