I posted a comment – (“no i.d. for the human in the picture?”) – on a photo of Bridget Bardot on a Fakebook page celebrating cinema of which I am a follower (I love love love love movies!). The photo caption identified the photographer, not Ms. Bardot herself, and then this – see below – happened.
It has’t happened for a long time but once upon a time it was a regular feature (election era 2016, and 2020 but other times as well) of existing as a female on the inter-web, especially when expressing an opinion that differs from the male respondent in question.
Generic White male (‘He/Him’) commented in response, “The name of the actor is literally like the least important thing in any movie. The director is the artist. They’re furniture.” (*They’re meaning actors)
As a former actor, I took and take exception to that, and said so. “thanks for sharing your opinion – which is dead wrong. theatre & film are deeply collaborative arts, requiring acting, directing, writing, cinematography, costume, set & sound designers, musical score & more – all of these artists matter. for good measure, here are a few roles that are unthinkable being played by anyone else – Patton, Forrest Gump, Rick Blaine, Ilsa Lund, Scarlett O’Hara, Alonzo Harris, Regina Giddens, Rhett Butler, Catherine Sloper, Diana Christiansen, J.J. Sefton, Oda Mae Brown, Vito Corleone, Jim Stark, George Bailey, Virgil Tibbs, Lisa Fremont, Sargent York, Jack Torrance – I could literally go on and on and on.”
To which generic white male responded, “they would’ve been slightly different roles if they were played by somebody else, sure. For that matter, if the shade of paint was different, the atmosphere in a movie would not look the same. Like I said, furniture. One couch is not necessarily perfectly interchangeable with another. They aren’t subjects, they’re objects.” (& by the way, imo, referring to humans in any profession as objects is objectionable)
And then, after a whole, interminable hour had passed, he again commented, “I thought that would be a fun argument but I guess you’re done.”
I responded, “um, are you kidding? I have a life and it doesn’t run on Christian Walters time. Actors – & I was one, as well as being a director & scriptwriter currently – aren’t furniture. If you love films (which I now doubt) you would acknowledge the collaborative process, particularly between say a Scorcese & a DeNiro or others of his regular cast of players. Wm Wyler is another example of a director who had muses, as was Cukor. Among many others.”
Him: “yeah all my cover photos are actually from films because it’s a way to show how much I hate movies.”
Me: “how odd – I’m not familiar w your cover photos. Navel gazer much?”
Him: “you aren’t familiar with me at all, but you made an assumption about whether I like movies. You seem to be a deeply unpleasant person. Have fun with that.”
And then generic white man on the internet wrote this: “oh, you’re a girl, that’s good. At least there’s a decent chance you’ll get r*ped.”
Ah. Such a gent. And not, sadly, untypical of how male humans behave on the web.
Me: “Actually I have been, as a child. Are you happy now? History of Cinema – can we please ban this a$$-$hat from this community?”
And then I took a screenshot, because in the age of incivility and Orange Menace, it’s important to ALWAYS KEEP THE RECEIPTS. He, of course, after waiting a good hour, deleted it but too late, asshole. Reported to the page and FB, sent to his partner as well, because why not, and here we are. Expressing opinions is what I do, in life and in the World Wide Web-a-nightmare.
But he wasn’t done – sending me this message (screen shot) which landed in my spam folder. I will be forwarding it to his place of employment because a few consequences beyond getting restricted by FB might teach Christian a lesson. Might. Staying silent when I have a POV is not an option, even if it opens the door to this kind of stupidity and hate.
