richardmurray

I paraphrase Denzel Washington circa 12:56
“I don’t play that precious nonsense. Oh, get out  of here. You know your son got shot in the face, that’s difficult. Making a movie is a luxury.”

Is the cast of Wicked okay?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuTSYHZTNn0

 

 

TRANSCRIPT

0:00

Is the cast of Wicked okay?

0:01

“Oh my gosh” “Yeah”

0:08

The movie is set to come out this month,  and the press tour is in full effect.

0:11

Seemingly every one of the interviews with  the main stars - Ariana Grande and Cynthia  

0:15

Erivo inevitably devolve into tears - first  one of them cries, then the other cries,  

0:20

and they comfort each other and then  both cry, and then the interviewer cries,  

0:23

and then the comments are full  of people watching and crying.

0:26

And I have to say, I find  all of this a little…fake.

0:29

Clip

0:30

Now I’ve never watched Wicked on broadway,  but I’ve been reliably told by wikipedia,  

0:34

and the movie trailers that this movie is about  friendship - specifically female friendship,  

0:39

and fans of this movie love that life has  mimicked art, and the two leads, who play  

0:43

Glinda and Elphaba have found the same kind of  love and respect for each other in real life.

0:49

Can you each tell me something about  the other as a scene partner that you  

0:52

really appreciated and contributed to  making that so powerful on your film.

0:57

Oh my god.

0:59

That’s a big question.

1:01

I mean.

1:03

She’s very patient with me.

1:06

Likewise. I think we’re both.  Ooo, don’t look at me like that.

1:12

Okay, they’re crying again. Maybe we can  see how the men of the film are doing.

1:16

Congrats on all the success. Happy  holidays from Access Hollywood. That  

1:19

is so special. As if watching the  movie wasn’t emotional enough. Oooh.

1:23

I want you to be happy and I root for you. “Oh my god.”

1:26

Never mind, let’s get back to the women.  The reason I find all of this fake,  

1:29

is how the simplest of questions seems to  bring forth Niagara falls level of emotion.

1:34

“Cynthia you did it babe. Babe like from  an Elphaba. From an autistic elphaba,  

1:41

you did it. I want to look you  both in the eye and say you did it.

1:44

Are the adults in the room with us? Why  has this unabridged show of emotion become  

1:49

so fashionable now? This problems goes  far beyond the Wicked press tour. It’s  

1:52

common place now to become emotional  in interviews. Many people attribute  

1:56

the beginning of this trend to this weepy speech  that Gwyneth Paltrow gave at the Oscars in 1999,

2:02

“Tremendous magnitude and for that I thank  my family and my mother Blythe Danner,  

2:07

who I love more than anything."

2:11

some calling it the day that sincerity died,  and since then things have only gotten worse.

2:15

“Can’t handle it. We all  have made those mistakes.”

2:20

But we’ll come back to Drew Barrymore in a  second. Let’s check back in on the Wicked gals.

2:24

“I just know what it’s like to  feels like you don’t fit. Like you  

2:32

are outside of the ordinary like there’s no  room for you. And so many people watching will  

2:37

feel the same. So I feel like it’s a bit  of a hug for anyone who feels that way.”

2:45

“If like kids can feel that then.” “That’s the point.”

2:50

Ins’t it interesting that the most  privileged people in the world are  

2:53

intent upon telling us that they’re  somehow saving lives with these movies.

2:57

“I wish I had that when I was  a kid growing up. My god. Like  

3:02

I wish. And so can you imagine how  many lives this is going to save?”

3:07

Films and tv shows used to be  considered entertainment for audiences,  

3:11

but now every project is presented  like some sort of a life saving drug,  

3:15

and the actors are noble doctors administering the  medicine to the sick, poor, and wretched masses.

3:20

“What’s the message that you want all your queer  fans that see wicked to take away from this.”

3:25

“That you deserve all the good things.  That your differences only make you  

3:31

special. That your queerness  is beautiful. That I love you.”

3:35

These actors are desperate to believe that  they are doing audiences a favor when they  

3:39

take on these high paid roles and walk  red carpets in the highest of fashions.

3:43

And I think there’s a specific reason for that.

3:45

Acting is a noble profession - I’m not talk  about the phone it in types of performances  

3:49

that are common now - I’m talking about the  art of acting that used to be foundational in  

3:54

Hollywood. But compared to other professions,  it’s not particularly hard. The reward for  

3:59

being a successful actor, however, is completely  life altering. Suddenly, you are catapulted into  

4:04

stardom, not just in your local community, state  or even country, but the entire world knows who  

4:10

you are. Over night your life goes from anonymous,  everyday living to limos, body guards, and red  

4:16

carpets with obsessed fans enthusiastically  applauding your every mundane story.

4:21

It’s weird, and I would argue that someone  experiencing that probably feels some form  

4:25

of imposter syndrome since the work to  reward ratio doesn’t really line up.

4:30

So to compensate for this deficit,  the modern Hollywood actors seems  

4:33

to think that they should use their  fame, and new found voice to speak  

4:37

for the little guy - a noble desire,  but unfortunately woefully misplaced

4:41

“Incredibly diverse eternals is just the diversity  of this cast here. Diverse team. You’re such a  

4:47

champion for diversity and you’re a woman of  color as well and making sure that there’s  

4:52

representation. This superhero team looks like the  world. Diversity. It’s amazing. Well for both of  

4:58

you too this film as such diversity such inclusion  and an international cast. Guys look at the moon.”

5:04

- because it’s translated into the  actors endlessly talking about how  

5:07

representation matters, women have  it so hard, and white dudes = bad.

5:12

To make things worse, the culture in modern  Hollywood is overly preoccupied by press,  

5:17

and publicity. Gone are the days where  actors simply surfaced to promote movies,  

5:20

and in between projects went  back to their hum drum lives.

5:23

Most actors today are constantly afraid  that if people aren’t talking about them,  

5:27

they won’t matter anymore.  So they are falling over  

5:29

themselves to nab headlines and keep  their tenuous grip on relevance.

5:33

This means that the actors are more  concerned with how things appear,  

5:37

rather actually working for the  good of others. In this utterly  

5:40

superficial culture virtue signaling is  the easiest way to stay with the in crowd.

5:45

These actors could be at soup kitchens helping  the homeless, working with foster programs to  

5:49

help children, or visiting centers that  help people overcome addiction - all real  

5:53

issues facing the people of America, but no, that  isn’t nearly as glamorous, not to mention easy as  

5:59

telling an entertainment reporter while dressed in  custom couture, how terribly victimized you are.

6:05

Cynthia Erivo is staring in one of the  most anticipated films of this year,  

6:08

but you don’t understand, she is such a victim.

6:11

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6:15

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6:17

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6:22

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6:26

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6:30

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6:33

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6:36

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6:41

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6:45

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6:50


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7:01

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7:06

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7:10

Thank you for listening and now back to the video.

7:12

As I was saying, Cynthia Arivo is such a victim.

7:15

Thank you so much for watching, and a big thank  you to SurfShark for sponsoring this video.

7:15

This video is sponsored by Surfshark.

7:15

because she’s a woman, a woman of color,..she  a queer woman of color -and you don’t get how  

7:20

utterly devastating that combination is for  a person growing up in a western culture  

7:25

where all those things are accepted.  She was so oppressed and discriminated  

7:29

against that she has never received  a job, or any respect, no wait,  

7:34

she is starring in the most  anticipated movie of this year,

7:37

“I know”

7:38

she’s been featured on several magazine covers,  and she was even named Icon of the year. But..but  

7:43

still, she has been such a victim. You really  couldn’t understand the depths of her despair.

7:48

In fact, not so long ago, some cruel prankster  changed the poster for the Wicked film,  

7:52

and erased Cynthia and her identity.  Cynthia took a stand against this  

7:57

assault saying that it was the wildest  most offensive thing she had ever seen.

8:02

She reminded this bigot that she is “a real  life human being, who chose to look right down  

8:07

the barrel of the camera to you, the viewer  ...because, without words we communicate with  

8:12

our eyes. To edit my face and hide my eyes  is to erase me. And that is deeply hurtful”

8:18

Bravo, Cynthia - you put this devilish  troll in their place…except, um,  

8:23

this was a fan of the series, who  really liked the original poster  

8:27

from the broadway show, and took this  terrible imitation and improved upon it.

8:31

So maybe this lens of looking at everything  from the firm position of a victim,  

8:36

and the world as a perpetrator doesn’t really make  sense does it? Cynthia is not an oppressed woman  

8:41

fighting off erasure. She’s a capable woman being  recognized for her talent on the global stage,

8:46

“It is fabulous. She is fabulous.”

8:49

and perhaps she could have some  humility or grace in that position.

8:54

But there is nothing that angers the feminists  more than asking a woman to be humble.

8:57

“There are a whole lot of women out here  who one are not aspiring to be humble.”

9:03

Humility has now turned into a feminist  talking point about how men are constantly  

9:07

trying to control women, but my  god are they so wrong about that. 

9:11

Humility is a human necessity. It  is impossible to be a good person,  

9:15

a good friend, a good wife, a good husband, a good  parent parent, a good children, a good leader,  

9:21

anything - it is impossible to live a good life  without the key ingredient of humility - and it  

9:27

applies in moments just like the one that Cynthia  was facing when she saw the fan art for Wicked.

9:31

The humble position would have been to be  grateful that people care enough about the  

9:36

project that you’re part of, to create an  homage based on their own interpretation  

9:40

of the work. The humble position says - this  art is not about you, just like the character  

9:45

is not about you, it doesn’t belong to you  - it belongs to the creators and the fans,  

9:51

and you the actor get embody it for a little  while before you release it back to the world.

9:56

This isn’t about you.

9:57

The opposite to the humble approach  is to make everything about you,  

10:02

everything is an attack, everyone is  a threat to you and your identity,  

10:05

and no body understands. It’s self centered,  it’s self serving, and it’s immature.

10:10

After all of the backlash she received  for not having a more gracious response,  

10:15

here’s what Cynthia had to say.

10:16

“Why was it important to speak out  and what did the support mean?” 

10:18

“Because I think I’m really protective  of the role and I’m passionate. I am  

10:23

passionate about it and to know that the  fans are passionate about it. And I think  

10:26

for me it was just like a human moment of  like wanting to protect little Elphaba.  

10:29

And it was like a human moment. I probably  should have called my friends but it’s fine.”

10:33

This is probably the most infuriating  tool that the modern actress seems to  

10:37

carry around in her Fendi purse - a victim  based narrative designed to make people  

10:41

back the hell off - when they were the ones  who started the fight in the first place.

10:45

Rachel Ziegler did exactly the same thing when  she fiercely criticized the original Snow White,

10:50

“Weird weird.”

10:52

Received backlash and rightly so. So  she spun up the victim narrative and  

10:55

talked about how she’s much better than everyone.

10:57

“How has that been for you  being able to navigate it.” 

11:00

“You know choosing thankfulness and  gratefulness is choosing peace and  

11:07

as much as you’d like to remind people  verbally that being in the spotlight  

11:12

doesn’t absolve you of your humanity, that  you are allowed to have human moments. It  

11:16

doesn’t necessarily do what you want  it to do and it fuels them more.”

11:20

‘Yes, exactly.” “And so just as you said. It’s like choosing  

11:24

to be present and know that they are probably just  having a hard day and I am putting out a movie.”

11:33

“Amen! That’s right.”

11:35

All of these behaviors of just frivolous  conversations, sanctimonious virtue signaling  

11:40

and uncontrollable weeping has amounted to  only speeding up the demise of Hollywood.

11:45

And in this environment of disingenuousness  mascaraing as authenticity - Drew Barrymore  

11:50

has somehow becoming the cringiest of them all,

11:53

“Do you wanna know ironically who  dislikes me the most sometime?” 

11:58

“Who?” “Myself.” 

11:59

“Oh me too.”

12:01

cozying up to the guests on her  show like a toddler that hasn’t  

12:04

seen their mom all day. She stares at  them, paws them, and clutches them,  

12:08

clearly making her guests incredibly  uncomfortable - and yet this is somehow  

12:12

supposed to be real and authentic, but  it just comes off as contrived and weird.

12:17

Can we bring back restraint, can we bring  back decorum and maturity? For gods sakes,  

12:22

can we bring back perspective,  can we bring back the adults?

12:26

“My girlfriend, she took her  two little girls last night,  

12:28

five and seven years old and I’ve  written down what they’ve said.”

12:32

“They said, you have to be good and you have to  be kind to everybody. And she is a good witch.”

12:41

“Yeah, that’s the message.”

12:43

“You know what I mean? It’s that impact.” “Yeah. That’s beautiful.”

12:54

“It’s just a movie. It’s like relax.”

12:56

Ahhh I can always count on Denzel  Washington for some much needed perspective.

13:00

“I don’t play that precious nonsense. Oh, get out  of here. You know your son got shot in the face,  

13:06

that’s difficult. Making a movie is a luxury.”

13:09

As for the rest of the actors - for all their  talk of authenticity and being themselves,  

13:14

the stars are becoming more  and more manufactured everyday,  

13:17

and with that speeding up  their growing irrelevance.

13:20

And I for one, cannot wait until this  version of stardom is completely extinct.