Read on Twitter
I thought of a new way to frame the Sia thing for people who don't get it. This also applies to casting trans people in trans roles, etc. Imagine if someone told you they were making a movie of your life. Not asking, telling. (1/x)
You ask if you can audition for the role of yourself. You're told no, the auditions already happened and you weren't invited or informed. Or maybe you were informed but you didn't get a callback because the casting team thought someone else was a better *you* than *you." (2/x)
That's absurd, of course, but the casting team is going to have their biases towards who's the best, and they're biased against you. We're all human, we all have biases. In Music's case, the bias is against autistic actors. Imagine not even getting to audition and being told (3/x
"Maybe you're just a bad actor" for the chance at being you, even if you're a trained and experienced actor.
So, someone else is cast as you. Everyone involved in the production does lots of research on you, talking to family, reading up on you, maybe even asking you (4/x)
So, someone else is cast as you. Everyone involved in the production does lots of research on you, talking to family, reading up on you, maybe even asking you (4/x)
a question here or there. But when you see the trailer, it's absolutely nothing like how you see yourself, but it's going to have an impact on how others see you. You try to say that this is inaccurate, that this isn't who you are, that this is harmful. People lash out (5/x)
at you for "attacking" someone's art. Saying you should be grateful someone made a movie about you at all. That you must be lying and the portrayal is fine because your 3rd cousin said it was dead-on. This is how I feel about Sia's "consultants." If 13 "neuroatypical" (6/x)
people say the portrayal is fine, and THOUSANDS of autistics say otherwise, you should probably go with the group with more weight. Not to mention neuroatypical is is not the same as nonverbal or semiverbal autistic. I'm neurodivergent. I cannot speak to the experience (7/x)
of a nonverbal autistic person because I am not one, and if I was asked to, I should defer to someone who fits that category.
Ok, back to the example of you. This movie comes out, makes bank, and has everyone talking about how ungrateful and picky you are for not liking it (8/x)
Ok, back to the example of you. This movie comes out, makes bank, and has everyone talking about how ungrateful and picky you are for not liking it (8/x)
Part of the movie is about how you fantasize about being someone other than yourself. So people start treating you with pity, saying how hard it must be, and how they hope one day they can find a cure for you so you can be your true self that they saw in "your" fantasies. (9/x)
Oh, I forgot to mention another excuse used to keep from casting you. They don't think that you could handle being on set, and instead of making the set accessible for you, or including you in the process of finding someone who could handle it if you agree you can't, they (10/x)
just go with casting someone totally unlike you. Ok, back to post release.
This movie is making bank. And maybe you're not. Maybe you're unemployed or underemployed, since autistic people and other minorities who this casting discussion applies to, regularly are. (11/x)
This movie is making bank. And maybe you're not. Maybe you're unemployed or underemployed, since autistic people and other minorities who this casting discussion applies to, regularly are. (11/x)
So while you struggle to pay bills, someone who was already well off and recognized is getting richer on your name. You don't get the chance to tell your story the way you see yourself, because you don't have that kind of platform. So your life goes on and sucks a bit more. (12/x
The defense whenever casting decisions like this come up are "well they were probably just not the best person for the role!" But were they even given the chance to be in the room? Were they given an audition with a panel not biased against them? In this case, no. (13/x)
Systemic discrimination and bias leech into casting and audition rooms, and we have to actively work against that. Take @FullFrontal. Most writers on most late night shows are white men. Maybe that's just because white men are funniest! Well when FF had a blind audition (14/x)
for writers, they ended up with the most diverse writing cast on late night television. They didn't set out to be diverse in their hiring, they set out to give everyone an equal shot. And when you remove the bias, diversity got a chance to shine. (15/x)
White, cishet, abled actors are always going to have better access to the room where it happens, that's not their fault but it is their responsibility to make sure that marginalized people are getting in the rooms too. (16/x)
You can't tell a frustrated autistic actor, the "you" in this scenario, that maybe they're just not a good actor when you haven't even seen them without showing your bias against them. I know this is long and I'm using it to procrastinate taking a final. (17/x)
But the point is, acting is about more than just playing a character. Sure. Maddy Z could play an autistic person. So could an autistic person. But one of those people has lived experiences, and experiences systemic discrimination. And the other is very close with Sia. (18/18)
