Problematic representation & appropriation
Many 2020 and 2021 film releases were met with backlash due to inapproriate casting and portrayals. Graphic by Sofia Guerra.
by Sebastian Bush
18
The film and television industry is far from lacking iconic performances. Recently however, more and more acting roles have come over scrutiny by fans wondering if the role’s casting and portrayal was problematic. Two recent examples come from Sia’s Music and The Prom. Both include controversial characters based—as fans pointed out—largely on stereotypes, portrayed by actors who do not identify with the roles they are playing.
Music
Music, created by multi-millionaire singer-songwriter Sia, has attracted substantial negative attention over its portrayal of a young woman with autism named Music. Starring Maddie Ziegler as Music and Leslie Odom Jr. as the charming neighbor, Ebo, the film came off to a rocky start, earning only $450,000 on its first full week released in Australia. This poor box office showing comes in response to a hefty $16 million dollar budget. Annie Wright students reflected on the film’s problematic nature, specifically Ziegler’s performance as Music, a character with autism: Erin Picken (USG ‘23) says, “I’ve seen the whole thing and I believe that the issue is not only the fact that Maddie Ziegler isn’t autistic but the fact that Sia has disrespected autistic people by ignoring their critiques of the movie and working with Autism Speaks. The movie perpetuates both racist and ableist stereotypes and is a horrible attempt at wokeness by Sia.” As Picken points out, the film received backlash not only for casting a neurotypical actress (neurotypical referring to someone who is not autistic and does not display atypical patterns of thought or behavior) to play a neurodivergent character (someone who is autistic or does display these patterns), but the movie also worked closely with Autism Speaks, a foundation based on the principle that autism is a disease that must be fixed. In fact, up until 2016, the word 'cure'
INKWELL | APRIL 2021
