Industry

CHILDREN IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY

SANIA MEHTA

writer

The glittering world of cinema is like a double-edged sword, promising glamour but saddling child actors with lengthy hours, the responsibility to financially support their family and the pressure of maintaining a professional image in front of millions of fans.

Being under the scrutiny of the public eye at all times – already a complete invasion of privacy – is a heavily taxing aspect of the industry. Moreover, child actors often do not have control over their own wages. This makes it easy for parents to economically exploit their children, as in the case of Misca Fortuna, who played Mancung in Emak Ijah Pengen ke Mekah. While she was acting in the series, her father Muhammad Delsy allegedly embezzled Rp 100,000,000 of Misca’s wages, equivalent to 6,975.28 USD. As a result, Misca’s mother notified the police about her father’s alleged theft, [presumably negative result of the police investigation]. Unfortunately, the economic exploitation of child actors still does not garner much attention. Although acting can channel a child’s interest and talent, it is also an easy venue for economic exploitation.

Child actors face every problem in the acting industry, including sexual abuse. The stories of starlets like Shirley Temple and Judy Garland are long remembered for their history of being manipulated. This still remains a rampant problem — actors like Corey Feldman have come forth with their allegations of sexual abuse and rape as a child. Throught the resurfacing of these stories, it is becoming apparent how vile the acting industry truly is.

In addition to pressures from within the industry, child actors face new demands from social media. Like their adult counterparts, they are expected to constantly generate content for their fans and are continuously inundated with both praise and criticism from the media, blogs and anonymous strangers. Although social media made it significantly easier to directly address child actors, it has not created a consensus on how to discuss children in the spotlight. Fans and fellow stars alike have subjected child actors like Millie Bobby Brown and Finn Wolfhard to sexualization online. Mod-

CHILDREN IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY

Model Ali Michael, for example, told Wolfhard to “hit her up in 4 years,” when he would be 18. Right now, there is virtually no way to protect child actors from the media or their obsessive fanbases. On the topic of the danger of child starts on social media, in the past few years, child influencers – children with large social media followings – have catalyzed an $8 billion social media advertising industry, with highly “successful” children generating up to $26 million a year through advertising and the sharing of sponsored content (Mas ter -

son, 2020). Children are at high risk of exploitation because they lack the legal right to the earnings they

gen erate, or safe working conditions and protections via labor laws.

Family vlogging with children: is there an ethical issue present? Family vloggers exploit their children for views ….. These adolescents are unable to consent to be filmed and exposed to their viewers at all times. Upon speaking with an assortment of child actors, physiatrist Dr. Ryan concludes, “At the end of the day, they [child actors] were in a very dark place for a long time. And that really struck me, childhood is priceless and certain memories don’t have a price tag on it, and it can really affect your mental health down the line.” He continues on to speak about how these children are not able to break away from their adolescence after growing up. They already have a digital footprint curated and they are unable to escape these preassigned labels.

At the end of the day, this issue is relevant to all because potentially perpetuate these cycles of mistreatment in the industry by consuming the media and content that these child stars push out. Undoubtedly, banning children from acting – or social media – is no solution, as it would make it unattainable for kids to gain exposure and accumulate an income, not to mention it would rule out conveying stories that involve children at all. However, as the general populace, it is essential to comprehend what goes on behind sealed doors. It is crucial that we amplify the voice of the voiceless. Utilizing social media, we can exemplify the names of child abusers and danger. We can push for laws that shelter children. We can protest and demand that our country keeps its youth safe LIFESTYLES | 19