Snow White & the Huntsman: Kristen Stewart gets a lot of hate in fandom
After work today, I went to a community outreach event with high school kids from the Jane and Finch area who performed spoken word/poetry and dance and song, and who knocked my socks off with their performances and energy. A few were technically/artistically better than others, if we suppose art can even be objectively measured, but they were all incredibly brave for getting up on the stage in the first place.
Now I'm surfing Tumblr for Snow White & the Huntsman posts and I keep tripping over Kristen Stewart bashing. The poor girl sure gets a lot of hate for taking an acting job that one time. I mean, I've never seen Twilight so what do I know? Maybe Stewart really can't act. But I suspect a lot of the hate is undeserved, just spillover for being the actress who played Bella Swan, not for the performance itself.
Anyway, I ended up ranting a little in Stewart's defence. I've copied it over here because Tumblr still makes no sense to me as a platform for large blocks of text. It's great for spamming pics, not so much for threaded conversations.
I think Charlize Theron is stunningly gorgeous, but arguing that Kristen Stewart isn't as pretty is missing the point completely. It's a shallow reading not only of the movie (though I suppose not everyone’s seen the trailer and *gets* that this is a shallow reading) but also a shallow reading of the *original fairytale*.
I mean, fairytales aren't *literal*. We know that there was never an actual talking mirror, right? Snow White's beauty is a reflection of her goodness and purity, and the queen's vanity represents her insecurity and need for control, which drove her further down the path of evil. The queen believes that consuming Snow White's heart will give her Snow White's power, not realising that true power comes from within. If in the telling of this story, the director decided to cast an actress to play Snow White who is not--by your standards--more beautiful than the actress who plays the evil queen, I really really encourage you to just... get over it already.
Also, the more people put down Kristen Stewart, the more I'm in her corner. Never having seen Twilight, I have no opinions on her ability to act or have facial expressions--99% of my exposure to Stewart comes from the trailers and a few gifs on Tumblr. Nothing so far has convinced me that she can't act. Maybe she's not Meryl Streep, maybe one day she will be. What do I know? I just know that the Snow White that I see in the trailers is scared, and brave, and delighted by magic, and kind of pissed at the queen for that whole "I killed your parents and stole your throne and tried to eat your heart" business, and rocks medieval armour like a bad-ass.
Is it June 1 yet?
I prefer comments on Dreamwidth |
comment(s)
Now I'm surfing Tumblr for Snow White & the Huntsman posts and I keep tripping over Kristen Stewart bashing. The poor girl sure gets a lot of hate for taking an acting job that one time. I mean, I've never seen Twilight so what do I know? Maybe Stewart really can't act. But I suspect a lot of the hate is undeserved, just spillover for being the actress who played Bella Swan, not for the performance itself.
Anyway, I ended up ranting a little in Stewart's defence. I've copied it over here because Tumblr still makes no sense to me as a platform for large blocks of text. It's great for spamming pics, not so much for threaded conversations.
I think Charlize Theron is stunningly gorgeous, but arguing that Kristen Stewart isn't as pretty is missing the point completely. It's a shallow reading not only of the movie (though I suppose not everyone’s seen the trailer and *gets* that this is a shallow reading) but also a shallow reading of the *original fairytale*.
I mean, fairytales aren't *literal*. We know that there was never an actual talking mirror, right? Snow White's beauty is a reflection of her goodness and purity, and the queen's vanity represents her insecurity and need for control, which drove her further down the path of evil. The queen believes that consuming Snow White's heart will give her Snow White's power, not realising that true power comes from within. If in the telling of this story, the director decided to cast an actress to play Snow White who is not--by your standards--more beautiful than the actress who plays the evil queen, I really really encourage you to just... get over it already.
Also, the more people put down Kristen Stewart, the more I'm in her corner. Never having seen Twilight, I have no opinions on her ability to act or have facial expressions--99% of my exposure to Stewart comes from the trailers and a few gifs on Tumblr. Nothing so far has convinced me that she can't act. Maybe she's not Meryl Streep, maybe one day she will be. What do I know? I just know that the Snow White that I see in the trailers is scared, and brave, and delighted by magic, and kind of pissed at the queen for that whole "I killed your parents and stole your throne and tried to eat your heart" business, and rocks medieval armour like a bad-ass.
Is it June 1 yet?
I prefer comments on Dreamwidth |
comment(s)