I did not want to spend 2 hours of my life watching Bryan Cranston crip up and Kevin Hart get paid in The Upside. It’s irresponsible to review cultural productions without fully experiencing them. I appreciate @Imani_Barbarin taking one for the team.
I’m loathe to critique any person of color who has reached Kevin Hart’s level of success. There’s so few of us getting paid and I’d like to think they’ll use their increased social capital and access to resources to help our community.
Hart brings an extratextual element to the film which I’m confident would make every heterosexist joke predicated on patriarchal gender norms sting a bit more. So I don’t want to see The Upside.
Cranston’s a marvelous actor and I’m mad he chose to use his considerable talent, access, and privilege to make this film. I’m irritated at his excuses for the choice. I’m tired of this type of film being made.
I can see why the film was made. Huge hit in France, remakes in both India and Argentina. A stereotypical Oscar bait formula with the added sweetness of being “inspired by a true story”
Why is it important for ACTUAL disabled actors to play roles scripted as disabled? My answer is -Equity in Representation, and Access to Resources. How can a quadriplegic actor ever win an Oscar if they are never cast in the Oscar bait role?
Generally in the film industry the assumption is that actors cannot play roles they are not physically plausible in. Therefore they will not cast a person in a wheelchair as anything else but a person in a wheelchair.
People with actual disabilities get cast less, they get paid less, they are less famous. In the film industry success is rewarded by opportunities for even greater success. What happens when you deny an entire community access to that?
Bryan Cranston has gotten social capital from being cast alongside an actor with a disability and encouraging that decision. It’s so frustrating to know “ally” is a subjective identity that can change as soon as personal desire comes up.
The script and previous properties were problematic in terms of race, gender, class, and disability. I’m rather certain I’d be feeling a burning irritation at the producers, screenwriters, Director, and Mr. Cranston for making this film as I was watching.
So I don’t want to see The Upside. Also I’m rather certain it’s not a gripping narrative. We’ve seen the reluctant reclamation of the angry white male capitalist though encounter with other. Generally he has a disability or has suffered a personal loss.
Imani said it best “The idea of yet another financially stable disabled white man (played by an abled actor) and his mystical negro (who shows him dignity and that life could be much worse) didn’t really appeal to me as a disabled black woman, at all. “
So The Upside is boring in general to me and in particular is erasing my identity through lack of representation. I’ve NEVER experienced a film where the black disabled person was the center. A few times disabled black men help a white protagonist reach their goal.
I used to be grateful for any piece of representation of my multiple identity. At least this protagonist isn’t suggesting we’d be better off dead. But I think I’m 2019 I can say Not only is this not good enough. It’s not good. So I’m not watching The Upside.
