Conductor Blasts Tár, Answers Kumail Nanjiani’s Question
Remember a few days ago when Eternals star Kumail Nanjiani whined about Hollywood only casting white men as villains? I hope he’s paying attention because someone laid out for him exactly why that happens. The movie Tár, which has been getting lots of accolades and awards buzz (for whatever the latter is worth anymore), and even reignited Martin Scorsese’s faith in cinema, recently came under fire for its portrayal of its main character. In the film, Cate Blanchett plays Lydia Tár, a lesbian conductor accused of sexually abusing women. And now that she’s seen it, a real-life lesbian conductor named Marin Alsop – who is mentioned by Blanchett’s Tár in the movie – is not happy. Speaking to The Sun (by way of Variety), Alsop said:
“So many superficial aspects of ‘Tár’ seemed to align with my own personal life. But once I saw it I was no longer concerned, I was offended: I was offended as a woman, I was offended as a conductor, I was offended as a lesbian… To have an opportunity to portray a woman in that role and to make her an abuser — for me that was heartbreaking… I think all women and all feminists should be bothered by that kind of depiction because it’s not really about women conductors, is it? It’s about women as leaders in our society. People ask, ‘Can we trust them? Can they function in that role?’ It’s the same questions whether it’s about a CEO or an NBA coach or the head of a police department… There are so many men — actual, documented men — this film could have been based on but, instead, it puts a woman in the role but gives her all the attributes of those men. That feels antiwoman. To assume that women will either behave identically to men or become hysterical, crazy, insane is to perpetuate something we’ve already seen on film so many times before.”
Get it now, Kumail Nanjiani? When a movie deviates from the straight white man villain archetype, this is the response it gets. Of course, Nanjiani proves that the woke will complain no matter what, so Hollywood chooses the path that will get them the least amount of grief from these entitled brats who need their asses kissed twenty-four hours a day. If Nanjiani were cast as the bad guy in a movie, how long would it be before the filmmaker was accused of hating Pakistanis and trying to portray all of them as evil? Alsop’s statement is exactly in line with how the grievance club always frames these things; Lydia Tár is not an individual character, not even a person, but a representation of all women, especially but not limited to lesbians, and must be perfect and holy and wondrous to function properly as such.
Of course, it only works in one direction. Alsop says that women have been portrayed as abusive or hysterical “so many times before,” as if those roles are played by women anywhere near as often as they are by men. So, if we’re keeping score (which is poison to art, as if these people care), who should be done being shown as corrupt and abusive? But that’s different; an individual straight white man shouldn’t be offended at seeing themselves in an evil role because, obviously, that isn’t supposed to be representative of all of us. And I agree, but that goes both ways, like Nanjiani is saying now that he’s bored with pats on the head from scared movie studios. But as long as reactions like Alsop’s are treated with anything more than a laugh and an eye roll, it won’t happen.
For her part, Cate Blanchett was kind, gracious, and thoughtful in response to Alsop’s moaning. Speaking to BBC1 (as relayed by The Independent), she said:
“What [director Todd Field] and I wanted to do was to create a really lively conversation. So there’s no right or wrong responses to works of art. It’s not a film about conducting, and I think that the circumstances of the character are entirely fictitious.
“She’s entitled to her opinion, absolutely. But it’s a meditation on power and power is genderless… It is a meditation on power and the corrupting nature of power and I think that that doesn’t necessarily happen only in cultural circles…
“I think that power is a corrupting force no matter what one’s gender is. I think it affects all of us.”
That’s an artist.
