Did SIA Miss The Mark With "Music"?
Australian pop star SIA shared a brief look into her upcoming movie "Music" on the 19th of November.
At first glance, the one-minute-long movie trailer, seems like nothing short of
your typical bubbly musical; there are dancing children, tons of color and catchy
tunes. It all seems very well executed, however, the part that many took issue
with is the main character which is a non-verbal autistic young girl played by
the actress Maddie Ziegler who is neurotypical.
The petition pleading to prevent SIA's
movie from being released went live just the day after trailer's release on the
20th of November. Its description states: "Musical artist Sia
is planning on releasing a film next year titled “One of the characters in this
film, the titular character Music, is autistic. However, she is played by
neurotypical actress Maddie Ziegler.", it continues by stating that
"…no autistic individuals were consulted on the film."- a claim which
the artist herself denied on Twitter by saying that she had been researching
for 3 years and consulted several professionals. Autistic community found that
hard to believe, though, because every mistake in the movie would have been
easily corrected had she listened to critique of autistic individuals. For
instance, casting a neurodiverse person would have been an obvious choice since
autistic people are awfully underrepresented on screen, especially female
individuals. Also, the exaggerated visions of the main character coupled with
bright colors and flashing lights seemed unfitting for anyone with a
neurodiverse experience to watch in its entirety, if at all.
On the more positive side, representation,
even imperfect one, matters. Seeing an autistic female person in the main role is
truly remarkable! Also, we absolutely have to learn to separate fact from
fiction. "Music" is in no way an accurate portrayal of reality, but
rather its overly exaggerated version created for dramatic effect. Similarly,
the actors are only there to play make believe. Being cast in the role that is
far different from who they are in real life and succeeding in putting themselves
in character's shoes shows they have mastered their craft. The entire point of
acting is the ability to transform into various people and beings that are
often polar opposites of who actors are. If they were to play characters with
their matching personalities, that wouldn't technically be classified as acting
and it would defeat the whole purpose of creating a fantasy. One could dissect
Maddie's performance by comparing it to the actual person she is attempting to
portray and say that it is inaccurate or disrespectful, but that is an entirely
different story that's up to experts to determine.
Of course, the trailer offers only a small
insight into "Music". We won't know if Maddie Ziegler and SIA have
hit the nail on the head or missed the mark with "Music" until the
movie is released in January of 2021, thus we better reserve our judgements
until then. What did you think of the trailer? Do you think the movie should be
released?
Sources: This Petition To Cancel
Sia's Film 'Music' Points Out Autism Activists' Concerns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1rr7Olg8lw
Music, a film by Sia -
coming in early 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OEh1GdzVoA
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