Some people in America lately seem to be convinced that we’ve entered some kind of future utopia where we’ve moved past racism, sexism, homophobia, and all other kinds of discrimination, and only the people who wish to have meaningful conversations about those subjects even notice such petty differences between people—despite the reality of daily discrimination. And Cate Blanchett has had it.
At a Cannes Film Festival media event, Blanchett discussed how LGBTQ+ prejudice is not, in fact, “over” when talking about her new film, Carol. Blanchett heads up a female-led cast as the titular Carol along with Rooney Mara and Sarah Paulson in a movie about a lesbian relationship in the 1950s—not one of the most accepting time periods for such a couple.
But Blanchett warned that, though same-sex relationships things are no longer illegal as they were when the film takes place—although some states still have troubling laws regarding specific sex acts—attitudes aren’t so different today, saying (via The Hollywood Reporter),
There are still many, many countries around the world where [not being straight] is illegal. We’re still living in deeply conservative times, and if you think otherwise you’re very foolish.
I hope I live to see the day when we’re all flying around on jetpacks and high fiving over how none of us can remember why anyone ever argued about anything like this, but in the present, she’s dead-on, and we have to keep fighting. She also wants to make sure that we don’t take recent advancements for women in Hollywood, or this specific film, as a reason to stop improving the gender balance, either:
Well, I think it needs to be very much at the center of the conversation. There was an article in the International New York Times saying that it was ‘the year of La Femme’ [in Cannes]. You hope it’s not just the year, it’s not some sort of fashionable moment.
Don’t worry, Cate. As long as we have thoughtful, outspoken public figures like yourself to look up to, things can only get better.
(image via magicinfoto / Shutterstock.com)
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