Megan Fox recently had an interview with E!, about both her family life and how she balances work with raising three sons, but also, in her usual blunt way, coming down on Hollywood and the “glamour” people associate it with.
As Fox so bluntly puts it, “you’re a commodity” to the studios, and as long as they can get what they want from you “there’s no regard for your safety or your physical wellbeing at all, because it doesn’t matter, because you are a means to an end.” It is the acceptance of that attitude, from both producers and audiences alike, that leads to toxic situations were actors are afraid to speak up against improper practices in Hollywood.
“There’s not a lot of concern about what’s right for individuals,” she adds. Interviews like this have often led to backlash for Megan Fox, but thankfully (and hopefully), in the era of #MeToo, people are taking it more seriously when female celebrities say things like this rather than just writing it off as “biting the hand that feeds them.” I’m not surprised that Fox is being outspoken about this issue, but maybe people are finally listening because everyone is saying it. It’s no longer just her word versus Michael Bay’s.
It goes right along with Uma Thurman’s revelation in the New York Times about sustaining injuries during the filming of Kill Bill and then being forced into silence. The fact that Quentin Tarantino was responsible for risking Thurman’s life was not acknowledged until recently, and only under the pressure of the media:
Thurman crashed while driving the vehicle, and she had to be taken to the hospital afterwards. “When I came back from the hospital in a neck brace with my knees damaged and a large massive egg on my head and a concussion,” she said, “I wanted to see the car and I was very upset. Quentin and I had an enormous fight, and I accused him of trying to kill me. And he was very angry at that, I guess understandably, because he didn’t feel he had tried to kill me.”
For too long, actors who speak up about the garbage they’ve been subjected to have been ignored or ridiculed, because how dare women not be thankful for having careers where they are only required to be “glamorous.” I remember buying into that mentality myself with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in the Twilight years. Any critical comments Stewart made were met with vitriol because how dare she be critical of Twilight when she was promoting the movie and herself along with it? However, anytime Robert Pattinson said anything that could remotely be considered shade, it was seen as an affirmation of how he was only in it for the check and that he was hilarious.
It’s important, while we point the finger at Hollywood and shame them into changing their ways, that it’s not just angry words but not supporting projects with actively problematic people in them, even if we want to, and acknowledging how we have internalized messages of complicity.
We can’t tell women to speak up and speak out about experiences of violence in the workplace, but then ridicule actors for doing the same. Because of the amount of money they make, there’s a mentality that they should accept whatever they are given because they aren’t “real jobs,” which is nonsense.
We spend hours reading articles about actors gaining or losing massive amounts of weight for a role, learning new skills depending on what the role requires, and also putting their entire existence out there for the scrutiny of the world. When they deliver an amazing performance, it can have a massive effect on our lives or at least give us some escapism for some time. Why does that hold no value?
As a society, we need to value people for the work that they do and treat them with respect, no matter what industry they’re in.
(via Buzzfeed, image: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
