We’ll start with one of Hollywood’s biggest punching bags. I’ve covered Gal Gadot before, but it’s worth defending her again because a lot of criticism starts and ends with something she has no control over. Basically, Gadot’s attacked for being born in Israel. More-specifically, for being proud of it. Because according to social media, that’s bad.
People don’t control where they’re born. This goes for celebrities too. But while the world understands that with every other country, Israelis have an undeserved handicap there. This goes double for famous Israelis, which the Wonder Woman actress is. I’d call this ridiculous-actually, it’s ridiculous. Let’s not sugar coat it.
The critiques of Gal Gadot circle around the same talking points: she’s a Zionist who can’t act. Firstly, use the word “Jew” when being Antisemitic. And secondly, she’s not an amazing actress, but she’s far from terrible. Many Hollywood regulars are as good as, or worse than, her, which shows when they’re paired with a bad director. Few people can survive bad directing anyway, as a lot of trust is put in the person filming. Gadot isn’t my favourite actress, but assuming she has no talent isn’t only subjective, it’s unfair when far worse actors get a pass.
Going back to the Zionist part, so? Many people are Zionists, even some you’d be surprised by. Besides, Gadot being labelled a “Zionist” means little when you remember that she was a combat instructor in The IDF. Say what you will, but she not only trained tougher people than most keyboard warriors, she also doesn’t care what you think. Gadot’s also one of the major celebrities to express concerns about The October 7th Massacre, something many people deny happened.
I’m not her biggest fan, either. Gadot’s no stranger to blunders, her “Imagine” video being the most-infamous. But when that same level of scrutiny isn’t applied to celebrities with far more baggage, I have to wonder if that’s a problem with everyone else. It makes me wonder what’ll happen when Shira Haas appears in Captain America: The New World Order. It also makes me wonder if people are okay…
Brie Larson gets trashed by insecure sexists nonstop. Whether it’s criticizing her foot fungus years ago, which she had no control over, or this obsession with her being “everything wrong with modern Marvel movies”, she never catches a break. It doesn’t help that whenever she’s mentioned, the fact that she “hates men” tags along. This isn’t only untrue, it misrepresents what she said at Crystal + Lucy about diversity. Because she’s right.
It's pathetic how much time the internet cries about Larson still getting work. Whenever a YouTube video pops up about Disney “dying”, she’s in the thumbnail. And not only that, it’s in a badly-photoshopped image of her angry or crying. It doesn’t help that the videos are long and largely-incoherent rants from males who don’t source their talking points. (Not that they need to, as their target audience won’t bother challenging them.)
Outside of these videos, Larson can’t live her life without criticism. Larson working out? Instant rage. Larson getting high and enjoying food? Instant rage. Larson being friends with Iman Vellani? You guessed it, instant rage.
It doesn’t help that many of her male co-stars haven’t spoken up in her defence, leading internet trolls to assume no one likes her. I don’t know where this claim comes from, and I’m surprised Larson hasn’t sued for defamation. Even ignoring that, she’s the weirdest target for male insecurity I’ve ever seen. Never mind that she starred in Captain Marvel, which was decently-received and surpassed $1 billion at the box-office despite attempts to “boycott” it.
I’m not saying you have to love Brie Larson, or even like her. If her brief stint with NFTs is indication, she’s made mistakes. But with how some people criticize her, you’d think she’s a blight on humanity. She’s not. She’s an Oscar-winning actress with opinions on her industry, which she’s entitled. She’s no different than anyone else in Hollywood, and it’s time for people to move on.
I’ll end with the most-recent example: Rachel Zegler. Ever since West Side Story, her career has shown plenty of promise. She even handled her shade of The Academy for not initially getting invited to The Oscars with tact, something I can’t say for many people. But it’s her remarks about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs that got the faux-outrage rolling. Because her taking issue with an 87 year-old movie’s a problem, somehow…
I’d ask if those criticizing her are okay, but that wouldn’t solve the problem. Nor would pointing out that her taking issue with a Disney classic isn’t why the remake will be bad. It’ll be bad for reasons totally unrelated to her, I promise! And no amount of badmouthing will change that. If you disagree, I promise that some fresh air will do your lungs wonders.
Aside from that, the hate for Zegler’s mostly carbon-copied from Brie Larson, except stranger. Zegler’s jab at Ansel Elgort, for example, wasn’t so offensive given that everyone else was already distancing themselves from Elgort before West Side Story was released! Elgort, unlike Zegler, is toxic to be around, and that’s worth calling out. That nerd-bros can’t accept that and move on is telling and disturbing. Then again, am I really surprised?
Rachel Zegler hasn’t even been in the public eye for that long. She could end up being an awful human being, we don’t know yet! But let’s not be so quick to judge her right now, especially given that she’s young. I think that gets ignored in favour of “Rachel Zegler hates Disney movies!”, or whatever nonsense people keep saying. Going outside is free…
Anyway, that about does it for now. If you’ll excuse me…
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