I’ll admit it. In middle school, I was one of those people. You know, the type of person who revels in being the first to discover a book, television show or musician.
I read “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins before it went mainstream and was entirely consumed by it.
Several of my friends and I waited with bated breath for the film adaption to be released.
We even made “Team Peeta” shirts to wear to the midnight premiere of the movie. I know, I know.
Believe it or not, that wasn’t even one of the most cringe-worthy moments of my middle school years.
That night, I sat in a movie theater and watched Jennifer Lawrence in her first performance as protagonist Katniss Everdeen. It was the first time I had ever seen her in a film.
Fast forward about six years, and you’d find me again sitting in a movie theater.
This time I was watching trailers before “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” started. The trailer for “Passengers” begins. Lawrence and co-star Chris Pratt appear on the screen. I groan.
As a feminist, I painstakingly avoid that oft-uttered phrase, the one that usually is targeted at women in positions of power — “I just don’t like her” — as if likable is the most important thing a women can be.
I’ve found that this statement usually cannot be backed up with evidence or reasons. It’s generally a visceral, vague disdain.
I can, however, say I am both tired of seeing Lawrence in every single blockbuster movie and certain that I do not like her.
First of all, how many times can film executives slap together Lawrence and Bradley Cooper as love interests?
Is there really that much of a shortage of attractive people with halfway-decent acting chops in Hollywood?
Sure, Lawrence is talented. I won’t deny that. However, there are so many other voices we could be hearing, especially right now, as minorities finally break into big roles in films.
I don’t think the plot of “Passenger” by any means hinged on the minor detail that both love interests were white.
It might have even made the story more interesting and more redeemable in the eyes of critics if the two love interests were of different cultural backgrounds.
It even could have played into the story somehow.
In summary, I’d like more diversity, please.
Second — and this is partly the fault of the media — she’s been typecast as Hollywood’s darling golden girl that we should all love because she’s apparently down-to-earth and real.
In reality, though, she’s crass and classless.
This past December on “The Graham Norton Show,” she talked about filming a movie in Hawaii.
Particularly, she told a story about scratching her behind on a rock sacred to Hawaiian culture.
In the interview, she was utterly disrespectful and mocking.
When faced with public backlash, she released a statement that was hardly remorseful by merely saying, “I apologize if I offended anyone.”
I know it’s easy to criticize someone for making a small misstep, but this is a pattern with Lawrence, and we should quit dismissing her callousness as keeping it real.
She is oblivious to anyone other than herself.
Let’s keep a high standard for those in the public spotlight who are influencing us and our impressionable children.
So, Hollywood, can we have someone other than Lawrence in the next blockbuster hit?
The odds are not in favor of me watching another Lawrence film.
acgroove@umail.iu.edu
