LogFAQs > #947500603

Given the current call to have more diversity in film, it certainly fits within the modern zeitgeist. And on a technical level, there are pragmatic reasons for casting a person with a disorder rather than an actor merely feigning the disorder. Even with something like a physical disability, there are going to be nuances that actors miss. With mental issues, it's that much harder to give an accurate portrayal.

That said, the question then becomes to what extent does an accurate portrayal matter? For the representation of certain groups, the answer might actually mean a lot, since popular culture is usually peoples' first reference point. As such, it's kinda important to get it right. However, given that not everybody is going to embody a disability in the same way, it kinda seems like you can run into problems no matter which way you go.

Regardless, if Hollywood is making a big deal of representation mattering, it kinda feels like this is an area that should concern them as well.

adjl posted...

More broadly, I don't have a fundamental problem with using non-[a-word] actors to portray [a-word] characters, provided they do it well (Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing, for example, was amazing),

His Sherlock as well, tbh. Although some people dispute the show's in-universe acknowledgement:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/sherlock-holmes-
the-case-of-the-man-with-the-mistaken-diagnosis-psychiatry-in-literature/2E9E5AD5706BFE14CE3444BF2F7A7AC8/core-reader

Although apparently the original Conan Doyle character has been thought to be [a-word], which I didn't really pick up from those stories:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brainsnacks/201110/did-sherlock-holmes-have-asperger-syndrome

adjl posted...

the attitude of "[a-word] people can't handle this role" is generally pretty awful and people should try to avoid letting it influence their casting decisions as much as possible.

Not for nothing, but there are a lot of mental conditions where the non-condition actors playing them are offensively bad. Jack Nicholson in As Good as it Gets and Tony Shalhoub in Monk had me cringing with their terrible portrayals of OCD. And that's not touching on the inherently problematic nature of using a mental condition for cheap laughs.

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