#and had a lengthy diatribe about how a character being perky and happy was irredeemably terrible writing

[tarragonthedragon]

i keep seeing people criticising tv shows and movies by being like "i thought x character was bad but im NOT BLAMING the actor i think the actor is GREAT and WONDERFUL i blame the WRITERS and DIRECTORS"

usually this is directed at female characters and characters of colour and like while i understand the impulse to not dunk on actors and actresses who are more likely to be receiving really shitty hate comments just for existing i do think a) the attacks on writers and directors are also really mean and personal sometimes? and also b) this feels incredibly performative

#my peak moment of this is someone who commented on annabeth being black in the percy jackson series #and said it ruined the entire point of her character and made the show basically unwatchable from the get go #and then added “but no hate to leah! shes an amazing actress she's gonna be fantastic!” #and like. fantastic at what. what does that mean #thats an extreme example usually when i see this it's more like #idk like the comment i saw about ghosts cbs which said sam was too cheerful but that rose mciver portrayed her perfectly #and had a lengthy diatribe about how a character being perky and happy was irredeemably terrible writing #and like #how is the actress not a part of that? #what do you think her job is? #her job is not just having a face and saying words in any even halfway decent production the actors are *part* of the writing and direction #film media is a collaborative process #and you can hate the result but like youre rarely gonna be able to single out the one person who caused a thing you hate #and also also. its super obvious that people are just adapting to it being socially less acceptable to bully actors on social media #writers and directors however you can still get away with harassing