Misunderstanding Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep, three-time Academy Award winner often referred to as the “best actress of her generation,” claimed that, in response to a question about representation of minorities in the filming industry, “We are all Africans.”
She said this controversial statement on Thursday, Feb. 11, at a press conference to promote her position as the jury head for the Berlin International Film Festival. An Egyptian reporter asked her if she understood the films from the Middle East, and whether or not there was enough diversity on the jury. Streep responded by saying that although she, admittedly, didn’t know much about the Middle East, she has “played a lot of different people from a lot of different cultures.”
She then continued by saying, “There is a core of humanity that travels right through every culture, and after all we’re all from Africa originally. We’re all Berliners, we’re all Africans, really.” Listing all the different professions on the jury, among those cinematographers, directors, critics and actors, she pointed out that everyone will be looking for something different in the movies.
“But, we’re human beings. And film is an emotional experience. So, we’re going to make these decisions based on what our heads want to say, but we’re first attacked in the heart.”
Since then, Streep has been facing backlash. Some news media claim that she dismissed questions on the lack of diversity on an all-white jury by saying, “We’re all Africans, really.”
As a fan of Meryl Streep’s work, I’m almost inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt. I’m positive, after reading her full statement, she didn’t mean to “dismiss” questions on the lack of diversity. As a matter of fact, that wouldn’t make any sense, especially because she’s a very vocal advocate for equal rights and disputes racism and bigotry of any kind. I do believe that what she meant to say, was that although she wouldn’t fully understand some concepts of foreign movies, she could still relate to them at some emotional level. I genuinely believe that she didn’t mean to offend anyone.
That being said, I don’t completely agree with what she said. Just because she may have played someone from Africa once, does not mean that she could embody the perspective of someone from Africa, being a white American woman. Yes, she may have played many different roles from many different backgrounds excellently; however, that does not mean she can fully relate to them at their core, where their cultures and background influenced who they essentially are as a person. Streep once said, “Acting is not about being someone different. It’s finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding myself in there.” And, even though I’m no actor or “drama type” of any kind, I completely agree with that statement. One cannot transform who they are when acting, although it may look like that when Meryl Streep acts. What they can do is relate to the character’s humanity, and perhaps some philosophies the character has that influence their actions in the film. But one can never truly embody the character completely, as a person. This is why actors all have their own acting style; you can never truly erase who you are, so it comes out as one’s acting style. This is why Streep is an amazing actress—she can relate to so many different characters, and execute them wonderfully.
Overall, what Meryl Streep said was wrong. I don’t agree that she can relate to someone’s personality and perspective from simply “being human.” However, the backlash from the media is unnecessary, because I don’t think she meant to offend anyone or to discriminate. She just phrased it very, very badly.