OK so reverse order timeline of events like this that I'm aware of
- Laura Bailey being harassed for something a character she voiced in The Last of Us Part 2 did
- Anna Gunn being harassed because people misguidedly and misogynistically didn't like Skyler White (taking this back to 2008)
- Ahmed Best and the kid who played young Anakin being harassed by Star Wars fans after the Phantom Menace came out, taking us back to 1999. You could argue that these two weren't about the character's actions but rather the quality of the performances/product so its a bit difference but its still the same overall problem.
- I just happened to get curious about what TV Tropes had to say about All in the Family because my roomate was watching it. By weird coincidence, because I had commented about the first three when this news was posted in a discord server already, I learned it goes back to the 70s because an actor who appears in one episode and does something incredibly evil got hate mail over it. So yeah, this shit has been going on forever
But like. WHAT the fuck is going on with that. What is going on in brains that can't separate actor from character? Is it just needing an outlet.
I think there's some discussion to be had about this shit getting worse because of increased atomization, COVID, social media giving people easy access to celebrities, and a more media obsessed population in general. But it apparently goes all the way back to All in the Family so what is going on?
And I don't think that its a minor problem either! Ahmed Best and the small child that played Anakin have shared some pretty harrowing stuff. And like, this was a reality show but I've discussed before how upset the story of Hana Kimura is to me as a fan (if you look her up, suicide cw).
My best guess is that people with very little emotional intelligence have emotions over the media they consume and need to let it out on someone as an outlet? Combined with just, poor education leading to poor media literacy?
But yeah this has always confused me lmao. I truly wish to understand the confusing actions of humans.
Nah, this is absolutely not anything new at all. I've heard of this phenomenon happening to every actor who has ever played a cartoonishly evil antagonist in Brazilian novelas for as long as I've been alive. A lot of people simply don't have much media literacy and cannot establish this layer of separation between actor and character. I suppose what's different today is that people feel more comfortably being vocal about their shitty opinions and harassing innocent people online.
Is that media literacy though? They're not reading the show's message wrong, they're completely failing to process reality.
People have known there's a separation between actor and character since the dawn of storytelling when we were still killing each other with sticks and rocks. It's like... A worse than dog-brained comprehension level - if I wear a scary mask and approach my dogs, they're not so sure, when I take the mask off they're like 'ohhh it's you!!!' - even they're able to make some sort of distinction.
Then again, perhaps it is media literacy in the sense that they don't realise an actor acts, on behalf of the writer and director, on behalf of the production company, and so on. But really? Maybe in very poor very rural countries, but anywhere with TV - people beyond a certain age know that there's an actor and a director. I'd say people have a much better understanding of that dynamic now more than ever - you only have to look at Pro Wrestling for example, where 50 years ago people would physically attack the bad guy given the opportunity because the felt it was real. Even in the late 80s and 90s people were often tricked by moments, wondering whether rival company WCW was really invading WWF. Nowadays, everyone but the kids are in on it.
I think it's willful ignorance in the pursuit of personal catharsis. G*mers are savvy enough to know that Rose is acting for Rian Johnson, who is directing for Kathleen Kennedy, who is owned by Disney. They just want a place to displace their anger (and like you say feel powerful in relative anonymity behind a screen).