When Good Actors Do Bad Things
28 04 2007My question initially on this whole sorry saga was, why is this even news? Because Alec Baldwin shouted at his daughter?
Well, because he called her a little pig. Oh please. Who cares?
On a childfree forum I frequent where it was suggested that Alec Baldwin is a horrible parent (and, in not so many words not fit to be on the planet) I suggested that we perhaps shouldn’t be quite so swift to stand in judgement when we really don’t know the whole story. I’m not saying he was right, and of course he should be contrite – but I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes as a parent, as it seems ex-wife is doing her best to ensure daughter knows that father is a Very Bad Man un-deserving of access to his only child. And while he was thoughtless and perhaps not very wise in letting his anger and frustration get the better of him, he’s human. His ex-wife, in leaking that voicemail was mean and spiteful.
I was rounded on by a particularly strident member and told that it is “never OK to abuse a child… and what he did amounted to abuse” Errm… abuse a child? Excuse me?
Yes I am childfree, and yes I have my pet peeves about badly behaved parents, (including parents who keep trying to convince me of the joys of parenting) and yes, abuse of children is heinous in the extreme. But many seem to have completely lost their reason in rushing to judgement in this case, based on only a leaked voicemail of a frustrated and angry parent.
Anyway, now he’s been on various shows confessing to his sins. I wish he wouldn’t – by which I mean he should simply say sorry and shut it. He’s also declared he wants to leave acting, which somewhat alarms me (and many others) because I think he is a pretty good actor. He’s certainly been working for over a quarter of a century, and to leave over this (if they are linked) would be sad.
My personal opinion is that I would rather judge Alec Baldwin on his acting ability than as a parent.I like watching him in films, and I always have. I really don’t care about his ability as a parent. That seems to be the general view on Salon.com where I found the above linked article.
But if it is necessary to judge him at all as a parent then surely one needs more than a leaked voicemail to hang someone out to dry.
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i agree that this has been blown out of proportion simply because of his status. my mother has said worse things to me when younger (and even now) and you don’t see social workers coming in and out of my house!
I don’t think this has been blown out of proportion because Alec has a history of losing it over trivial things. This is a man who put his fist through the wall on the set of a play because he didn’t like the temperature on the AC. There were also reports of him flinging things around set whenever he got mad. One of his costars quit the play because she couldn’t handle his temper. If I was Kim I’d want to protect my kid from this Very Bad Man too. And I sure don’t blame his daughter for not wanting to speak to him.
I think we make far too much of “celebrity” reports. Things are thrown at us out of context, and we as a society make snap judgements about people we don’t even know and yet pretend to know. It’s all part of the sound bite world we live in. I am sure whatever the story here is, it is much more complicated than the little tidbits we’re being given, and my personal take is that I know none of the principals here and so will not offer any comment further than saying I too was called much worse than what is heard on this tape, and never thought for a second I was being abused. People aren’t perfect, people lose their tempers, and people likewise get over it and start a new day.
It gives one pause to wonder how those that are so willing to jump on side in cases like this and others really do spend their time and how gullible they truly are. The movie industry is stressful, sensationalized and unreal. Publicity good and bad makes and breaks careers and the careers are based on sensationalized staged drama. So-called fans thrive on second, third and fourth hand uncorroborated information manipulated by press agents and gleaned from paparazzi. So pardon me for telling you that I take everything I hear with a grain of salt. Frankly I could care less what Alex Baldwin’s supposed relationship with his daughter and ex-wife are. His ex-wife is drawing high enough alimony to pay for whatever counseling she may deem that her daughter needs and the girl is not in eminent danger.
Frankly, I wish Alec Baldwin could accompany me on 15 hour airplane flights to Japan. I think he’d be great at crowd control.