As more comes out about the new Harry Potter TV show, I see people say that the child actors are not responsible for their participation. I want to make it extremely clear that is the correct take and no hate or ill will should be directed at the children, but I would like to add that they are not entitled to your financial support either. They have family and a management team that decided this would be a good project for them. Boycotting the child actors as well as the adults is the best way to show that this is a sinking ship of a franchise. The children may not be responsible, but family and management teams around the world need to see that attaching the name of a child actor to a project filled with hate will stain their reputation before they are able to make one. Their management team should be fired and should garner a reputation for making bad decisions regarding projects. Their family should feel as though this was a big misstep in their child’s career. Just because they did not make the decision doesn’t mean that they won’t be profiting from it. Please do not let this boost them to stardom the way it did with the original cast. All that does is demonstrate that it actually does pay to work with hateful bigots so long as you can shift the blame. It’s unfortunate, but this should follow them until it’s clear that there is no excuse to work with people like JKR and that it will never benefit you. Obviously, I do not condone hate or harassment towards anyone. I think it’s ok to express dissatisfaction or disappointment, but in the case of the kids that should be directed at the people making the decision for them, not the children themselves.
The child actors would have already been paid, boycotting the show isn’t going to negatively affect that.
What’s far more important is the attention and subscription economy. Whatever platform is streaming it, unsubscribe from them and tell them exactly why. Don’t talk about the show. Don’t endorse watching it, don’t discuss with people how it did XYZ different from the books or whatever, fuck the whole thing off. Don’t even bother pirating it. Let it fizzle out like a fart on the wind. They’re going to pump millions into trying to get you to watch it and you’re going to spit in the face of all those executives desperate for your time by refusing to do so.
For the most part I agree, but I still think it’s important to make sure the individuals participating in this project also know that they are viewed negatively due to their association with her. It should be seen as a career ender and studios should know that actual talent will be unwilling to work on these projects going forward. People who manage young talent should know that these kinds of projects will get their clients blacklisted and should not be accepted. One of the kids is already in something else, and I’d suggest not watching that either. I’m not saying that this is the only thing that should be done, but I’m assuming people in this sub are likely already doing the other things you’ve outlined, but might not think to boycott the things the kids are in going forward. I don’t want the kids not to get paid. I want the people who manage them to see that the payday was not worth never having a successful project after that. JKR can self fund HP reboots for the rest of her life, but if we make hiring the people that participated untenable then it won’t matter. They will have to decide between HP or having a viable career after.
I don’t want the kids not to get paid.
That’s the end result of ensuring that working on a project like this is a career ender, though. If you want to send the message of “I don’t like this and won’t watch anything with those people in it ever again”, you’re making sure they don’t get paid again. They would need to find a different career.
I was responding to this part of the other comment:
The child actors would have already been paid, boycotting the show isn’t going to negatively affect that.
People should be paid for the work they have done. We as a consumers are just not obligated to support their projects. Those things can both be true. They are children and do not need careers at the moment, and they are certainly not owed careers in entertainment. It is fine to boycott them, and I’m sharing my opinion that it should be part of the larger strategy of boycotting JKR. If you disagree that’s fine, but my statement that they deserve compensation for their labor doesn’t contradict my larger point.
Hot take: child actors should be illegal.
Interesting thought. What’s the alternative? Or should no visual media ever have a kid in it? If so, what does that do for story telling and adaptions of print media?
I think it’s totally acceptable with the technology we have that if your media absolutely needs a child in it you can use animation with voice actors, or whatever you have to do. The cost of child labourers and how they’re treated in Hollywood and it’s monstrous, and if the only alternative is that we shouldn’t have media with live child actors in it anymore then that’s how it has to be.
Yes and what decent parent wants their child to work so hard instead of being a kid? It always raises flags for me
The pursuit of money is the root of all evil.
Yep, same. I’m willing to pay the price of no more children in media, and I’m absolutely flabbergasted that most people are like “BUT I CANT WATCH MY SHOWS IF THERES NO KIDS IN THEM!”
Then watch an animated movie or read a book for fucks sake.
Studio Ghibli (and anime more generally) may have the answer you’re looking for. Adults can do voice work for children, and they can be animated. There’s no need to “employ” actual children.
