Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2023-05-31 12:03 pm
rionaleonhart) wrote2023-05-31 12:03 pm
Entry tags:
She Only Has Her Guilt And A Gun.
'I wish people would talk about Lost more,' I say to the evil genie, confident that there's no way this one can go wrong.
(To clarify, I think it's a good thing that the behind-the-scenes issues are being talked about! It just wasn't quite what I had in mind when I approached the genie.)
I like to keep this journal a reasonably upbeat place, but, when I've been posting cheerfully about Lost for three months and a major article about Lost's toxic workplace culture comes out, it feels slightly disingenuous to keep chattering about Lost without taking the time to acknowledge it. I'll pop my thoughts under a cut.
It's awful to hear that people suffered in the creation of something I loved. It's not surprising, because I tend to assume there's darkness behind the scenes of every production, and isn't that a terrible assumption? I'm glad these stories are being illuminated, and I hope the industry will learn from them. The response to something like this should never just be a grim 'of course', but unfortunately that's where we are, and I'm sure it must be possible to get somewhere better.
I hope the people who had a rough experience working on Lost are doing okay. I hope the people who perpetuated this culture take the time to reflect and improve; it sounds like Lindelof is at least making an effort and Cuse probably isn't.
One bright spot is that I've been pleasantly surprised by the Lost fandom's reaction to this, or at least the parts of it I've seen. There's very little denial or attacking the victims; most people are just shocked and sad, while also being glad that it's out in the open.
I think the fact that Lindelof isn't denying anything probably helped prevent a fandom rift. There's no split between the faction that believes the writers/actors and the faction that believes the showrunner, because everyone involved in the show agrees that there were serious problems.
I suppose that's all I have to say. I love Lost; I had a great time watching it, and it had a very powerful emotional impact on me. Those feelings haven't changed, and I'll probably keep talking about the show in the future. But it's terrible that writers and actors were hurt in its creation. People do not and should not have to suffer for art to exist, and I hope the entertainment industry learns to do better.
(To clarify, I think it's a good thing that the behind-the-scenes issues are being talked about! It just wasn't quite what I had in mind when I approached the genie.)
I like to keep this journal a reasonably upbeat place, but, when I've been posting cheerfully about Lost for three months and a major article about Lost's toxic workplace culture comes out, it feels slightly disingenuous to keep chattering about Lost without taking the time to acknowledge it. I'll pop my thoughts under a cut.
It's awful to hear that people suffered in the creation of something I loved. It's not surprising, because I tend to assume there's darkness behind the scenes of every production, and isn't that a terrible assumption? I'm glad these stories are being illuminated, and I hope the industry will learn from them. The response to something like this should never just be a grim 'of course', but unfortunately that's where we are, and I'm sure it must be possible to get somewhere better.
I hope the people who had a rough experience working on Lost are doing okay. I hope the people who perpetuated this culture take the time to reflect and improve; it sounds like Lindelof is at least making an effort and Cuse probably isn't.
One bright spot is that I've been pleasantly surprised by the Lost fandom's reaction to this, or at least the parts of it I've seen. There's very little denial or attacking the victims; most people are just shocked and sad, while also being glad that it's out in the open.
I think the fact that Lindelof isn't denying anything probably helped prevent a fandom rift. There's no split between the faction that believes the writers/actors and the faction that believes the showrunner, because everyone involved in the show agrees that there were serious problems.
I suppose that's all I have to say. I love Lost; I had a great time watching it, and it had a very powerful emotional impact on me. Those feelings haven't changed, and I'll probably keep talking about the show in the future. But it's terrible that writers and actors were hurt in its creation. People do not and should not have to suffer for art to exist, and I hope the entertainment industry learns to do better.
no subject
Owusu-Breen's comments were just so to-the-point and quippy -- I really appreciated that. Especially this part:
It's just so well- and succinctly-put, and it's wild to me that that was the response the execs had to criticism about a racist workplace environment -- how can someone hope to achieve non-racism if they don't also care about bullying??? I really don't think it's possible to root out racism if you have a habit of tolerating bullying more generally. D:
no subject
It really does; there are definitely recurring patterns there.
'It was just bullying' is such a bizarre response. Surprise, executives: even if bullying and racism were entirely separate issues (and they aren't), bullying in the workplace is also extremely bad!