Whenever there’s a strong female character in film or TV nowadays, the inevitable question comes about whether or not that character was influenced by society’s current trends, such as the #MeToo movement or Time’s Up. Normally, that’s the opportunity for the actress to speak up and give her well-rehearsed speech about women’s representation. And that seemed to be what happened when “Today” was interviewing Natascha McElhone about her role in the new Hulu series “The First.” But then her co-star, Sean Penn, decided to chime in.
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When asked about her character’s strong attributes and whether or not they are informed by #MeToo, McElhone said, “Yeah, and for me in life, that’s not unusual. I don’t see that as aberrant. I get that in TV and in a lot of our media women haven’t been depicted in that way, and I find that deeply disturbing.”
Her co-star, Penn, who is known for his very outspoken political views, decided this was the right time to give his overall thoughts on the #MeToo movement. “I’d like to think that none of it was influenced by what they call the movement of #MeToo,” he said. “I think it’s influenced by the things that are developing in terms of the empowerment of women who’ve been acknowledging each other and being acknowledged by men. This is a movement that was largely shouldered by a kind of receptacle of the salacious.”
Penn was then asked to elaborate on the word “salacious,” when he said, “ Well, we don’t know what’s a fact in many of the cases. Salacious is as soon as you call something a movement that is really a series of many individual accusers, victims, accusations, some of which are unfounded. The spirit of much of what has been the #MeToo movement is to divide men and women.”
He continued, “I don’t want it to be a trend, and I’m very suspicious of a movement that gets glommed on to in great stridency and rage and without nuance. And even when people try to discuss it in a nuanced way, the nuance itself is attacked.”
“I think it’s too black and white,” he concluded. “In most things that are very important, it’s really good to just slow down.”
Viewers can decide if #MeToo had any effect on McElhone’s character anytime, since “The First” debuted on Hulu last weekend.