A Sweet Rebellion

For actors, the bridge from sweet to serious, is a difficult one to cross. When is the right time to say 'goodbye' to Teenage Nickelodeon awards and 'hello' to the Oscars? If you are a child star, for example, Natalie Portman.; at the age of 12 she played a brainy student in 'Leon' and who could forget her sweet portrayal of Queen Amidala in 'Star Wars.' However in 2004 she played a stripper, which she went nearly naked for, in 'Closer' and is currently going to be coming onto screens as a self harming, distressed ballet dancer in 'Black Swan.'
I personally do not have a problem with this, if an artist wants to express themselves in a different way then they should, surely that is what art is therefore, a representation, an expression, a meaning. Motion picture is a form of art so why do we as an audience, feel we have the right to restrict or comment on an artists different direction? Surely for an actor by having a vast variety of different texts is far better than being typecast as a ditsy blonde (Cameran Diaz.) Don't get me wrong, where would we be without these stereotyped actors, Hugh Grant for example or Tom Cruise. We know where we are with these people, we have chosen Tom Cruise's action film because we are expecting action not a musical. As an actor you have to decide quite early whether you want to rock the boat or keep it steady, whether to diversify and go for the gold man or keep it PG. Meryl Streep is a classic example of an actor who has got it right from 'Out of Africa' to 'It's Complicated.' Anne Hathaway is another, 'Princess Diaries' to 'Rachel Getting Married.' I love to see an actor in new and compromising positions and I mean they do not always work out (Kate Hudson in 'The Killer Inside of Me') but surely its the thought, the effort that they have put into finding a new role to break the mould. To be successful as an actor, I think this has to be done early on, rom-coms to horror, musicals to thrillers every genre covered, leave no stone unturned.
We shouldn't criticise those who decide that their big break through one type of genre is suddenly a rebellion when they chose another. After all we are all black swans in one way or another are we not? We like to rebel in our daily routines, although some of us do not like to admit it, it is true. There is no perfect angel in this life, no white rose, instead, a combination of the good and the bad. If we look at our reflection, what is on the outside can be quite different to what is on the inside just like a black swan or a bouquet of barbed wire.

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