Anna Kendrick has a big part in this year’s Into the Woods, the Rob Marshall-directed Broadway-to-film musical which seems like a big mess. Anna plays Cinderella. And she sings and dances and I think she gets romanced by a douchebag Prince Charming played by Chris Pine? Something like that. Anyway, to promote the film, Anna did a long Q&A session with The Daily Beast – you can read the full piece here. Some of interview is just blah, Disney shilling and that kind of thing. But there are some interesting parts:
Whether her Cinderella has agency: “To me, what’s interesting about this particular Cinderella story is that not only does she say, ‘Getting a man isn’t everything and I choose something else,’ but she’s also saying, ‘Just because my lot in life improved a bit doesn’t mean I don’t deserve better.’ She goes from being the lowest of the low in society to being a princess, and even though she knows people envy her situation, she chooses “the unknown” over the “security” of that situation. And that’s very brave…. there’s something to be said about women standing up for themselves. I know there are women who stay in relationships because they’re afraid of the devil they don’t know, and for somebody who comes from a home of abuse and neglect to marry a prince and then say, “This is not good enough… I want something authentic” is very brave.
Hand-wringing over feminism: “It’s hard because words confuse me sometimes. There isn’t a word for a member of an ethnic minority who is pro equal rights for all races, but there is a word for gender equality—and that’s feminism. It’s a very female-centric word. I understand that the implication is that “I’m a woman who supports women” and not “I’m a person who supports gender equality.” I feel like the word can be appropriated by the wrong people for that reason and misinterpreted by those people, but you just have to fight back and own that word. It’s practically become a curse word. Somebody says, “Oh, you’re being such a feminist,” and you’re supposed to be like, “No I’m not.” Why are we afraid of that word? It exists and we can’t get rid of it, so let’s fight for it and embrace it. That is truly a bummer.
Online misogyny: “I do get crazy s–t. But I look at some of those girls who are involved in Gamergate and I think, “I don’t know how they do it. I don’t know how they handle it.” When I’m feeling bad, I look up some of the girls involved in Gamergate and I think, “You know, I feel very, very lucky and supported.”
Whether she would date a prince in real life: “Absolutely. That’s my dream. Absolutely. A prince, or a professional athlete. I just worked with the Green Bay Packers, actually, so I’m gettin’ into that world. I’m puttin’ out feelers. Somebody just take care of me! I hate my job… somebody please just take care of me…”
Anna also talks about being hacked by The Fappening, but it’s clear she didn’t want to talk about it on the record, and she basically says, hey, a lot of people take those photos and victim-blaming doesn’t help anything. As for her comments on feminism… I think she explained it well. Just because you don’t agree with some people about what “feminism” means to them, that’s no reason to toss out the word or the concept of gender equality or women’s rights or what have you.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
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