On January 14th of this year we sadly lost the very talented and much loved actor Alan Rickman.
All over social media that day tributes were paid. Fans, friends and colleagues shared some of their favourite memories about the actor.
Emma Watson, who worked alongside Rickman in the eight Harry Potter films, paid her own tributes. On her Facebook page she posted “I’m very sad to hear about Alan today. I feel so lucky to have worked and spent time with such a special man and actor. I’ll really miss our conversations. RIP Alan. We love you.”
About ten minutes later she then posted this photo on her Twitter.
This photo seemed to cause an outrage to many people. One person tweeted Watson saying “well that was distastefully opportunistic of you…” Another said, “So the feminist Emma Watson used the death of Alan Rickman’s to push her agenda. Pathetic. Disgusting. Another reason why I’m a meninist…”
Although there was backlash to her posting this photo, Alan Rickman has openly spoken about feminism and women in film. It’s clear that from her previous Facebook post that Emma was close to Rickman, one reason for this could be that they had similarities such as both being feminists and sharing some of the same values. She then went on to post other photos of quotes where he has talked about success and acting, other things that were also clearly important to him.
As well as Watson being known for her acting, she is also gaining attention for being a Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women. So was she really pushing her “feminist agenda” or did she just want to post about something that she admired in somebody she knew personally? We will never know what their relationship was exactly like or what they spoke about. So, although the world may know him as Severus Snape, along with his many other famous roles; she knew him as a friend and colleague.Feminism might not be for everyone; but for those that do identify as one, surely they should be allowed to express their views and find people to look up to that have a common interest in something close to their hearts. People can deal with death and mourning in their own ways and should be able to pay tribute to somebody they loved however they choose.
Whether you have loved and appreciated Rickman because of his performances, speaking about feminism or even helping refugees through this lovely videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkiMz-e2ZcE we should all be celebrating this wonderful man and not sending hateful messages to anybody who displays their own personal grief.
So – let’s just continue to celebrate his life and remember how talented and kind he was. Always.