You know what never makes sense to me? When someone takes shots at any form of art, thinking they’re better. Let’s be honest, the world without any form of art seems so boring. The arts are one of the most important elements of the world, more specifically, ballet and opera. From that, you probably understand where I am going. A certain actor by the name of Timothée Chalamet has decided to make comments about the ballet and opera business. And the internet, as they should, has not taken it lightly, which could put his chances of winning “Best Actor” at the Oscars at risk.
Timothée Chalamet is a name you don’t really need to look up to know his face. But for those who don’t know, Chalamet is an actor who has appeared in many fan-favorite films today. From Interstellar to Dune: Parts One and Two, Chalamet has made himself into a big name within the entertainment industry. Recently, Chalamet has been campaigning for his film Marty Supreme, and in an interview with Variety and CNN, he spoke with another actor, Matthew McConaughey, about how people’s attention spans have been decreasing. During this, Chalamet stated, “I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera. Things, where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though no one cares about this anymore.’” Ever since those words were spoken, the internet has not taken this lightly, and rightfully so.
Now Chalamet, ballet and opera are something people actually still care about. The ballet and the opera have been around for over 400 years, and thousands of venues are still sold out to this day. Opera and ballet are two of the many forms of art that not only tell a story, but also require a considerable amount of time and effort to study and train for. By the way, Chalamet said this during his Oscar campaign: he is currently nominated for a ping-pong movie. Yes, you read that right, a movie about ping pong, and the lead actor decided it would be best to talk about ballet and opera, sure. What’s even more insane is that Chalamet’s mother and grandmother were both ballet dancers while he was growing up. S in a way, he is dissing the work his mother did.
What’s been crazier is the internet’s response to his words. Recently, many professional ballet dancers, venues, and even those who aren’t big opera performers or ballet dancers have spoken out against Chalamet’s words. One that I think was the most insane was the Metropolitan Opera’s response to this, putting the words he said on a TikTok and showing a montage of the work and effort that goes into creating opera or ballet shows. I thought it was insane that a company as big as the Met would respond to this. Not only that, I saw a post about a theater company that sent an email to returning customers, with a photo of a ballet dancer, and on the side it said: “Use Code Timothée to get 14% Off.” That made me laugh so much I couldn’t believe that it happened.
Overall, it gets me very upset that Chalamet has been so ignorant recently. Some people may say, Oh well, if you’ve seen the movie he starred in, his character is known for being arrogant, so he’s method acting. Yes, I’ve seen that excuse used, and it’s insane. For a known name like Chalamet to be dissing one of the biggest art forms, even before filmmaking became a thing, is very upsetting to see. Hopefully soon he fixes this attitude, or the consequences will show up on Sunday night during the Oscars.