hannikan wrote:All right I have not weighed in on this yet because I have had mixed feelings about it and Sarah Polley for awhile. Mostly I feel badly for her since I think she was robbed of her childhood, not by RTA so much as all her previous work. She was working in the film/TV industry since she was 4. She has a long resume of work before RTA which she started when she was 11. That is just really not a healthy thing for a child. I'm guessing that she didn't have much of a family life either, which is even sadder. Her parents were both in the industry and then her mother died. In a way, her role as Sara Stanley just came at a terrible time since she was playing a character who lost her mother at the same time she was grieving this happening to her in real life. While it provided some very moving moments on screen, that had to take a toll on her. This was a show that focused on family and community I almost wonder if she could even relate to that all. I mean she was close to her mother, I think, but how much did she get to see her parents. Did she have a happy relationship with her father? I don't know but I am just speculating . To her RTA seemed cheesy and unrealistic but none of us and most of the cast did not feel that it was. Everyone has different tastes in TV and movies. Hers may have always been more raw, edgy, contemporary. But some of us here like those types of pieces in addition to RTA. Maybe she just couldn't feel a connection to if she had a limited experience with a loving family spending time together. Since she is really the only one of the children to complain about the show I do not think they worked under unhealthy conditions on set, I think she was just unhappy. She was unhappy in general, and she probably would have been mad about whatever she had been obligated to do at that time. I think she felt isolated and alone and that is why she wanted a normal life, including school.
THIS.
The following was transcribed from a radio interview Sarah did in 2001 (CBC Radio One's
This Morning, hosted by Shelagh Rogers)...
Sarah Polley: ....I was sort of, like, a cutesy little child actor until I was about eleven. And then my mum died; and then my acting got really, really good. And I think, there's something wrong with that, actually; you know, that's not acting. And all of a sudden, there's all these crying scenes on Road to Avonlea that I'm fantastic at; and it's sort of like, you know, there's something really, really wrong with that; and I'd sort of think that probably wasn't really the best way for me to be dealing with those emotions at that time.
Shelagh Rogers: But at the same time, just thinking about what you said earlier about how your activism allows you to express something, and your acting allows you to express something, that all, sort of, points toward being a full human being.
Sarah: Mmm-hmmm.
Shelagh: Maybe it's not such a bad thing.
Sarah: Well, I think the problem is, though, it's like, you can't have, like, a catharsis with those kinds of emotions if they're provoked by someone else. If there's thirty adults standing around, waiting to get on with their day and wrap up and making you cry, and there's pressure on you to cry, then it's kind of...like a forced experience and not necessarily a good one; and it's done under a kind of pressure. And even if it's a nice environment in the world, you can't take away the fact that, you know, you're a little kid, and you're looking for thirty adults' approval, and you'll kind of do anything to get it. And...there's also this thing of, you know, from a very early age, being congratulated and getting approval by being somebody else while you're still forming your sense of, like, identity, and growing up, and all that other crap....And often, you know, with young girls...whenever I see kids on set, it's like, young girls looking at directors, like men, older men,...and getting approval for becoming someone else. There's... something a little bit off about that, I think....
hannikan also wrote:She was a unconventional person even as a child so she probably would have rebelled against most types of conventional structure in society. She was politically active from a young age, protesting things she felt were unjust. I admire her for that. Honestly, she might have hated traditional school, too.
Post-RTA she went to an "alternative school" in Toronto. Need I say more?
hannikan also wrote:She was bright and creative and wanted to change the world of the 1990's. The setting of RTA is the early 1900's, a time when there were a lot of restrictions on people (esp women). I think the show does a wonderful job of exploring what ppl did despite these restrictions and helps us connect with a time we never lived in but I could see where the premise of the show would be the opposite of what she was interested in by the time she was 14/15/16. It's clear that Gema and Zachary Bennett enjoyed playing Felicity and Felix so it's good the show could change gears to focus on them. Sarah had wanted out of her contract by the end of the 2nd season and she was obligated under contract to stay for 3 more years. That's a long time when you're a teenager and want to pursue other things. And reflecting back now, she's only really going to remember how she felt then. So she asked to be written down or that her character be given less focus so she would be freer to do other stuff. One thing it did though was make Sara kind of boring and lack direction. I wouldn't have wanted to play Sara btwn S3-4 at all. I think it may have made her feel even more trapped that she wasn't being challenged in the role. And sometimes they seemed to kind of tack on things that they thought might bring her interest in but that didn't make sense for her character. Basically it was unfortunate and it's unfortunate that she still has animosity about her time on the show. Hopefully she will heal from whatever happened in the past and maybe if she builds her own family (she is married but doesn't have children yet AFAIK) she will start to see what the rest of us do in this show that we love.
Yeah; no kids yet, but she does want kids.
belgrade-boy wrote:I think a TV person shouldn't say something like that, especialy if he/she speaks about show he/she worked in, so many people got to know them through the show, and so many of them actually like it. But anyway, she has her opinion.
Would you rather she lie, then? I'd rather have her tell the truth about what she felt, even if it's not a rosy picture, than lie and say it was the best experience she ever had when it wasn't.
Look, I don't think RTA sucks, either. However, I'm also not "hurt" by the fact Sarah found it "horrible"; again, I'd rather she be upfront about it. You don't expect other actors to be proud of every project they do (even if you liked it), do you? Why should it be any different for RTA?
