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Jennifer Lawrence gets emotional when discussing postpartum depression

"Who am I as a mother?"

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Jennifer Lawrence speaks at San Diego Comic Con.

Part of why so many fans view actress Jennifer Lawrence as such a beloved talent is her ability to get real and very, very raw. She has never shied away from roles that begged her to strip down emotionally and bare everything. In one of her breakthrough roles in the film Winter's Bone, she plays a teenager who must fend for her family in the face of homelessness. In Silver Linings Playbook, she won a Best Actress Oscar for her daring role as a charming woman with mental health issues.

Language might not be suitable for a younger readers.

- YouTube, Silver Linings Playbook, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooperwww.youtube.com

She just seems to have a way of adding a bit of "charm-dust" to every part, whether it's action-driven, serious drama, or something in between. In her latest film, Die, My Love,(described as a comedy/horror) she plays a woman suffering from postpartum depression and psychosis as she watches her marriage dissolve. Based on the novel by Ariana Harwicz, this film adaptation is written and directed by Lynne Ramsay, who is known to push uncomfortable boundaries in her movies. The film, co-produced by Martin Scorsese, received a six minute standing ovation upon its premiere.

At Cannes, Jennifer gave an unexpectedly candid interview at a press conference. She admits she isn't usually an actress who "takes her work home," but in this case, as a mother with one on the way during filming, she knew all too well about mental health issues that often come with post-pregnancy. When discussing her character in the film, she shares, "Yes, a part of what she's going through is the hormonal imbalance that comes with postpartum. But she's also having an identity crisis."

Her eyes begin getting wet as she asks, "'Who am I as a mother? Who am I as a wife? Who am I as a sexual person to my husband? Who am I as a creative?"

She vulnerably adds, "And I think she's plagued with this feeling that she's disappearing. So for me, I was four and a half, five months pregnant when we shot. Great hormones, feeling great—which is really kind of the only way I was able to dip into this visceral emotion."

She adds a nod to her writer and director, saying, "Also, in terms of answering any question about my acting or performance at all, I have Lynne Ramsay as my director, so that's kind of it."

The comment section of the Deadline Instagram reel was bright with support for both the film and Jennifer herself. Comedian Chelsea Handler topped the section by writing, "Love everything Jen says and does." Another person wrote, "She's so real," with one more adding, "She just described every new mother."

One commenter notes, "She's a mom. She's gonna make it personal. I hope she stays true to her own motherhood."

To that point, in a different clip from the same press conference posted on YouTube by Page Six, Jennifer goes into detail about what having children feels like to her. "It changes everything. It's brutal and incredible. I didn't know I could feel so much, and my job has a lot to do with emotion. They've opened up the world to me. It's almost like feeling like a blister or something—so sensitive. So they've changed my life, obviously for the best, and they've changed me creatively."

Jennifer Lawrence in a press conference at Cannes Film Festivalwww.youtube.com, Page Six

In terms of how being a new mom affected her role, she says, "Obviously, as a mother, it was really kind of hard to kind of separate what 'I would do' as opposed to what she would do. And it was just heartbreaking. When I first read the book… I had just had my firstborn. And there's not anything like postpartum. It's extremely isolating… The truth is, extreme anxiety and extreme depression is isolating, no matter where you are. You feel like an alien, and it so deeply moved me."

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Equality

We need to listen to autistic people's critiques of their portrayal in Sia's 'Music'

The Autisticats/Twitter

When the trailer for Sia's directorial debut movie "Music" was released in November, the Australian singer faced intense backlash from people in the autistic community who felt that the portrayal of an autistic character played by Maddie Ziegler (who is not autistic) was problematic. Advocates also expressed concern about the use of harmful restraint techniques shown in the trailer.

At the time, Sia engaged in heated public debate with her critics on social media, ultimately ending with the statement, "I really hope you see the movie (s)o you can be less angry."

Now the movie is out, and autistic people are commenting on the full film—and they are definitely not any less upset.

The Autisticats is a group of autistic young people who share their experiences with being autistic (among other things) online. On their Twitter account, one of them offered a "detailed & chronological review" of the film.

First they shared images and a clip from the film that show the exaggerated mannerisms of the autistic main character, in addition to a scene with strobing lights and overwhelming visuals that would be difficult for many autistic people to sit through.


Their explanation of what was problematic continued in the thread:

"This performance is a caricature of autistic body language. It's unsettling, and insincere. And it is deeply reminiscent of the exaggerated mannerisms non-autistic people often employ when bullying autistic & developmentally disabled people for the ways we move.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the ways autistic people move, or the ways we make facial expressions. Some of us roll our eyes and put our teeth over our lips as a stim or just because it's comfortable. But we do those things naturally. Maddie Ziegler does not.

The fact that Ziegler is not autistic, and the fact that her performance is so heavily exaggerated, turns the entire movie into one long display of mockery. I know that 'wasn't Sia's intention.' But it doesn't make things any easier to stomach.

Two other things I want to touch on: 1. The strobing lights and colors in the dance scenes are extremely overstimulating, and could cause seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy (common in autistic people) 2. The restraint scenes are still there, without a warning.

I was under the impression, according to Sia's apology and accompanying promise, that: A. There would be a warning at the beginning of the movie regarding the danger of restraint, or B. That the restraint scenes would be removed from the film entirely. That isn't true so far.

If this thread prevents just 5 other people from watching this movie, it will have been worth it. I know people are curious. And I also know it's not my responsibility to bear the burden of watching this film for the community. But I want to serve the greater good.

I want to be able to provide my perspective from as informed a position as possible, and I couldn't do that without actually watching the film. I'll be writing my review and posting it when it's done. I don't know if this was a good idea. I just want it to be worth something."

With the film receiving two Golden Globe nominations—one for best motion picture, musical or comedy, and one for best actress in a musical or comedy (for Kate Hudson's performance)—the controversy is extra heightened, and many people from the autistic and disabled community are weighing in. A petition requesting the Golden Globes to rescind the nominations due to the movie being "severely ableist" and contributing to "harmful stereotypes of autistic people" has been signed by nearly 50,000 people so far.

According to Vanity Fair, Sia has said that a disclaimer will be placed at the beginning of the film that reads: "MUSIC in no way condones or recommends the use of restraint on autistic people. There are autistic occupational therapists that specialize in sensory processing who can be consulted to explain safe ways to provide proprioceptive, deep-pressure feedback to help w meltdown safety." She also said that future releases of the film will have the restraint scenes removed.

Though Sia has defended her good intentions in the casting and directing of the film, she has also apologized repeatedly for the film's portrayal of autism. "I listened to the wrong people and that is my responsibility," she wrote on Twitter, "my research was clearly not thorough enough, not wide enough." She has since deleted her Twitter account.

More details about the making of the movie have come out that indicate there were some red flags even in the midst of filming. Sia said that Maddie Ziegler herself, who played the role at age 14, broke down crying one day and told Sia she was afraid people were going to think she was making fun of autistic people. Sia reassured her that she wouldn't let that happen.


What Sia should have done is seen the teen's discomfort as a sign that perhaps there was something problematic in the way the role was being played and sought more advocates in the autistic community to consult about it.

Though "Music" certainly isn't the first movie to have a neurotypical actor portraying a neurodivergent character, the issue has been brought up so many times following other films and society has become so much more aware that it's quite clear that the issues in this film could have been remedied with more meaningful inclusion of autistic people in the filmmaking process.

Grappling our way toward becoming a more accepting, respectful, and truly inclusive society is a messy process. Let's listen and learn from these responses and conversations so that harm to already stigmatized communities can be avoided in the future.

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Heroes

The 'Blue Planet II' crew didn't just capture the magic of the ocean. They helped save it.

Tasked with revealing the planet's most beautiful sights, nature documentarians often hope they inspire people to get involved with conservation. But this film crew decided to start saving the Earth themselves.

On Sunday, the BBC Earth Twitter account confirmed that the filmmaking team behind their spectacular dive into the ocean's hidden depths, "Blue Planet II," didn't stop at capturing the magic of the ocean.

"Blue Planet II" is a sequel to the BBC's blockbuster 2001 special and uses cutting-edge camera equipment technology (like suction cup cameras sneakily attached to orca whales) and the melodious voice of Sir David Attenborough, to show the audience both the wonders of the ocean and the problems facing it today.

Problems like plastic. Millions of tons of discarded plastic have found their ways into our oceans, forming gigantic garbage patches and killing off wildlife like birds, sea turtles, and seals.

Last month, Attenborough described a heart-wrenching sight encountered while filming: "We’ve seen albatrosses come back with their belly full of food for their young. You think it’s going to be squid, but it’s plastic." No wonder they felt like they had to clean it up.

A plastic bottle washed up on a beach in Plymouth, England. Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images.

The "Blue Planet" team said that they hoped their plastic cleanup would inspire others to do the same, The Independent reports. The BBC even has a website where you can look up specific ways to get involved in ocean conservation, from signing up for beach cleanups, downloading sustainable dining apps, or joining in The Great Nurdle Hunt.

This is not the first time wildlife filmmakers at the BBC have taken action off-camera. In December 2016, the BBC confirmed that their team saved baby sea turtles after filming them getting disoriented and wandering into traffic.

The result of the crew's efforts, "Blue Planet II," is currently available in the U.K. and will premiere on BBC America in January 2018.

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It can be tough for kids to talk to parents. So they're putting their stories onto film.

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As Will Smith once said: Parents just don't understand.

Sometimes, it’s just hard to tell your parents things, and most kids struggle with finding ways to express themselves as a result.

But just because kids talk less sometimes doesn’t mean they don’t have stories to tell.

If anything, kids and teens are in the story-filled prime of their lives. They don’t just grapple with friends and family, relationships, gossip, school, and work — kids are also privy to conflicts of race, gender, sex, class, and other issues. It’s a complicated world out there, and kids know it.

That’s why re:imagine/ATL is giving them the tools they need to tell those stories in a powerful, and sometimes more comfortable, way. By equipping kids with film skills, re:imagine/ATL is handing them the mic — and letting them tell their own stories and make themselves heard.

Hear from the kids themselves how learning to film stories is changing their lives:

This group is teaching kids the skills they need to tell the stories of their communities through film.

Posted by Upworthy on Monday, September 11, 2017

When it comes to storytelling, everyone is on an equal playing field — which means that more diverse, more interesting perspectives have an opportunity to be heard.

As the program's founder Susanna Spiccia says, "Creativity — it doesn't discriminate."

For kids who are marginalized, that makes creativity a lifeline. Helping kids find a way to tell their stories doesn't just result in good stories, it also results in empowered kids.

At re:imagine/ATL, kids are pitching films focused on just about everything. Taj-Malik is telling "stories about [his] childhood," while Kalyn is addressing "how it's a little bit harder to do things when you're a girl."

Chris is pitching "a motivational piece," and Baldwin has ideas for "horror, drama, romance, comedy, action." For him and the rest of the kids at re:imagine/ATL, the sky is the limit.

There are lots of reasons it’s important to let kids tell their story their own way.

Society is biased when it comes to listening to grown-ups more than kids. Even stories about kids’ lives end up being told by adults. Remember the movie "Boyhood"? It was all about the experience of being a boy. And, yet, it was written and directed by a 42-year-old man.

Where are the stories about kids, told by kids?

When we hand kids the camera, there's no telling what they'll come up with. As volunteer Lisa Cunningham says, "We could be in camp with the next Spielberg."

The problem goes beyond just craving authentic storytelling. Too often, policy that applies to kids is debated and decided on by committees of adults. When kids are given a platform to voice the issues that affect them most, they’re able to be heard by the people who make the decisions that affect them.

But getting film experience is more than just a platform for telling stories. It’s also a huge leg up in a competitive industry.

In Atlanta, where the film and television industry is growing rapidly, kids who invest their interest in learning camera techniques early could see it pay off professionally down the road.

Normally, internships and entry-level jobs are slanted toward students with a hefty amount of privilege. But with re:imagine/ATL, kids from all sorts of backgrounds have the opportunity to get practical hands-on experience that could be the thing that becomes their foot in the door to a successful future.

That's something that doesn't need to be limited to Atlanta. As Spiccia says, "If you are in the film industry or you're in media period, you have a skillset that you can give back to our kids."

In any town, professionals have an opportunity to be a good neighbor to the younger generation, by passing on their experiences to kids who can then turn them into major opportunities.

And as the city of Atlanta proves, that’s a great thing for communities.

Empowering Atlanta's kids with film skills is an act that has powerful ripple effects. Not only does it set up a big portion of this generation for success, but it also allows them to go on to become mentors to other kids too.

Plus, you never know — the next huge thing in Hollywood could be something that was made right here in Atlanta.

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