Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Why is Peter Pan always played by a woman?

Now not that I have a problem with women playing male roles, because I don't. I believe the best person for the role should be given the role. But today I was watching tv and up came a bit about the new live action Peter Pan that will be broadcast next month. And like it seems normal, there is a woman playing the boy who never grows up.

Now I can see why they want a woman. We are smaller, lighter, etc but really why not hire one of those men who are just that? There are a lot of men who are small and light and have high tenor voices. Are we not casting them because they have five o'clock shadows? Because they have a telltale bulge or Adam's apple? Really?

If you do a bit of research you will see that almost every time Peter has been cast with a woman in the role. Now I can understand doing that twenty five or fifty years ago. Our society hasn't been very accepting of the more delicate males historically but I am very sure we have many many many men who would fit this role perfectly.

In one article I read they said that the casting was done with a woman so they would not have to cast bigger kids to offset the size of the actor playing Peter but there are a lot of shorter, thinner men in the ranks of actors. Why not hire on of them? All you have to do is go look to Broadway. There are many men playing all kinds of roles on the stage so why not on TV?

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Happy Veterans or Remembrance Day

Today is November 11th. Many nations take a moment to remember those who served their countries in war time. Many photos and speeches are done by the men who served in the wars of the 20th and 21st century. While I think it is both required and a necessity to remember those men and I glad to see they are remembering the women too.

My own grandmother was in the WAVES between WW1 and WW2. The WAVES was the navy womens axillary. Not was well known as the Wacs, they did many things. My grandmother was a nurse and while I have no way of knowing just what she did due to her passing fifteen years ago, it is good to remember that women have served alongside men for decades (centuries actually)

But todays blog is more about others who have served. While we all think of the heroic dogs who have served and are serving with our soldiers, sailors and I am sure airmen, we forget that there were and are many other species of animals who have served.

A simple google search brings up many pages that have lists up of those heroic dogs but only a few have the other creatures. From the valiant horses who were rode directly into battle in WW1 to the pigeons who were used to fly messages to even a bear who was trained to carry mortar shells into battle, the animal kingdom has played out its part in mankinds wars.

So on this most sacred day to our military and our nations I hope you say a silent thank you to those of fur, feather and fins who have served at the side of our men and women. Be they a bear, a dolphin, a horse an elephant or those lovely dogs, they all served and they all deserve the respect that we give to other veterans!