No one cares anymore...and that's exactly the problem
- savannahdarby6
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Did Timothée Chalamet just predict the death of the performing arts?
By: Savannah Darby
We all saw Timothée Chalamet's recent controversial interview and witnessed the PR nightmare that followed, likely costing him some Oscars...a little more than 14 cents of viewership if I do say so myself.
While promoting his recent Oscar nominated, and Oscar snubbed, movie “Marty Supreme” in an interview with fellow actor Matthew McConaughey, Chalamet talked about how he didn’t want to work in ballet, opera or any performing art that he felt was approached with the attitude of “keeping [it] alive” even though “no one cares about this…anymore.”
I found myself initially outraged when I heard this; after all, ballet and opera have been around for hundreds of years, and film is a relatively new genre. On top of that, Chalamet is a pretty young actor who has only recently experienced the level of fame that pulled him Kylie Jenner.
We all remember the good old days when Timothée was just mysterious, French and most importantly, quiet online. His roots lie in small theater productions in New York City, and his mother and sister danced for the School of American Ballet, the very art form he dismissed so casually.
His interview brings about a larger question about what has caused this change in support for the arts within our generation. Unfortunately, although his remarks were controversial and ill-timed, they do, in a sense, hold true. Looking at the statistics of revenue and attendance to live performances of ballet, opera, symphony, etc., they have declined noticeably in recent years.
The Metropolitan Opera in Manhattan, the largest opera house in the country which has been around for 146 years, has experienced a ticket revenue drop of $20 million from the decades prior, reported in a recent New York Times article.
Even movie attendance has declined due to streaming services offering the same options from the comfort of one’s home. In-person attendance revenue peaked at around 9 billion last year, whereas in the early 2000s it was around 16 billion, as reported by Pew Research Center.
In an age of artificial intelligence and endless access to quick dopamine hits, Chalamet brings up an unfortunate point about the fall of classical art forms. Why focus on a thought-provoking book, or make the trip to see a movie, ballet, play or opera when you have endless amounts of short-form content at your fingertips?
Our generation is plagued by the digital revolution we have grown up in, with unprecedented levels of access to social media and the internet. With the ease of online access, it is easy to downplay the arts and lose sight of the importance of preserving them.
In this increasingly digital age, we face the constant danger of losing connection with the important parts of ourselves and our innate humanity. Investing time and effort into the creative arts ensures we continue to combat this loss and express all of the beautiful, unique aspects of being human.
In what some believe to be a larger PR plan, major arts venues such as the Los Angeles Opera and the Royal Ballet quickly responded to Chalamet’s comments, reiterating their lasting success and creating a major online trend highlighting performance art forms and drawing attention to this ongoing issue. The Seattle Opera even offered a witty promotion for 14% off ticket sales to “Carmen” using code TIMOTHEE.
So, while some may believe that this rhetoric coming from a well-known actor and former theater kid would impact the performing arts negatively, it seems to have had a largely positive impact — for everyone except Chalamet, that is.
Take this as an opportunity to reflect on how you consume media, and whether you could do more to contribute to keeping the arts alive. It is easy to forget that without the arts, and the creatives that continually devote their lives to them, nothing that we love, and take for granted, would exist.
Make an effort to go to the movie theater instead of waiting to rent, go see a play at your school or attend a live music performance. Remember to give back to the arts, because even when you didn’t realize it, they have always been giving back to you.
Savannah Darby is a sophomore majoring in Health Science and minoring in Art, and can’t believe she’s been writing articles for Rowdy for over a year! A lover of physical media and the performing arts, she will always choose the book or, in this case, ballet, play, or opera, over the movie (especially if it's "Marty Supreme"...sorry not sorry) and thinks you should too.
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