This is a weird story/update/correction. On February 11, as the Berlin Film Festival was opening, Meryl Streep and the Berlinale jury sat down for a press conference. Streep was the head of this year’s jury, a jury which did not include any non-white artists. During the press conference, Streep was asked about whether she and the all-white jury could really understand the films made by African and Arab directors. Allegedly, she was asked that, and allegedly, she was dismissive and said:
“I’ve played a lot of different people from a lot of different cultures. There is a core of humanity that travels right through every culture, and after all we’re all from Africa originally. Berliners, we’re all Africans really.”
That’s how the Associated Press originally wrote it – go here to read my original story. Well, now the AP has issued a clarification/correction/update on Streep’s comments. I guess they were trying to offer more context? Here’s the updated story:
Meryl Streep’s “We’re all Africans, really” comment was a direct response to a question about Arab and African films, not a response to questions about the Berlinale Film Festival’s all white jury, as the article and headline originally suggested. A recording of the panel shows that Streep’s original comments were misrepresented in subsequent reports.
At the panel, a reporter from Egypt spoke about how the festival had a film “representing Tunisia, the Arab world and Africa in the main competition” and followed that up with a question for Streep: “How do you see this part of the world? And is it easy for you to understand that culture? And are you following any of the Arab movies?”
This was Streep’s response.
“Yes, in fact I’ve just seen a film called Theeb, which I loved. I saw Timbuktu recently … I don’t know very much about, honestly, about the Middle East, and yet I’ve played a lot of different people from a lot of different cultures. The thing that I notice is that we’re all, there is a core of humanity that travels right through every culture. And, after all, we’re all from Africa originally. We’re all Berliners, we’re all Africans, really.”
Was this clarification necessary? It was clear – before this update – that Meryl was answering a question about films made by Arab and African filmmakers before, NOT about the all-white jury, although the all-white jury is implicit within the journalist’s question. The only thing I’ll say, the only credit I’ll give Streep is that with this clarification, she does not come across as dismissive and clueless as she did in the original reporting. I understand the point she was making about the “core of humanity” and that there aren’t Arab stories or African stories but human stories. But she really did justify the all-white jury by basically saying that at least a white woman is heading up the jury. And she really did say “I’ve played a lot of different people from a lot of different cultures” and she really did say “we’ll all Africans, really” as a way to justify an all-white jury judging films from diverse filmmakers. So “Meryl Streep, African” lives on.
Photos of Meryl at the Berlinale, courtesy of WENN.
It wasn’t dismissive at all.
Nope…still sounds dismissive.
Clarification was necessary, the paper said that was her response to a completely different question. It makes a huge difference reading the actual question and her entire quote.
Honestly, I hope this brings awarness to the way the media spins information to produce sensational headlines/articles regardless of who they throw under the bus. Do I think her response could have been better? Yes, but at least she’s seen the movies. Should there be more diversity in the panel? Absolutely! But that’s not M.S.’s fault and I think her response was great for the actual question asked.
^^^This. I am glad she cares enough to go after the magazine to print a clarification, and it is a teachable moment about ‘spin’. I only hope that people will stop trying to get mileage out of it in a way that hurts Meryl. Because she really is a good person and one of the best actors of our time.
I agree that implicit in the Egyptian reporter’s question is the concern about whether this jury could identify with the beauty, the horror, the internal struggles, the cultures, and the identities in Arab, African, other films. Meryl Streep, wonderful African actress, tried to say yes, because we’re all humans Yada Yada Yada. I think she tried to answer it politely but hasn’t really thought about the issue too deeply. In her defense, as an actress, she hasn’t had to think deeply about what it means to be an Arab woman, an African mother, or a Muslim grandmother. However as the head of a film jury these concepts will arise and can’t be gently pooh poohed away with soothing words.
I’m curious, what other cultures has she played other than British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher? (Great job by the way)
She played Danish in “Out of Africa”, Australian in “A Cry in the Dark”, Polish in “Sophie’s Choice”, and German (and Jewish) in “Holocaust”. That’s off the top of my head.
Yeah. None of these different cultures equate to being an Arab or an African or to understanding what it’s like to be part of a country that’s not in the West.
She still sounds clueless.
Btw, Timbuktu is amazing. At least she’s seen that movie.
I’m neither defending nor denigrating her statement. I’m simply answering a question.
Sophie’s Choice. What an amazing movie. She was brilliant. We saw it recently again, and it haunted me for days.
That and her portrayal of isak Dinesen. I think “Out of Africa” will always be one of my favorite movies.
Italian-American in Bridges of Madison County.
To me her comments seem directed at the fact that we all evolved from the same origins in Africa , because she was emphasizing mankind’s commonality to combat the divisiveness and hate in Mideast relations. I think that’s a VERY different message than originally reported. She must have been aghast. It would have been better to demand more persons of color on a jury than to just be aware a woman made it on, but she maybe was thinking of feminist struggle at that moment??
Agree. I always figured it was out of context. She seems pretty intelligent and we ARE all African. It’s a fact.
Still no okay and combined with her other time deaf comments she still doesn’t get a slide. Sorry
I think her perspective as an actor is that she tries to connect to the humanity in every character. A mother is a mother, whether she’s in Moscow or Chicago or Cairo. I can’t imagine Meryl Streep would also believe there are no cultural differences to honor – that’s just silly.
Are you going to adrees her as “Meryl Streep, African” in every post about her from now on?
Because it’ s glorious!
I am still a little leary of the idea that a critic has to be “x” to judge a film written/made by “x”. Isn’t the point of an international film festival (besides marketing/finding a buyer/distributor) to show the films to a multicultural body? No coffee yet so prob not expressing this very well.
Yes, that is the point. It is still a business. If you try to sell a film to a North American audience, buyers, for the most part, would not be impressed by saying the all-Arab jury voted it the best. (I’m paraphrasing it to make a point). However, Meryl Streep talking to those same buyers as jury head might give it a chance.
Yeah, it is still coming off sounding like, “Well, even though I don’t know much about the Middle East, I’ve seen some movies and I’ve played a bunch of (white) characters, so like, one love bra, I totes get it”.
Not dismissive, but still sadly naive and tone deaf.
^^This!! We should all stop feeling as though we know these actors personally. Stop giving them credit for having more intelligence than they actually possess just because they play smart characters. Like athletes, they’re just people doing a job and we shouldn’t put them on pedestals while we wait for them to save the world
I feel like the reaction to Meryl is a bit overblown. Wouldn’t part of the point of sending a film to a festival held in another country be to have it seen and critiqued by members of the global community, to those outside of the country in which it was made?
Will those people have less of an understanding of the culture in which it was produced? You betcha! That’s obvious. So in context, Meryl is simply stating that these films contain human stories which can be valued and understood by members of other cultures. Her statement is basically pointing out that films from the Middle East and Arab countries can be appreciated by Westerners, thus shining a spotlight on those film industries. Which is probably exactly what those film makers hoped for when taking their films to Berlinale. I’m guessing they are pleased as punch with the attention.
Exactly. To imply that someone with 40+ years of award-winning acting experience is incapable of grasping what another culture might be trying to convey in film – simply on the basis that’s white – is actually MORE offensive than the “racist-but-not-really” comments attributed to Streep by that AP reporter’s gas-lighting “interpretation” of what went down.
I want FOREVER for “Meryl Streep, African” to precede every headline about her
The full comment does appear to make different to what she was saying. I don’t think leaving out the original question (which I thought was reported anyway) was the problem; it’s leaving out this part that makes the statement way less nonsensical than what was originally reported : “… I don’t know very much about, honestly, about the Middle East, and yet I’ve played a lot of different people from a lot of different cultures.”
How did they end up leaving out that first part? When I saw only the second part of that sentence I thought she was some kind of bimbo. She’s outright admitting she doesn’t know much but when they reported only the second part of the sentence, it seemed like she was saying she had knowledge because of the parts she played.
It’s just a very strange quote, like she has no idea what she’s saying… “I saw Timbuktu recently … I don’t know very much about, honestly, about the Middle East,”
It sounds like she thinks Timbuktu is in the Middle East.
“and yet I’ve played a lot of different people from a lot of different cultures. The thing that I notice is that we’re all, there is a core of humanity that travels right through every culture. And, after all, we’re all from Africa originally. We’re all Berliners, we’re all Africans, really.”
I think she tried, but in the end she still came across as quite clueless…. while yes, we’re all human, it can be difficult to understand someone else’s situation without alot of research and context (i.e being a refugee, discrimination, wars, hate, etc.)
It would have been better if she had conceded that she knew nothing, but that she hopes that African and Arab filmmakers continue to bring forward stories, that will help educate her and the world on their cultures.
True, the quote is strange overall, but with the first part left out I thought she was aiming for completely insensitive, whereas with the first part put back in at least it seems like she’s aiming for some kind of understanding about humanity….sort of, I guess.
What was she going to say – I can’t understand or relate to the movies I am judging?
There should have been diversity on the panel, they should’ve had diverse judging body but that is a teaching moment for the next time.
At that point in time Meryl gave the only answer she could.
Practically, though, this is a film festival in Germany, they will always have majority European judges. I’ve looked up the judging panel and to be honest I am not impressed by it, they can do better on multiple levels (nationality are my additions):
Meryl Streep (President) – British,
Lars Eidinger – German,
Nick James – American (?),
Brigitte Lacombe – French,
Clive Owen – American,
Alba Rohrwacher – Italian,
Małgorzata Szumowska – Polish.
@Farhi, Meryl Streep is American, Nick James and Clive Owen are British. To be fair this is the first time since 1991 that the jury has been all white, they are usually very diverse.
My brain is playing a trick on me. I know Meryl is an American, but somehow my brain wants to think of her as British. I don’t know why but she comes across as British to me.
Thank you for the corrections.
So you all jumped the gun and are refusing to apologize typical internet
I’d argue the all-white jury thing actually wasn’t “implicit in the journalist’s question.” Because there was a lot more to the question itself than was reported.
The exchange was originally reported as follows: Asked by an Egyptian reporter whether she understood films from the Arab world and North Africa, Streep said that while she didn’t know much about the region, “I’ve played a lot of different people from a lot of different cultures.”
Leaving out the “how do you see this part of the world,” and “are you following any of the Arab movies” was – I think – deliberately misleading. The AP reporter, by failing to include the context of the ENTIRE exchange, actually inserted the “dismissive” attitude later attributed to Streep that just was not there.
Isn’t one of the primary purposes of film as artistic expression to open and encourage discussion, to document and share culture? Since when does one have to “understand” art to have an opinion on it?
Still sounds dismissive and silly to me.
We all start off as female in the womb but we are not all female. Whoever or whatever we were when we left is not what Africa is now. We are NOT all African,.
“We’re all Berliners, we’re all Africans, really.” The we’re all Berliners part make me think she was trying to make a witty Kennedy-esque comment and just missed the mark.
I saw that vid so I knew the context so I didn’t think it was that dismissive. But it wasn’t a very interesting answer, was it? She could have said she loves this this and this film and gone on about her love of diversity in film and foreign films and how film is a universal language and powerful art formand it helps everyone enter the skin of another, no matter how different, etc etc etc. The I’m African thing was boring and lazy and sounds a bit 1990s.
just admit you all overreacted, and her answer is non-news. now everyone is saying “nope. still dismissive.” you’re just holding onto your own self-righteousness.