I would quit any union that started behaving in the fascist manner of The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
The labor union representing approximately 160,000 media professionals worldwide is currently on strike, and as labor unions seem inclined to do, is making nutsy-cuckoo demands of its members. They have been assimilated, after all, and resistance is futile.
Yes, as that graphic from the unions shows, members have been told that they are doing a bad, anti-labor thing by dressing up as characters from “struck content,” meaning any movie or TV show, recent or ancient. That means they can’t be King Kong, Dracula (but a generic vampire is OK), Abe Lincoln, or Barbie, or else.
Morons. Worse than that, autocratic morons abusing their power.
Any actor with a smudge of integrity, courage and self-respect should now rush out, dress up as “Harry Potter” or “Scream” character, take a selfie and post it on social media. The SAG-AFTRA strike is nearing its 100th day after talks broke off with studios, and this is how the union is responding, by dictating stupid gestures of solidarity to its members. The order shows panic, weakness, desperation, and lack of common sense in the leadership that should alarm every striking actor.
A few have signaled a “WTF?” reaction, and good for them. Ryan Reynolds ridiculed the directive on Twitter/X, posting, “I look forward to screaming ‘scab’ at my 8 year old all night. She’s not in the union but she needs to learn.” Mandy Moore wrote on Instagram:“Is this a joke?Come on @sagaftra. This is what’s important? We’re asking you to negotiate in good faith on our behalf. So many folks across every aspect of this industry have been sacrificing mightily for months. Get back to the table and get a fair deal so everyone can get back to work.”
Power corrupts, “Do something!” is a mentality that seldom leads to anything good, and when people tell you who they are, believe them. The SAG-AFTRA leadership has, with this silly edict, told the unions’ members that they are being represented by incompetents, dictators and fools.
Ethics Alarms 
Are they still on strike? I haven’t noticed a difference. They don’t create content for me, anyway.
I thought I’d heard that that strike was settled. Oh, well. I wasn’t watching their content before the strike either. I probably need to learn to darn socks so I can have a sock drawer to organize. Hmmm, does that mean that sock drawers are unionized?
This Summer, I attended a couple of pop culture conventions. There had been a lot of discussion as to whether or not actors could even do conventions. Finally, there was an exception given to them to attend, sign autographs and take photos with fans, provided they did not promote past, present or unreleased struck work. Meaning…
– They could not provide photos of themselves from struck work for fans to sign. Fans could bring struck-work related photos and merchandise for the signature.
– They could not bring up struck work. Fans could compliment them or mention it, but the actors could not.
– They did not field questions in Q&A panels about struck work. This caused Q&A panels to become weirdly fun. Some group panels, such as a “Back to the Future” panel with Michael J. Fox, Christopher LLoyd, Thomas Wilson and Lea Thompson had to be cancelled completely. Star Trek guests did a skit. Cast members from WB’s “The Flash” came up with a code word of “Voldemort” whenever they made reference to something they couldn’t discuss.
I had fun by approaching two Trek-related guests with the following prepared statement, “I’m a big fan of the work you did in the recent installment of a long-running scifi franchise, the name of which I will not mention.”
The first guest threw his head back and blurted out, “HA!” before telling me I could say whatever I wanted.
The second guest laughed, too. She was Michelle Hurd, VP of SAG-AFTRA LA, who discussed the strike with me. She explained that the issues involving pay were part of it, but not all. Yes, streaming shows have reduced residuals to pennies, but streaming shows also reduce salaries overall. In order to qualify for health insurance, actors must make $26,000 per year. 87% of the 160,000 member union do not make enough to qualify for the health insurance. Michelle said that, in addition, rules sometimes prevent actors from taking roles. Her husband was cast as a series regular in a show two years ago that was put on hold because of the pandemic and has yet to resume. He cannot take another series regular role while that is still out there so he is reduced to guest starring roles here and there. Despite Michelle having been a series regular on Paramount Plus’ “Star Trek: Picard”, neither of them make enough money to qualify for insurance and they live in a one-bedroom apartment in LA.
It was an interesting chat. There are a lot of issues involved so I was glad to get to clarify some of them with her.
They definitely have bigger fish to fry than Halloween costumes, though.
My perennial question this time of year: When did it become a thing for ADULTS to wear Halloween costumes? Halloween used to be for CHILDREN. Grow up, people.
I’ve seen T-shirts for sale online with the slogans “I identify as a Halloween costume” and “This IS my Halloween costume.” I can only recall 1 year when I as a parent dressed in costume for Halloween; it was when one of my kids went trick-or-treating as “Harry Potter” and I cobbled together a “Madam Pince” (the Hogwarts librarian) costume from a thrift-shop academic gown and a dollar store witch’s hat. Otherwise, I’ve always just worn ordinary clothes appropriate for the weather (heavy sweater or windbreaker, plus an umbrella if it was raining).
Adults trick-or-treaty would be going too far, but dressing in costume for parties is fun!
The first part of your username seems awfully prominent when you criticize the fun. ;-p
Sorry, I just think it’s juvenile. The people at Mrs. OB’s office, the women mainly, seemed to just take it as a chance to dress super-provocatively without any consequence. Just struck me as weird.
Some people are old most of their lives.
That’s because Bill and some others around here remember when there were adult costume parties and masked balls, but dressing up for a kid’s holiday was regarded as unseemly as sitting on Santa’s lap in a department store. The change does not reflect progress, just the sillifying of adulthood and the infantilizing of the public.
Of all the behaviors that mature adults should grow out of, dressing up in costumes for special occasions is not one of them. It’s a creative activity that isn’t inherently unhealthy. You might as well admonish people for singing, dancing, drawing, playing board games, or reading and writing fiction.
Halloween costumes at work aren’t exactly Viennese or Parisian masked balls.
The only time I have worn a Halloween costume as an adult is going to a Halloween party (I went as a hunting accident last time) and when my son wanted us to wear matching costumes to trick-or-treat.
Yeah, but you only say that because as a squid-alien, everyone thinks you’re in a costume anyway…
I don’t see much creativity in buying a costume at Walmart or renting one from a costume shop. How many people even sew these days?
My own sewing skills are mostly limited to hand-mending, but some of my kids’ best costumes were cobbled together from thrift-store finds. For example, one year I found a Superman costume in my daughter’s size, and turned it into “Supergirl” by adding a short red skirt. Or there was the time my son wanted to be a silicon-based alien from one of Mom & Dad’s computer games, so I glued pebbles to the backs of a pair of “magic gloves,” and paired them with a black turtleneck & trousers, plus one of those cloth & rubber “alien” masks from the dollar store. (The alien mask didn’t stay on very long, though, as it was hot and stuffy.)
My dear mother took down our Mid Century modern green curtains, dyed them brown, and sewed them into a monk’s outfit for me to wear to the All Saints’ Day procession at our Catholic Grade school. We only celebrated All Saints’ Day because celebrating Halloween was pagan. Of course, we trick or treated in our All Saints’ Day costumes, because … we had them. Hah!
And in the mid ‘seventies, Mrs. OB, an accomplished seamstress who sewed her wedding dress out of Quiana (hah!), sewed a Halloween outfit for our less than a year-old daughter that was a pumpkin. Our daughter’s bald head and chubby arms stuck out from the outfit, and she sat on my lap on the front steps. Again, neither I nor Mrs. OB wore a costume.
Well, wasn’t that one of the things the Puritans did? Or was it the Baptists?
Oh, come on. This campaign may be silly, but it isn’t at all authoritarian. There is no “or else.”
It’s always “or else” any time an organization you are a member of and has power over your interests give an order, no matter how it’s phrased. The graphic doesn’t say “please consider xxxxx.” It doesn’t say, “It would be in our benefit if…”
Technically, I think they can be Dracula. He’s in the public domain.
I don’t think it has anything to do with copyrights.
I remember when we brought our then 1-year-old twin sons to the barber for their first haircuts, it was just before Halloween, and the barber had dressed in costume. The boys freaked and started crying, and the barber apologized for startling them. They didn’t seem to mind dressing in costume themselves in following years, though. (Although they weren’t too sure about that guy with the red suit and white beard whose lap they were supposed to sit on in the village square just before Christmas the first time, either.)
One of our favorite photos from our kids’ childhoods is our daughter terrified beyond belief by the creepy papier mâché headed Easter Bunny at the Publix Market in Miami. That’s why the scenes in “Christmas Story” are so memorable. Being a little kid can be terrifying, even in a family with well intentioned parents.
So I guess wearing a lobster hat for a Halloween costume is A-Okay with SAG-AFTRA, huh?
–Dwayne
P.S. For those who don’t get the reference, I’m digging WAY WAY back into the archives for this one.
Neil Dorr’s favorite post!