Singapore – Actress and recently turned director, Joanne Peh has been on the hot seat as she was accused of cyberbullying after a self-reflective Instagram post on March 7, 2019.
Ms Peh is currently working on her upcoming short film, Under the Tree, that includes a cast of inexperienced child actors.
She wrote:
My story begins with these two whose friendship blossomed under the tree.
It was a huge challenge working with child actors and especially more so when they have not been trained. There was no time to rehearse and they were not emotionally ready for what the scenes required. They were also very camera conscious and habitually looked into the camera. (sic)
There is a first for everyone and this being their first is a very good attempt. I do reflect on this experience and wonder what and how I could have done it differently if I had been given the luxury of time? Would I have been able to draw out a better performance? Or perhaps with children this age, it’s just too much to ask and they should need a rehearsal or two (or more) to understand blocking and the fourth wall? #jpdirects #underthetreebyjp #那年树下 #freshtakes (sic)
Not surprisingly Ms Peh’s post was negatively received by the online community. In a short amount of time, she was accused of cyberbullying and was urged to “consider taking the post down.”
A certain @pollykahloon found the post offensive and became upset at the comments the director made. She was also asked to practice some self-reflection.
Ms Peh, for her musings, was called “insensitive,” “unprofessional,” and caused “disgust” to netizens, especially parents with child actors. They also commented on her profession and called her “inexperienced as a director” and even asked her to look at her own “inadequacies” instead of the children’s.
Ms Peh replied to the comments and wrote a lengthy and detailed post on the whole thing. She wrote that the negative comments began after an angry comment from the child actor’s parent for calling her child “challenging” to work with.
Ms Peh mentioned how only those on the set would know what truly happened and the “general consensus” the negative comments were talking about came from a perspective that had no part in the set.
See the director’s comment thread below:
She also said that there was nothing written to criticise the children. She merely commented on how they were not camera-trained and emotionally-ready”, a fact that posed a challenge for her to get them ready for the scene. “There is nothing else implied, and if there are any, (sic) they are likely your own,” she wrote.
Ms Peh continued her post by sharing her own experiences with child actors and acting in general.
To add icing on the cake, the director clarified that the parents of the child actors gave permission for the image to be used, which shuts down the claims that many had regarding the proper usage of the picture.
The actress-director also reverted to the offended parent inquiring on a better phrasing of her opinions but was only told to take down the post or give credit to the children which she did. “I will not be bullied into writing only the good things and down playing the challenges I face on this journey because of someone’s fear of not being good enough,” said Ms Peh.
As time progressed, the tables turned, and netizens are now standing up for Ms Peh.
Maybe, if people could have done a little fact-checking and research before commenting, they would realise the background for Ms Peh’s directorial decisions.
She wrote the following during the early stages of production. Ms Peh believes in adding more diversity in the industry and chose child actors with no acting experience, among others, to push her advocacy across.
Read her post below: