Okay, so yes it is true. My real aspiration in life is to be a male version of Chelsea Handler (less all the booze). Write books that people actually read, have three television shows, hang around on set and chew over the most insane celebrity news of the day with the likes of Lonnie Love and Ross Matthews. And, yes, have a side-kick like Chuy.
You see I have this little obsession with Little People. Some would say it’s mean-spirited. But really it’s just that I am fascinated by what it must be like to be that size and try to navigate the world. When Peter Dinklage won the Golden Globe for his role in Game of Thrones I thought his speech was one of the highlights of an otherwise miserable show. And it started me thinking yet again…
What we really need here at The Good Men Project is a really contributor who is a Little Person to set us straight on what it means to be a good man. We’ve talked about race, about sexual orientation, about just about every way in which as men we struggle to be good. But we’ve never heard from a Little Person.
You see my theory is that the Little People of the world are really getting screwed royally in part because many used to be employed by the entertainment industry and are now unable to because there’s this kind of reverse discrimination because using a Little Person in a film or television show is somehow viewed as bad taste by definition.
Last month I was actually in Los Angeles riding up some ridiculously long mountain with two college roommates, one of whom was David Kohan (see interview below). Dave was the co-creator of Will & Grace, the first television series to feature a gay leading man. On the way up the mountain I was desperate to slow Dave down, who is a way better bike rider than I am. So I asked him about Little People in Hollywood.
He told me that when they use child actors the work rules are so strict they have trouble getting the camera blocking done with the kids. So generally they call in Little People to stand in. “A 45 year old guy who just got done smoking a cigarette has to sit there reading a six year-old’s lines so they can get the camera angles right.”
Talk about degrading!
So here’s my plea. If you are a Little Person and want to write for us please drop me a line (ThomasMatlack at gmail).
And I promise, if I ever get that talk show (“Tommy Lately”?) I promise to bring you along…
Image: CSmonitor
Mr. Matlack has given us a very reasonable set of reasons for why he is first of all fascinated with Little People, and why he considers a continuing column from a male member of these unique folks very valuable. Just because Little People may fascinate him in general, it is intellectually unfair to accuse him of ‘freak show’ style behavior in admitting an honest interest represented by the word ‘tokenizing’. Tom Matlack is not engaging in tokenism by admitting to being fascinated with what Little Folk put up with as well as their thoughts on that subject. I have a… Read more »
Recently, you sent out an email regarding the blog here and encouraged us to comment. I’ve wrestled with what to say all night on this post. I’m just going to say that I agree with Justin completely.
When you solicit a specific identity group, as you just have, or people with a specific experience, because you find them exotic and interesting and want to learn from them, this is tokenizing. It’s humiliating to any Little Person to be told that he’s sidekick material and that his voice would be welcome, not because he has a compelling story to tell, but on the sole condition that he is a Little Person. You wrote elsewhere today that “there is no litmus test to be part of the Good Men Project community other than having an interest in talking about… Read more »