Cate Blanchett spoke about 'trigger warnings'

The British newspaper The Times published an interview with Cate Blanchett this week. One of the topics discussed during the conversation was so-called trigger warnings, that is, warnings about the content and scenes of the film that may cause discomfort to the viewer. The conversation pointed to the film “Tár,” in which Blanchett plays a brilliant but domineering bandleader who lives on her own terms, which others find difficult to accept. The film also referred to the phenomenon of so-called cancel culture and cultures of invalidation and exclusion. It is a form of extrajudicial collective punishment for behavior that violates norms recognized by a given society, practiced mainly on social media.

As Blanchett said, just because we as humans are “afraid to have difficult conversations” doesn’t mean we should avoid them. On the contrary, “we need them.” In her opinion, warnings about potentially disturbing content placed before films constitute an expression of “a lack of mutual respect” between creator and recipient or indicate a “lack of proper exploration of the subject matter.”

Speaking to The Times, the actress recounted, among other things, how much joy she used to feel in the past while sitting in the Barbican Theater (an artistic center in London where film screenings are held, among other things) “in complete darkness, among strangers.” Completely, collectively engaged in watching what they encounter and in the intense discussion afterwards. – (The film) may offend you. It may challenge you. You can laugh out loud at it. “You don't know what's going to happen, but you surrender to what's going to happen,” she added.

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Ralph Fiennes recently expressed a similar opinion about this type of message. Speaking to the BBC, the actor spoke out against its use in theatre. As he emphasized, in his opinion, viewers should sometimes feel “shocked” or “disturbed.” -I don't think you should be prepared for things like this. He continued: When I was young, we never received warnings about performances. Shakespeare's plays are full of murderers and horror. He added, “As a student and a young theater lover, I have never encountered warnings telling me: Beware, Gloucester’s eyes will be gouged out in the play “King Lear.”

See also: Julia Roberts talks about what she “hated” in the movie “Notting Hill”