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I always found it strange that child labor laws have an exception for acting. From what I've seen, acting is probably a worse job for kids than many of the jobs
by bnralt 4y ago
I always found it strange that child labor laws have an exception for acting. From what I've seen, acting is probably a worse job for kids than many of the jobs that are outlawed.
- Eisenstein 4y agoYou could argue that acting is a child doing something they want to do as artistic expression. Like, could you ban a kid from playing a concert if they are good at violin or piano; or could you ban them from selling their artwork or their singing?
- bnralt 4y agoPeople are fine with kids selling someone some arts and crafts they made, but most people don’t think children should be making things in factories. Likewise, a school play is completely different from the life that most children actors live.
- Kye 4y agoWil Wheaton talks about this a lot. A good entry point if you don't want to read through his blog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eoDeIw7G1I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eoDeIw7G1I Seeing how he's overcome all that, beat alcohol, and was able to find a place in the world of media that was about his interests rather than his mother's is inspiring, but a lot of kids don't make it out so well-adjusted. And even here it took decades.
- PeterisP 4y agoIt's because an adult can do almost all jobs where child labor would be used, usually it's just that adults are more expensive; but in acting we don't really want to say that movies are prohibited to show kids or that all kid roles must be played by adult actors. Like, do we want to make a rule that a family drama must be filmed without showing that family's kids? If not, then we have to permit child acting at least in some way.
- CSMastermind 4y agoI wonder if we'll reach a point where AI can convincingly stand in for child actors.
- bnralt 4y agoYou might well be right, but it's odd when you really think about it. We're allowing behavior we deem immoral or harmful to happen in cases where we think it makes our entertainment a bit better.
- brightlancer 4y agoChild labor laws are presented as intending to protect the child, but the reality is it's created to protect adult workers from cheap competition. That's what PP described (even if they didn't realize it): "It's because an adult can do almost all jobs where child labor would be used, usually it's just that adults are more expensive;" It's not about morality or protecting children from harm; that's just the lie that's used to sell it.
- Eisenstein 4y agoYou are making a moral judgement and applying it to everyone -- but I think you are in the minority in thinking that. Most people don't see children actors and think of them as being harmed and the production immoral.
- ryanklee 4y agoI believe the parent comment's point would be better formulated as: We make an exception for child actors but do so thoughtlessly; if we applied the same lines of moral reasoning that leads us to prevent children from working elsewhere, many of those lines would prevent us from making an allowance for paid child actors. But we fail to make the application of those lines of reasoning in this case because of cultural loopholes and blinders, not any limitation in the reasons themselves. The one line of reasoning I can think of that does limit itself in this regard is the one says "there are no good adult substitutes for child actors, hence an exception," but this is a very cynical moral ground for child labor laws, as there are probably many potential exceptions that could be forced here that we would find profoundly repugnant and we would have to abandon that line of reasoning or be forced to admit we are more interested in industry outcomes than the welfare of children or our moral worth.