Hollywood

Maitland Ward, who starred in Boy Meets World and The Bold and the Beautiful recently claimed that young actors were treated like a “product” in the “Hollywood machine” when she was a child star.

During an interview with Fox News Digital published on April 26, Ward, now 49, opened up about her experience ahead of appearing in Investigation Discovery’s Hollywood Demons. The episode, “Child Stars Gone Wild,” drops on April 27.

“I can’t speak to how Hollywood is today because it’s such a different animal than it was back when I was getting into it,” Ward acknowledged. “Back then, I think they looked at these young actors as like property coming in. And I really believe the studios, they wanted to mold and form these young actors into what they wanted them to be, what they needed them to be for the company and for the audience, to what they felt would identify with.”

She described her time as a child actor as “a factory kind of environment,” admitting that it felt “like you were just a product being sold.”

She continued, “I mean, I didn’t think anything was wrong at the time with anything that was going on, really. I mean, it felt ill at ease in my own body and all my feelings and stuff, but I thought that was just me being stupid. I have to be professional. I have to be part of that Hollywood machine. And that’s really what it was.”

In Boy Meets World, Ward played Rachel McGuire from 1998 to 2000. Her character was a roommate of Jack (Mattew Lawrence) and Eric (Will Friedle in Seasons 7 and 8. Meanwhile, Ward played Jessica Forrester in The Bold and the Beautiful from 1994 to 1996.

source: tvinsider.com

A Lecturer at the University of Media Arts and Communication-Institute of Film and Television (UniMAC-IFT), Dr Joseph Chegadam Aketema, will confront a contentious issue: “The Image of Africa in Hollywood Films,” as part of the Inter-faculty Research Seminar hosted by the Directorate of Research Innovation and Development (DRID) at the University of Media Arts and Communication (UniMAC).

Scheduled for Friday, November 8, 2024, via Zoom, this lecture promises to offer a fresh lens on how African realities are depicted in mainstream Western media.

In a pre-lecture interview with DRID, Dr Aketema described his motivation to address the often-problematic narratives Hollywood has shaped about Africa.

“This lecture stems from a need to turn the lens on these portrayals, looking deeply at how Africa is historicized and represented in Western media,” he explained.

Dr Aketema is particularly interested in sparking critical discussion around “how we, as Black Africans and people of African descent, can dismantle the yokes of subjugation, distortion, and representation.”

The lecture will include an understanding of history, Afrocentric theory, and the impact of Hollywood’s powerful media reach.

Dr Aketema underscored the need for African filmmakers to form a collective front, suggesting that “one arrow cannot kill an elephant.” He believes a unified approach in the African film industry can counteract the influence of Hollywood’s well-established studios and offer more authentic representations of African culture.

The event will also highlight figures in African media history who have worked to change the narrative. “People don’t know about Ali Mata Salembere, one of the founders of FESPACO, or the impact of early African filmmakers,” Dr Aketema said, adding that a deeper understanding of these efforts may inspire new ways of thinking for today’s African filmmakers and cultural scholars.