Casting can steer audience sympathy against the script’s intent

Evidence

What is interesting is the way the audience’s sympathies are manipulated. Alex is a siren, then she is sick and mad and dangerous; she has no human feelings that we need take into account, and when Glenn Close manifests them, with a haunted and poignant face, she is acting against the drift of the direction. But when—at an early date—Dan sets the law on the troublesome harpy, and when he suggests she abort her child, and when he half-strangles her, we must somehow sympathize with him. It is the casting that sets this up. — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 330

Categorization

• SEED: An essay angle: when an actor performs against the drift of the direction, their body becomes the text’s conscience.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 330
• XREF: connects to: Casting choices act as narrative declarations of intent for characters — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 369; An actor’s established persona can override a film’s intended moral stance. — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 369; Audience reception is itself a moment of the television production process (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• An actor’s established persona can override a film’s intended moral stance. #expands (0.85) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 369
• Texts impose preferred readings that constrain audience interpretation. #complicates (0.60)
• Audiences can decode the same message in a globally contrary or oppositional way #expands (0.55)