The subject of cancel culture is a hot-button issue these days, and actor Thomas Jane has shared his thoughts. Jane addressed the topic during an exclusive interview with MovieWeb to promote his latest film, Slayers, which follows social media influences in a battle against bloodthirsty vampires. Their best hope for survival is with the assistance of a popular online gamer.
Correlating the film’s plot to reality, Jane shared his view that many of the online influencers we see are essentially portraying characters with their social media personas. He suggests that they’re so popular because they seem like people who “want to be your friend,” when in reality, they have their own interests prioritized above all else. He warns others that buying into what they’re selling is akin to purchasing poisoned apples.
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Jane adds that, as a father, he is especially concerned about the impact that influencers can have on women. He explains that his approach is to offer his daughter another point of view as a “counterbalance,” knowing he may not be able to always make her listen, but wanting to spread the awareness as much as he can to question the things that we see online.
Thomas Jane Isn’t a Fan of Cancel Culture
The Avenue
From there, Jane also gets into his thoughts on how “cancel culture” has come into play in recent years. He reflected on how the internet had taught him how to be discerning, as when it came out, he had to learn how to sift the truth from the lies that are online. Jane says that questioning things should be healthy, but it’s what leads to people getting “canceled” these days, arguing that many who’ve created controversy online weren’t actually wrong about what they’d said.
Jane suggests that openly questioning certain things or even just having an opinion online may lead to a cancelation. However, he says his Slayers character, Elliot Jones, was able to tackle some of these issues in a symbolic way, and that felt “refreshing” for Jane, who believes it wouldn’t be safe to have
It’s not about being right with asking questions online. For Jane, the actor feels that a better approach to handle people who are misinformed would be to educate them and allow them to grow. Jane says that it’s more “dangerous” to be punished for asking the question, and using climate change as an example, he argues that science is ever-changing and that for humanity to keep up, people must continue to offer new perspectives as opposed to being told what to believe.
Slayers was released in October by The Avenue. Written and directed by K. Asher Levin, the film stars Thomas Jane, Kara Hayward, Jack Donnelly, Lydia Hearst, Malin Akerman, Abigail Breslin, and Ash T. You can read more about the film in our joint interview with Jane and Levin, and you can view the official trailer below.
