I'd argue an overacted one that doesn't fit with the norms of character behaviour in that universe as established over the last 55 years.
The problem with this claim is that those "norms" are no longer applicable. Modern television uses acting styles that are different even from those common in the late 1990s -- Patrick Stewart has talked about how he felt like he had to re-learn television acting while doing PIC compared to how he used to do it on TNG. Complaining that modern acting styles differ from those in prior Trek productions is frankly a bit like being upset that the cinematography is different, or that the visual effects are different. Television has evolved, and therefore the artistic conventions of the shows have evolved.
The faculty of Juilliard are expert judges of acting ability and far more credible in that capacity than literally anyone on this BBS.
I don't think anyone on this thread has referenced race or gender, just the performance of the actors in question - anyone except you, that is. I wonder what implicit biases you have?
The bias of being tired of people holding black actors to double standards and calling women "hysterical."
and it rather detracts from what you're trying to say.
Calling people out on their double standards and misogynistic language does not detract from anything.
I'd say her performance was much more compelling in the first season (Tilly, by contrast remains from the outset an ill-conceived character) and I don't think her performance was ever wooden, but it really has been floodgates since season 2
No, it really hasn't.
Seriously -- which scenes in particular strike you as over-acted? In what manner are they over-acted? What other acting choices would have been more appropriate?
(again, in a mere 13 episodes a season, you can put together a length reel solely of her crying).
Hold on here. Is it that she is over-acting, or is it that her character cries too often?
'Cos here's the thing:
crying is often a writing choice. So if your complaint is that Michael cries too often, that's a writing issue, not an acting issue. SMG's job is to embody the scripts given to her.
As it stands -- I actually agree that Michael cried a little too often in S2! But that doesn't mean SMG is over-acting. Heck, it doesn't even mean the writing of any individual scene was
bad -- it means that they went to that well a little too often for it to retain its effectiveness.
It's as if they got bored of the idea that she was raised by Vulcans and just needed her to emote more for the audience.
No, it's that the character has grown and changed as a result of her experiences, and has learned that repressing her emotions only caused her traumas to fester and grow rather than allow her to heal from them.
That said, clearly nobody's trying to rein it in as Nick Meyer infamously did with Shatner. As Garth says - maybe the question is "what's Michelle Paradise thinking"?
Or maybe the question is, what are
you thinking? Because I can't think of a single scene where SMG's performance struck me as emotionally unrealistic.
