Actress Meryl Streep is reflecting on how the United States has changed course over the past few years and her predictions for how it will move forward in the wake of a Supreme Court nomination.
During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter to promote her new Netflix movie “Prom,” Streep discussed how the story behind the film plays out now after Former President Barack Obama (D) took office and marriage equality passed.
“I don’t think we were in a vastly different place. At that time, there was one sort of freedom and hope alive, but it sat on top of a pretty immovable set of circumstances that have been in America for a really long time,” Streep said.
She added, “We weren’t in a different place, we just weren’t paying attention to what was always there.”
Streep weighed in on the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and what is at stake.
“Well, I was lucky because I had my daughters with me here in Connecticut. The whole family was all together. We just wept. Because it wasn’t just the death of one extraordinary woman, we were feeling the fires come around us,” Streep said.
She continued, “The Bobcat Fire just seems to be surrounding all the advances of the late 20th century, in terms of gay rights, in terms of women, and the election of Barack Obama.”
Streep remains hopeful the nation will turn things around despite the challenges it is facing.
“All these markers that felt like signs of where we were going. And of course, history doesn’t move that way. It’s two steps forward, seven steps to the right. Maybe we’ll get back on track, I don’t know. I’m hoping, but it does feel particularly dark,” Streep said.
She expressed belief in the idea that those who do not necessarily adhere to certain ways of thinking can be persuaded otherwise without feeling embarrassed.
“My mother always said, ‘You don’t win an argument with a man by proving him wrong.’ There must be a way that people can be brought to what feels like the obvious truth of what’s good in the world, what’s humane, what’s compassionate, what’s right,” Streep said.
She went on, “They can be brought to that reality without feeling humiliated that they took a wrong turn. Because I don’t like to be wrong, (wryly) I so rarely am. When I am, it’s very painful to come back from that place.”
