Discussions about acting in the Star Wars series, specifically the prequels, are starting to pop up in the wake of the Oscar nominations. Once again, the discussion focuses on Hayden Christensen, the unsung and unfairly attacked acting talent of the prequel series.

As someone who has acted, people who have not have no idea how hurtful mean-spirited criticism can be. The reason so many actors claim not to listen to critics is because acting is an intensely personal thing.

Film acting also gets affected by which take the director chooses, whether they edit a line out of -or leave a line in - the scene that affects people's view of the performance.

Hayden Christensen is a terrific actor, and I was completely convinced that the person I was watching was Anakin Skywalker. Not someone playing Anakin Skywalker, but the real dude. That's a big accomplishment. It's the polar opposite of a lot of actors today, who never act convincingly enough to make the suspension of disbelief permanent. You always knowhat it's a person playing a character, not being a character.

Unfortunately, people think being critical means they have a "critical eye". It doesn't. It means they enjoy tearing other people down, usually because of their insecurity.

Just because you watch a lot of movies does not instantly make you capable of reviewing a performance fairly. Watching a movie does not mean you pick up the ability to see intent, theme or choices. A lot of the criticism of Hayden's performance comes from people going in with an expectation of how they would like it to play out, instead of just letting it play out. Just because the character isn't "how you would play it" does not mean it's an invalid interpretation.

Odds are, if you got up there and played it "the way you think it should be played", you would suck like an industrial vacuum cleaner. And odds are, for all of your bravado, you would be hurt when someone said, in a public forum, that you were terrible. The teenies who type things like YAH HE SUX I THNK, you ignore, because brain damage is beyond your control.

And that's my two cents.