Srs Polanski post is srs.
Nothing new, but I've been following this almost against my will without much comment anywhere. I dunno how much you guys have been following the situation; I've seen surprisingly little about it in LJ in general (maybe I hang in the wrong circles?), and I just read a bit more elsewhere and am feeling all "WTF is wrong with the world"y, so I thought I'd post.
First:
Celebrities who support Polanski's arrest, or, people you should give money to.
Article that mentions a few celebrities signing a petition AGAINST his detention, or, people you should throw up on. (Noooo David Lynch whyyyyyy?)
EDIT: FauxNews also has an article about the pro-Polanski brigade, except they're cramming the words "liberal" and "left" in as much as they can. *eyeroll* (Also, Harrison Ford? Noooooo!)
EDIT II: Also, they're calling it a "celebrity gossip" issue. No. It's not about celebrity gossip; it's about laws applying to all people, regardless of their status in the public eye.
I'm cutting the rant because while nothing explicit, still upsetting/disturbing/whatever. Rant itself is nothing groundbreaking, or so I hope.
It infuriates me that these people--not just celebrities, but tons of random dickwads if you read article comments and such--seem to believe that because he's a good director, he therefore must be a good person.
I can only hope his defenders only know about the case from the many white-washed documentaries and the urban legends springing up around the situation, and they didn't actually go read the court transcripts* and still decide that the little girl was asking for it so it's okay, or it was the seventies so it's okay, or her mother was essentially pimping her out so it's okay, or he'd gone through tragedy so it's okay, or she'd admitted she wasn't a virgin so it's okay, or he escaped justice for a while so it's okay. (I have seen all of these in one way or another.) Their defense really boils down to, "He's famous, so it's okay." Yeah, great way to run a justice system, Hollywood. Sure, she was a little girl, but he makes movies so it's fiiiine. If this was any other guy, people would be outraged that he got away this far and after him with torches and pitchforks. Or so I hope--given some of the arguments, I wonder.
I assume I'm preaching to the choir here, but it's just . . . I really cannot understand the mindset supporting him. At all. I can understand many arguments I don't agree with, but in this case, I am baffled. How is it that in 2009, it is acceptable to look back and openly blame the victim with little or no backlash? The thirteen-year-old victim? He drugged and raped a little girl, and somehow people can openly insist that he shouldn't be punished.
Look, I don't care if you like his movies. (I don't for the ones I've seen, but whatever.) It's possible to respect someone as an artist and still acknowledge that they're a horrible person, or at least, that they did something horrible. Really. It is.
*BTW, don't read the transcripts, guys, unless you have a stronger stomach than I do. I only read snippets and nearly threw up. She sounds like a little, little girl. I know she's grown up and, by all accounts, dealt with what happened and gone on to be a well-adjusted woman, which is awesome for her. But her little-girl self is caught in those transcripts and it's horrifying to think that people can read that child's words and still insist that her rapist is somehow a victim here.
First:
Celebrities who support Polanski's arrest, or, people you should give money to.
Article that mentions a few celebrities signing a petition AGAINST his detention, or, people you should throw up on. (Noooo David Lynch whyyyyyy?)
EDIT: FauxNews also has an article about the pro-Polanski brigade, except they're cramming the words "liberal" and "left" in as much as they can. *eyeroll* (Also, Harrison Ford? Noooooo!)
EDIT II: Also, they're calling it a "celebrity gossip" issue. No. It's not about celebrity gossip; it's about laws applying to all people, regardless of their status in the public eye.
I'm cutting the rant because while nothing explicit, still upsetting/disturbing/whatever. Rant itself is nothing groundbreaking, or so I hope.
It infuriates me that these people--not just celebrities, but tons of random dickwads if you read article comments and such--seem to believe that because he's a good director, he therefore must be a good person.
I can only hope his defenders only know about the case from the many white-washed documentaries and the urban legends springing up around the situation, and they didn't actually go read the court transcripts* and still decide that the little girl was asking for it so it's okay, or it was the seventies so it's okay, or her mother was essentially pimping her out so it's okay, or he'd gone through tragedy so it's okay, or she'd admitted she wasn't a virgin so it's okay, or he escaped justice for a while so it's okay. (I have seen all of these in one way or another.) Their defense really boils down to, "He's famous, so it's okay." Yeah, great way to run a justice system, Hollywood. Sure, she was a little girl, but he makes movies so it's fiiiine. If this was any other guy, people would be outraged that he got away this far and after him with torches and pitchforks. Or so I hope--given some of the arguments, I wonder.
I assume I'm preaching to the choir here, but it's just . . . I really cannot understand the mindset supporting him. At all. I can understand many arguments I don't agree with, but in this case, I am baffled. How is it that in 2009, it is acceptable to look back and openly blame the victim with little or no backlash? The thirteen-year-old victim? He drugged and raped a little girl, and somehow people can openly insist that he shouldn't be punished.
Look, I don't care if you like his movies. (I don't for the ones I've seen, but whatever.) It's possible to respect someone as an artist and still acknowledge that they're a horrible person, or at least, that they did something horrible. Really. It is.
*BTW, don't read the transcripts, guys, unless you have a stronger stomach than I do. I only read snippets and nearly threw up. She sounds like a little, little girl. I know she's grown up and, by all accounts, dealt with what happened and gone on to be a well-adjusted woman, which is awesome for her. But her little-girl self is caught in those transcripts and it's horrifying to think that people can read that child's words and still insist that her rapist is somehow a victim here.