Moral Outrages; a think-piece
Know who i've been thinking about recently? Roman Polanski. And not in a good way. Let me elaborate:
For those of you unfamiliar with the case, back in the 1970s Polanski took a 13 year old girl back to his place, to talk about how he could "make her a star". When she had an asthma attack in his jacuzzi, he gave her a glass of champagne with a Quaalude in it, and once it took effect he proceeded to rape her. Once he was eventually brought to court he eventually confessed and plea-bargained down to "unlawful sex with a minor" to avoid a Date-Rape charge, on the (erroneous) assumption that this would get him out of prison time. When his lawyer told him that the Judge was leaning towards prison time regardless, Polanski fled the country for 30 years. Thankfully, he was picked up by police when he left his legal asylum in France to pick up an award in Switzerland.
This isn't the "Moral Outrage" that i'm talking about.
What i'm talking about is the outpouring of support from a host of filmakers, actors and others calling for charges to be dropped. Reasons that have been presented for charges to be dropped include: that he made good movies; the victim wants to put it behind her (NOT, as people often claim, that she forgave him); he "had a hard life"; and that he escaped the law for 30 years. To me, not a single one of those, nor the combination of them all together mean that his crime should be forgotten about. And as for that last one, good news for the last few Nazis in Argentina!
Among 100 or so French no-names on the official petition there are a few shockers like Guillermo del Toro, Terry Gillingham, David Lynch, Natalie Portman, Monica Bellucci, Penelope Cruz and Tilda Swinton. There are others too elsewhere, like Harrison Ford, Whoopi Goldberg and Johnny Depp. Emma Thompson had signed it, though thankfully changed her mind. Film mogul Harvey Weinstein has been leading the charge like it's some sort of fucking crusade; to quote newly-certified BAMF Jack Cafferty - "Harvey Weinstein says Polanski was the victim of a "miscarriage of justice." Hey, Harvey: He pled guilty."
I'm trying not to go into a full-blown rant here, but frankly it's disgusting. Depp has two daughters, and most of the others have children. Whoopi Goldberg needs to be slapped for saying that the statutory date rape "wasn't Rape-rape". That and the movie where she starred alongside the farting dinosaur.
Wanna know who I’m fucking proud of though? Kevin Smith, Tom Morello, Luc Besson, Greg Grunberg, Chris Rock, Jamie Lee Curtis, Howard Stern, Lisa Kudrow among others, for stating the obvious. Although those others had better start speaking up, since this is something that needs to be addressed. Even Arnold Schwartzeneggar has said Polanski needs to be held accountable, and he's a fan of the guy's work.
Now this is where the issue gets muddy - Woody Allen. I was hardly suprised to see his name on the petiton, but then it got me thinking about his case in particular. I think it's rather skeevy, to be sure, that he is now an item with someone who started out as his stepdaughter, let alone the 50-something age difference. But they seem to be doing okay, all in all; she says she never saw him as a father figure, and the two seem to be happy. Plus he didn't break any laws which, even if it weren't a matter of raping a child, is the key part of the Polanski case - fuck the statute of limitations (which i'm pretty sure doesn't apply otherwise he'd just have come back to the US), being good at evading the law doesn't make you innocent.
And hey, speaking of paedophillia, one last thought. A couple of years ago, when I went to see the Vagina Monologues (yeah, I know, I was very, very bored in freshman year) I had issues with the "Coochie Snorcher" sketch. I had initially been ready to hate the whole damn play because of that one, particularly the (now mostly edited out) closing line - "Well, if it was rape, then it was a good kind of rape" - since like many I was under the impression this was glorifying a grown woman having sex with a pubescent girl because it was between women and, as the common myth goes, "lesbians don't/can't rape". But then it occured to me - the plays are meant to be a snapshot of women's experiences, not necessarily an endorsement of all the ones they showed. Once I bore that in mind, I could enjoy the play.
And that's the crucial part of this whole thing about "moral outrages" - they need to be talked about. Not swept under the rug, no matter how long it's been. Now i'm done here; i'm sick of looking at Polanski's face.
*EDIT - Stop the fucking presses, he had an affair with 15 year old model Nastassja Kinski two years after he fled his Last statutory rape charge? Fuck it, he needs to be locked away for life.
The debate; let it begin.
For those of you unfamiliar with the case, back in the 1970s Polanski took a 13 year old girl back to his place, to talk about how he could "make her a star". When she had an asthma attack in his jacuzzi, he gave her a glass of champagne with a Quaalude in it, and once it took effect he proceeded to rape her. Once he was eventually brought to court he eventually confessed and plea-bargained down to "unlawful sex with a minor" to avoid a Date-Rape charge, on the (erroneous) assumption that this would get him out of prison time. When his lawyer told him that the Judge was leaning towards prison time regardless, Polanski fled the country for 30 years. Thankfully, he was picked up by police when he left his legal asylum in France to pick up an award in Switzerland.
This isn't the "Moral Outrage" that i'm talking about.
What i'm talking about is the outpouring of support from a host of filmakers, actors and others calling for charges to be dropped. Reasons that have been presented for charges to be dropped include: that he made good movies; the victim wants to put it behind her (NOT, as people often claim, that she forgave him); he "had a hard life"; and that he escaped the law for 30 years. To me, not a single one of those, nor the combination of them all together mean that his crime should be forgotten about. And as for that last one, good news for the last few Nazis in Argentina!
Among 100 or so French no-names on the official petition there are a few shockers like Guillermo del Toro, Terry Gillingham, David Lynch, Natalie Portman, Monica Bellucci, Penelope Cruz and Tilda Swinton. There are others too elsewhere, like Harrison Ford, Whoopi Goldberg and Johnny Depp. Emma Thompson had signed it, though thankfully changed her mind. Film mogul Harvey Weinstein has been leading the charge like it's some sort of fucking crusade; to quote newly-certified BAMF Jack Cafferty - "Harvey Weinstein says Polanski was the victim of a "miscarriage of justice." Hey, Harvey: He pled guilty."
I'm trying not to go into a full-blown rant here, but frankly it's disgusting. Depp has two daughters, and most of the others have children. Whoopi Goldberg needs to be slapped for saying that the statutory date rape "wasn't Rape-rape". That and the movie where she starred alongside the farting dinosaur.
Wanna know who I’m fucking proud of though? Kevin Smith, Tom Morello, Luc Besson, Greg Grunberg, Chris Rock, Jamie Lee Curtis, Howard Stern, Lisa Kudrow among others, for stating the obvious. Although those others had better start speaking up, since this is something that needs to be addressed. Even Arnold Schwartzeneggar has said Polanski needs to be held accountable, and he's a fan of the guy's work.
Now this is where the issue gets muddy - Woody Allen. I was hardly suprised to see his name on the petiton, but then it got me thinking about his case in particular. I think it's rather skeevy, to be sure, that he is now an item with someone who started out as his stepdaughter, let alone the 50-something age difference. But they seem to be doing okay, all in all; she says she never saw him as a father figure, and the two seem to be happy. Plus he didn't break any laws which, even if it weren't a matter of raping a child, is the key part of the Polanski case - fuck the statute of limitations (which i'm pretty sure doesn't apply otherwise he'd just have come back to the US), being good at evading the law doesn't make you innocent.
And hey, speaking of paedophillia, one last thought. A couple of years ago, when I went to see the Vagina Monologues (yeah, I know, I was very, very bored in freshman year) I had issues with the "Coochie Snorcher" sketch. I had initially been ready to hate the whole damn play because of that one, particularly the (now mostly edited out) closing line - "Well, if it was rape, then it was a good kind of rape" - since like many I was under the impression this was glorifying a grown woman having sex with a pubescent girl because it was between women and, as the common myth goes, "lesbians don't/can't rape". But then it occured to me - the plays are meant to be a snapshot of women's experiences, not necessarily an endorsement of all the ones they showed. Once I bore that in mind, I could enjoy the play.
And that's the crucial part of this whole thing about "moral outrages" - they need to be talked about. Not swept under the rug, no matter how long it's been. Now i'm done here; i'm sick of looking at Polanski's face.
*EDIT - Stop the fucking presses, he had an affair with 15 year old model Nastassja Kinski two years after he fled his Last statutory rape charge? Fuck it, he needs to be locked away for life.
The debate; let it begin.