There are some excellent articles in the blogosphere about this, dealing with the bullshit media reaction to the case. I highly recommend you read them.
[UPDATE: also check this one out from Feminzary)
Making critically acclaimed films is not a pass to raping 13 year old girls. Claiming she consented is pure crap. a) if you read her testimony it is clear she said no. b) at age 13 she is legally unable to consent. Ergo, rape.
What the fuck is wrong with people?
What astonishes me is that there are numerous people defending his actions. The man is a convicted rapist, and he's been dodging punishment for thirty years. He is long overdue for this comeuppance.
ReplyDeleteWhat? Is being a famous film director supposed to be an excuse for raping children? In America, fame isn't even an excuse for insider trading.
There was a man interviewed on the BBC pointing out that Polanski can avoid deportation using the same infirmity defence used by General Pinochet.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the bit that really made me sigh was when, like with Pinochet, pundits starting using the fact that he's simply old as a reason not to send him to prison, which just makes no sense to me.
Interestingly enough, one of the people defending him is the original victim, who's now in her '40s.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the sympathy directed at Polanski has less to do with his career as a director and more towards his status as a survivor of family tragedies (his mother being killed in a German concentration camp, and his first wife being murdered by Charles Manson's followers). The man has a major bad-luck whammy, that's for sure.
Hi Sea. Yeah I've seen that the victim has forgiven him. However I don't think that that that entitles him to get out of gaol. As Lord R said, he's admitted to it and been convicted, he just escaped gaol.
ReplyDeleteI have also seen stuff bringing up his tragic past, and yes, he's had a pretty shit run of things, (to say the least), but that doesn't entitle him to get away with raping anyone. Especially when he's already been convicted!
Avalon's Willow, over at Seeking Avalon, has an interesting post up stating that is he was a black man he would have never got away with it. So there's a whole boat load of priviledge going on here. (Btw, I'm not intimating that being a holocaust survivor or having your wife murdered brings any priviledge)
meant to say 'stating IF he was a black man', not is. i can't type for crap sometimes.
ReplyDeleteNo problem -- I know what you meant to write. :-)
ReplyDeleteBut -- YEAH -- I'm sure the victim didn't want him off the hook when she was still of that age! And if Polanski was such an innocent victim of the courts, why did he leave the country?
This case drives me nuts. It's clear that as much as women have gained in the past few years, we still have very, very, very far to go.
ReplyDeleteI keep thinking "we should not compare ourselves to our grandmothers but to our brothers." And it's also about having human rights for all.
And just because someone has been victimized before has doesn't mean they have the right to victimize others. Argh!
There's privilege to be certain, but I don't think it's skin color or even gender in this case. I'm white, male, and the same age (44) that Polanski was when he committed his crime. But I'm just a middle class, middle-management schlub and not some "genius" director, so if I (God forbid!) had committed the same offense, you can bet that I wouldn't have had the opportunity to flee the country, let alone stay in France 30+ years and get a petition of actors and directors, not to mention the French and Polish governments, rushing to my defense when I finally did get pinched.
ReplyDeleteArresting him sends a message you can't commit a crime, get found guilty, duck out before sentencing, and then expect the law to just forget about you if enough time elapses.
One minor annoyance is that Hollywood liberals as a whole are getting unfairly stereotyped by the relative handful who defended Polanski. Yes, that petition had hundreds of names on it, but only maybe 15-18 that I recognized (and,in many cases, was disappointed in - I'm looking at you, Terry Gilliam). Hardly the vast majority of Hollywood personalities or even Hollywood liberals. Did you see Clooney jumping to Polanski's defense? No. Robbins or Sarandon? No. Sean Penn? Nope. Nada. So why should they get lumped in with the relative few that did?
(Saranga, I think you'll like my reaction on my blog to the arrest. Very Rorschach-like!)
face: Interesting. I'm not sure how easy it is to seperate out all the different privledges tbh. I's say his being black, male, rich, famous, talented all contributed to him being able to flee and to France allowing him to stay in the country.
ReplyDeletewhere is your post? I had a quick look but couldn't find it.