On the Oscars

[yendi]

A few folks questioned my post last week, when I commented that I wouldn't be reading TC Boyle any more, since he's shown himself to be an utter ass. They asked why I'd take such a viewpoint, since the personality of the artist often has little to do with the work produced.

It comes down to an artistic form of capitalism. Frankly in any field, there is more good -- possibly even great -- art than I will ever have time to enjoy. There are dozens of plays annually, hundreds of movies each year, thousands of paintings, tv episodes, comics, books, etc. Even applying Sturgeon's law, and taking into account guilty pleasures, that's still a ton of stuff to enjoy. And I will never, ever have time to enjoy them all.

So, why read something produced by someone who relishes his ignorance, when there are easily a half-dozen authors writing books in similar categories that are just as good? Sorry, but I can spend my money elsewhere. And since I don't read in a vacuum, once I know what an author's like, no, I can't just tune out what I know.

Which takes us to the Oscars last night.


Roman Polanski won Best Director last night, for The Pianist. And he got nothing but cheers.

Let me rephrase this. The entire fucking Oscar crowd applauded and rewarded a child rapist.

Not one of them had the guts to boo.

The media have a habit of saying that Polanski is wanted on charges of "statutory rape," and then they wink, as if he was caught doing the nasty with a high-school senior.

No.

Polanski drugged and raped a fourteen-year-old girl.

There's no way around that. You can't wink and smile over this. It's not something that fits into a moral grey area. It's the act of a sociopath. Yes, I know he had a fucked-up life. I know about Sharon Tate. But that doesn't fucking excuse him for committing a crime and fucking up someone's life.

And the Academy decided to turn a blind eye to it.

Sorry. I don't buy that.

This is the same Academy that has a hard-on for Holocaust movies, that votes for almost every film with a message, that hasn't ignored politics since before I was born. They're not just a bunch of artistes who sit in an enclosed room and spooge over "the aesthetics." We all know that the Academy no more votes for the true "Best Director" than they do for any other person. We all know that they vote for bodies of work, for political shenanigans, for whatever gets them press (yeah, 'cuz you know the Academy really liked that mediocre Emenem tune for its own merits).

And they gave the award to The Rapist.

I'm sure that The Pianist is a brilliant film. Polanksi's talent has never really been in question (although The Ninth Gate is certainly a possible case in point). I may see it, as I've done with the Rapist's other work, when it comes out on HBO, or in some other situation where I'm not tossing money into the Rapist's coffers. But there were four (actually more) other brilliant films last year. And the Academy decided to send a message to Rapist Polanski, telling him that he's forgiven.

Well, fuck you, Roman. And fuck the Academy.

Comments

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

AMEN!!

(I will, however, admit that I like the Eminem song.)

[maida-mac.livejournal.com]

Well said!

[beck4664.livejournal.com]

I was completely unaware that he was a rapist! I feel a little miffed myself now that I know.

[shawnj.livejournal.com]

I agree 100%.

It was almost like the Academy was *trying* to create controversy, giving awards to Michael Moore, Eminem (It surprised me that he wasn't there), and that fugitive.

With Polanski's case, I'm just shocked that they would vote for him. That movie must be an amazing piece of work because the other four nominees were just stellar in their work. Especially Pedro Almodovar.

[mendoza.livejournal.com]

I didn't know he drugged her. That's damn creepy.

[cissa.livejournal.com]

I agree completely. That's grotesque. Especially when I read specualtion that they hadn't nominated Richard Gere because they were supposedly tured of his moralizing stances. OK, maybe that's incorrect, but still.

Too bad they didn't bust Polanski while he was there. And why not, actually? They had to have known he'd be present.

This also points up one of the problems with charging people with crimes against kids, especially sexual crimes against girls. I've seen this so much locally! They take a guy who's raped a kid tens to hundreds of times, and charge him maybe with a couple of them. Since all the rest are then inadmissible, the jury and judge don't know about them and so legally can't take them into account. Or like with Polanski, they take an action that's chargeable irrespective of age, ignore those aspects, and charge ONLY for the age violation. Which means, again, that other aspects may not even be admissible.

Grrr. But thanks for posting this. It's reassuring to know that other people care about these things.

Hugs....

[averyslave.livejournal.com]

Thank you! When I booed Polanski last night, my friends brought up the Sharon Tate thing, like that excused him.

'The Pianist' is a fantastic movie, though. And 'The Ninth Gate' is a sin against nature.

Re: Polanski

[scarcrest.livejournal.com]

Click here (http://www.vachss.com/mission/roman_polanski.html) for a dossier of newspaper articles about Polanski from the arrest to recent years.

[yendi]

He actually wasn't there. Harrison Ford (who chose to work with the Rapist back in 1988) accepted the award on his behalf. The Rapist is still hiding in Europe.

[yendi]

Thank you! When I booed Polanski last night, my friends brought up the Sharon Tate thing, like that excused him.

Whenever I hear this, I think it's just the most bizarre twisting of the whole "pay it forward" concept that one could imagine.

'The Pianist' is a fantastic movie, though. And 'The Ninth Gate' is a sin against nature.

The latter is true for sure. I'll speak to the former in a few years, when I finally see it.

[yendi]

*nod* Quaaludes.

[ariedana.livejournal.com]

I remember reading in one of the Hollywood gossip pages a few weeks ago that one of the studios was orchastrating a "gossip" campaign against Polanski to wreck his film's chances. They even cited the release of some of the grand jury testimony as suspicious, although it had been released months ago and just ignored until recently. They also said that Jack Nicholson's name was being dragged into it since the rape occured at his house. My question is: why shouldn't this be a topic of discussion? People need to know what kind of scum they're voting for. Of course, these are the same people who are rallying around Robert Blake too.

Academy Rewards

[unwilly.livejournal.com]

I have never seen a Polanski film made after he was put on trial and fled the country prior to his conviction. Rapists don't get my money or two hours of my time.

Read the deposition of the girl Polanski raped at www.thesmokinggun.com

It is obvious from her testimony that he drugs, rapes and sodomizes a 13 year old girl.

And if you look at his history since then he has continued that pattern. At least 5 girls between 13-17 admit that Polanski had sex with them during movies he made.

Any parent who let their daughter on the set with Polanski was tacitly complicit in their sexual abuse, since it was obvious to every one what kinda of monster Polanski is.

And the Academy members know this all too well. They should have left his name off the voting list.

What, censorship you say? You bet your ass.

Did you see any pro-Nazi movies being on the list? No. The reason is that you often cannot separate the medium and the maker, and sometimes you should not.

So, one more reason to notice that Hollyweird is as morally bankrupt as ever.

Unwilly

[raptorgirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was kinda pissed off about that standing ovation myself. I mean, HE DRUGGED AND RAPED A FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD GIRL.

And meanwhile, Michael Moore is turned into the Antichrist for merely criticizing the President. I mean, I realize we're in a war and everyone has to play nice-nice, but sheesh. He didn't rape a teenage girl.

Weird.

[ariadnesthread.livejournal.com]

Eh, I'd argue that Michael Moore has made a career based on being a professional asshole. But that's just my opinion, which comes from just over the other side of the political aisle.

Totally agree with everyone's comments on Polanski. I did catch (and enjoy) Steve Martin's dig about Robert Blake, and it made me wish he'd thrown Phil Spector into the joke as well.

Re: Polanski

[beck4664.livejournal.com]

Ah yes. I did investigation after I read his initial entry, and found/read the entire court transcript from the girls confession.

Strange. And Sick.

Disagreement

[ealuscerwen.livejournal.com]

Actually, I disagree with all of you over the Polanski point.

I was pleased to see that the Academy managed to overlook what must have been a very tricky political situation for them to vote based on the merits of Polanski's work on The Pianist, which is the best directed film I've seen for some time.

I'm not suggesting that he's a nice person, or that his purported crimes should be overlooked by society, condoned or pardoned. However, any criminal activity on his part has no bearing either on his directing skills or on his film legacy, and should not be taken into consideration when recognising those. The work is being recognised, not the man, and one thing has nothing to do with the other.

The Academy didn't say anything about Polanski's crime by giving him the award, certainly not that he has in any way been "forgiven", and in fact he has been overlooked on several occasions pretty much entirely because he is a criminal in the US.

I'm curious to know what you think awards should be based on, if not talent and exercise of that talent. Should they be given to the "nicest" person up for the award? If so, who should judge that "niceness"? Otherwise, should all those who have been caught with drugs, accused of theft or any other crime be eliminated from consideration? I really don't think so. Many of the most gifted people in our society suffer from mental health problems or have committed crimes, even violent crimes, in the past. This does not and should not invalidate their contribution to any field of learning or endeavour.

I will add that I wasn't entirely comfortable thinking about Polanski himself being given a standing ovation at the Oscars, and I'm certainly not "forgiving" him for any criminal activity. However, thinking again, I'm very happy with his work on The Pianist having been given a standing ovation.

[mycroftca.livejournal.com]

Amen....having had to patch together the recipients of such attentions in my career, I think the guy should be strung up by his cojones...

Re: Academy Rewards

[mycroftca.livejournal.com]

Amen to your first sentence, as well!

Re: Academy Rewards

[shawnj.livejournal.com]

Despite his crimes, I'd say that Chinatown is worth just about anyone's time. It's one of the finest movies ever made.

[magiien.livejournal.com]

And 'The Ninth Gate' is a sin against nature.

Too true, I couldn't agree more. And what's worse is they took a rather good book and ruined it to make that movie. That always makes me mad.