Thought I would occasionally put up any articles, reviews or analysis which I think are interesting. Warning ! Socialist content ! Thoughtful comments welcome.
To kick things off, here is an article reporting on an open letter from Roman Polanski's wife, Emmanuelle Seiner, scathingly rejecting an invitation from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to join its ranks.
The Academy expelled Polanski in May as a panic-stricken by-product of the #MeToo sexual harassment witch hunt.
In 1977, Polanski pled guilty to unlawful sex with a minor, 13-year-old Samantha Gailey (now Geimer). He spent 42 days in prison undergoing psychiatric examination and fled the US when a vindictive judge, guilty of gross misconduct in the case, threatened to renege on a plea agreement and sentence Polanski to a lengthy jail term.
In May, Samantha Geimer condemned the Academy’s action as “an ugly and cruel action which serves only appearance… I say to Roman, good riddance to bad rubbish, the Academy has no true honor, it’s all just P.R.” Geimer impolitely referred to the Academy as “a bunch of douchebags.”
Seigner, in her open letter, published in Le Journal du Dimanche, takes the Academy to task for its invitation “in the cause of much-needed feminism.” She continues: “How could anyone doubt my concern for equality between men and women? … But how can I ignore the fact that a few weeks ago the Academy expelled my husband, Roman Polanski, in an attempt to appease the zeitgeist [pour satisfaire l'air du temps]—the very same Academy which in 2002 awarded him an Oscar for The Pianist! A curious case of amnesia!”
Seigner goes on forcefully, “The Academy probably thinks I am enough of a spineless, social-climbing actress that I would forget that I have been married for the past 29 years to one of the world’s greatest directors. I love him, he is my husband and the father of my children. He has been cast out like a pariah. Yet these same nameless academicians think that I should ‘mount the steps of glory’ behind his back? The insufferable hypocrisy! This proposal is one insult too many. I cannot remain silent any longer. You offend me while claiming to want to protect women!”
The actress explains that she can no longer keep quiet “about this affair which has transformed the life of my entire family since his arrest in Switzerland on 26 September 2009… Ever since he was arrested he has been falsely slandered as a pervert. I am the only one who is able to testify just how much he regrets what happened 40 years ago. And yet, I am powerless when the press publishes scandals he was supposedly involved in—false testimonies, tales of women who claim to have been raped and yet never pressed charges.”
Further, Seigner explains that, “I feel that all his life, from the Nazis of his childhood to the present day, Roman has been condemned to perpetual flight, without the slightest effort by any part of the media to look at his case with an open mind. On the contrary, they only seek to make it worse… He bears no resemblance to this caricature of maleness, this symptom of the evil that ravages cinema. And yet the Academy expects me not support this man?”
She concludes, “As for the members of the Academy, I have only one thing to say to them: this is one woman you won’t have.”
Full article here. http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/07/11/seig-j11.html
Thoughtful comments welcome.
