Can we talk about the apparent culture of sexual abuse in the american film industry?

PsychedelicDiamond

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Dear Escapist Friends,

those who've been watching the news lately have probably noticed that there are a number of worrying revelations about Hollywood and the american movie industry as a whole. A lot of Hollywood insiders, among them producer Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual abuse by multiple women, Oliver Stone, who has a reputation of touching female coworker inappropriately, Roman Polanski, who has another investigation for the sexual abuse of a minor on his hands and Woody Allen who... hoo boy, where do I start? Either way, there does seem to be a systemic problem institutionalized sexual abuse and, quite possibly, even institutionalized sexual child abuse in Hollywood.

Now, I think this deserves to be talked about because I find it very troubling to think that in a western country, among wealthy, mostly well educated people something like this could take hold to the extent it seems to have done. Of course I have no doubt that the film industry is a cutthroat business that does have its share of crooks but this sort of behaviour seems to indicate a problem that goes deeper. It doesn't surprise me that there is a general "grab 'em by the pussy" mentality among America's rich but that behaviour like this could exist for so long without being challenged puts the inner workings of the film industry into question.

So, friends, let's talk about this. Where do you see the reasons for this type of institutionalized mysoginy in Hollywood? Is there any merit to rumor about systemic child abuse or are Polanski and Allen isolated incidents that are by no means representative?
 

Thaluikhain

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Nobody should be remotely surprised by any of this.

PsychedelicDiamond said:
Is there any merit to rumor about systemic child abuse or are Polanski and Allen isolated incidents that are by no means representative?
Yeah, people are trying to say they are isolated incidents, just like every other incident. Putting that aside, many, many people in the industry knew about it for many years and let it go, covered it up, or tried to silence victims and anyone else.

Hell, in the case of Polanski, he publicly stated he was guilty, and went on to a long and successful career working with a lot of big names. He didn't even pretend to be innocent.

If you can rape a kid, admit it to everyone and people in your industry still want to work with you, your industry has serious issues.

EDIT:

As an aside, though, you don't need to specify "American Film Industry". You see thsi sort of thing all over, BBC, various churches, militaries, governments etc
 
Jan 27, 2011
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The moment you give people power and tell them they're too special to punish, a pretty sizable portion let their personal demons out and do terrible shit because the only thing that was keeping them from doing terrible shit was the fear of punishment.

We've seen this with Politicians, priests, etc, so the fact it's rampant in the entertainment industry isn't surprising. It's disgusting and the guys who do it need to never see the outside of a prison cell again, but it's not surprising. :(
 

Casual Shinji

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Wherever there is someone in a position of power over someone else this type of behaviour will eventually crop up. This isn't just showbiz. Though the power these executives have over the carreer of others ('I'll make sure you'll never work in this industry again!') seems largely a showbiz thing. What a coincidence this happend just before Andy Signore from Screen Junkies got busted for the same deal.

And is there merrit to the rumors of child abuse in Hollywood? Obviously. Not that I know whether it runs rampid, but in an indiustry that LOVES its child actors no doubt there are some scumbags trying to take advantage of them. But then I'm sure that's an unfortunate risk in any institute that works with children.

As for Polanski and Allen... I don't think they're part of this "system" if it even exists, unless I'm missing something from Woody Allen. I mean, he married his adoptive daughter when she was of age, right? I mean, if it's two consenting adults... It's certainly kinda oogie, but nothing I think I'd call 'pedo' for. Again, unless I'm missing something.
 

Zontar

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While everyone's known about this for some time, it's still nice to see it finally get the attention it needs (even though I just know social justice types will use this to pretend there's a rape culture in the West when the very reason this had to be kept so secret is because the literal opposite is the case).

It's also funny to see the whole thing come crashing down. Not just those being exposed, but those why by omission (SNL, Kimmel) are showing how much higher they place their connections to these people then to doing the job they claim they're doing right. Kimmel even went so far as to make just one reluctant mention of it, only to immediately bring up the "Grab her by the pussy" comment, which really shows you how these people think.

Someone I don't like said something crass about a consensual encounter: bring it up so often for months on end that it becomes white noise and only those with an IS below 80 who would be entertained by dangling yarn could still laugh.

Someone I do like is exposed for sexually assault and potentially rape: "w-w-w-well I can't just bring him up, it's a New Yorker thing" -Literally the reason SNL didn't touch this issue, not even an exaggeration.

Fuck Hollywood, I hope this leads to a purge of the incompetent greedy execs who've been ruining the media, entertainment and by extension a large part of the country for years now.
 

TheMysteriousGX

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Considering this has been a widely known open secret for years, I hope these fucks get everything that's com8ng to them.

And I hope we'll finally be taking this shit seriously in every other industry these rumors float around in: Cosby, Trump, etc, etc, et-fucking-c.
 

Silentpony_v1legacy

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Well everyone knew for decades. It was a punchline. Once every few years another star comes out to discuss the abuse and are made to go away because what they're saying is inconvenient to the bottom line.
Weinstein doesn't make hit movies anymore. Its safe to go after him. Guarantee you if Miramax had a piece of the MCU or Star Wars or whatever not one person would have come out against him.
It was all about money and power and he ran out of both. So now its good business to come out against him. Everyone was happy to play along when he was making them money.
 

Zontar

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BeetleManiac said:
McElroy said:
Your examples indicate more of a problem with Jewish men in the film industry.

$ettlements with the victims should be enough for now and for ever.
How does that address the broken system? How does it fix a system where this can go on for years before a breaking point is reached?
Do you have any particular ideas on how to fix it?
 

Johnny Novgorod

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I know a lot of you like Avengers but let's not forget Joss "Casting Couch" Whedon as well.

Casual Shinji said:
As for Polanski and Allen... I don't think they're part of this "system" if it even exists, unless I'm missing something from Woody Allen. I mean, he married his adoptive daughter when she was of age, right?
Fact is she was the adoptive daughter of Farrow, but Allen himself never formally adopted her (unlike Farrow's two other adoptive kids, who Allen did adopt eventually). Still a kind of a sicko move though.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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Silentpony said:
Guarantee you if Miramax had a piece of the MCU or Star Wars or whatever not one person would have come out against him.
Sort of how nobody batted an eye when Joss Whedon was accused of the same sins Weinstein is purging right now.
 

Silentpony_v1legacy

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Johnny Novgorod said:
Silentpony said:
Guarantee you if Miramax had a piece of the MCU or Star Wars or whatever not one person would have come out against him.
Sort of how nobody batted an eye when Joss Whedon was accused of the same sins Weinstein is purging right now.
Was he really? I honestly hadn't heard that. Only thing I heard about Joss was people hating him for that Black Widow = monster for not having babies scene...
 

Wintermute_v1legacy

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Johnny Novgorod said:
I know a lot of you like Avengers but let's not forget Joss "Casting Couch" Whedon as well.
I thought he was a feminist with lots of respect for women or something. What did he do? Was it worse than "watch me jack off into this plant?"
 

PsychedelicDiamond

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McElroy said:
Your examples indicate more of a problem with Jewish men in the film industry.

$ettlements with the victims should be enough for now and for ever.
Is there really a point to bringing religion into it? I don't see many of the people being jewish as relevant unless you have a general problem with jews in which case you're probably prejudiced.
 

gigastar

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Wintermute said:
Johnny Novgorod said:
I know a lot of you like Avengers but let's not forget Joss "Casting Couch" Whedon as well.
I thought he was a feminist with lots of respect for women or something. What did he do?
His ex-wife accused him of infidelity.

Nothing too major in the grander scheme of things, but its fun to guess at who he might have been banging at various points in his professional timeline.
 

stroopwafel

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Thing is with Swinestien first he acts like a pig and then(and only then) when he gets publicly dragged through the mud there is this public mea culpa of ''oh look at me I'm so sad I'm now going te get treated for ''sex addiction''. What a fucking hypocrite. Only a culture as sexually repressed as the United States can come up with something as stupid as ''sex addiction''. It is neurotic and obsessive compulsive behavior but this has nothing to do with addiction ie substance reliance. Think about it; what happens with alcoholics or junkies when they are in withdrawal? They get a delerium and hallucinations. What happens to a ''sex addict''? At worst he might get a bit grumpy.

Secondly though why do all these women only come out the woodwork when the media is ganging up on him and when he's already beaten to the ground? Either show some character and say he's a pig after he makes his pathetic avances and then walk away or when you do anything to get the role don't complain about it later. If your career is more important than your personal integrity, fine. But if you only have the courage to complain about it with the media mob and their pitch forks at your side it makes you a bit of a gutless hypocrite in my opinion.

This entire circus makes me vomit. No wonder all Hollywood movies are garbage.
 

McElroy

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PsychedelicDiamond said:
McElroy said:
Your examples indicate more of a problem with Jewish men in the film industry.

$ettlements with the victims should be enough for now and for ever.
Is there really a point to bringing religion into it? I don't see many of the people being jewish as relevant unless you have a general problem with jews in which case you're probably prejudiced.
Ancestry, not religion. Just a fun fact. I was actually not going to mention it but apparently Stone's dad was a Jew. Learn something new everyday.
 

McElroy

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BeetleManiac said:
McElroy said:
Your examples indicate more of a problem with Jewish men in the film industry.

$ettlements with the victims should be enough for now and for ever.
How does that address the broken system? How does it fix a system where this can go on for years before a breaking point is reached?
It doesn't, but at least the victims can cash in.

edit: Sorry for the double post, I was too quick with the button.