I don't know much about Hollywood movies. They have nothing to do with art and as for their entertainment value, the best you can expect is extremely mediocre entertainment. I heard Woody Allen's name, of course, but never watched his movies. When I finally tried watching one of his films, I was so shocked by his chauvinism and his unapolgetic approval of pedophilia so much, that I had to turn the movie off after ten minutes. It was painful to watch how this famous director and actor promotes his unhealthy ideas about male-female relationships. It was even more painful to consider that he is so much applauded and celebrated for it.
Only yesterday I discovered that Woody Allen's personal life does not contradict his filmic approval of pedophilia. This shoscking information is from the Wikipedia: "During the proceedings, Farrow alleged that Allen had sexually molested their adopted daughter Dylan, who was then seven years old. The judge eventually concluded that the sex abuse charges were inconclusive,[52] but called Allen's conduct with Soon-Yi "grossly inappropriate." She called the report of the team that investigated the issue "sanitized and, therefore, less credible," and added that she had "reservations about the reliability of the report... After breaking his relationship from Farrow in 1992, Allen continued his relationship with Soon-Yi Previn. Even though Allen never married or lived with Farrow,[54] and was never Previn's legal stepfather, the relationship between Allen and Previn has often been referred to as a father dating his "stepdaughter," [55] since he had been perceived as being in the child's life in a father-like capacity since she was seven years old. For example, in 1991, The New York Times described Allen's family life by reporting, "Few married couples seem more married. They are constantly in touch with each other, and not many fathers spend as much time with their children as Allen does."[54] Despite assertions from Previn that Allen was never a father-figure to her,[56] the relationship became a cause célèbre. At the time, Allen was 56 and Previn was 22. Asked whether their age difference was conducive to "a healthy, equal relationship," Allen discounted the matter of equality and added this protestation: "The heart wants what it wants.""
After reading this, I can't help but ask myself, do we as a society really value young girls so little as to find all of this acceptable? Why is the creator of really crappy movies so admired in spite of these horrible actions? How is it possible that a society that screeches about "moral values" on every corner should tolerate such egregious acts? Is anybody as disgusted with tis as I am?
8 comments:
The heart wants what it wants? The heart??
He should have been more honest and said 'the penis.'
Yes, it's disgusting and I refuse to accept his "art" as anything more than continuing his abuse of women and girls. He's a sicko, no matter how he tries to "romanticize" it. Blech!!
-- Michele
Something is going on, people. I've been getting a whole bunch of intelligent and reasonable commenters on my blog lately. :-)
Thank you, Natalee and Michele.
Although Woody Allen as a person is quite obviously despicable, I think you aren't giving his films much thought.
I think you're not looking into the complexity of his films if you decide after ten minutes to stop watching because you don't like what you're seeing. He may be a misogynist, but if you analyze his films carefully, they usually are misanthropic: characters who hate women and men. By the end, however, Allen almost always affirms, affirms life, and women and men.
I think it would be a total waste of my time to sit through 2 hours of chauvinistic propaganda of pedophilia in the hopes that something positive will happen in the end.
This guy is a disgusting human being and all he does is create a reality in his films where he isn't ugly and women actually want him for something other than his money.
I was bored by the two WA films I saw several years ago, although that could just be my personal tastes. But I do recall that they were both sexist, and one could be described as misanthropic.
And Anonymous, I don't find sexism "life affirming", so I would have to disagree with you there.
WA made a couple of good movies (well, Zelig mostly), and of course there is a difference between the man (yich) and his movies. In which of WA's movies do you see pedophilia?
Ol.
I think "Manhattan" was the one I saw. It starts with this ugly, stupid and condescending guy in a mid-life crisis (played, of course, by Woody Allen himself, who is sleeping with a school-girl. The fantasy of many man who approach impotence is fulfilled here: the schoolgirl follow him around like a lovesick puppy, while the guy treats her like rubbish. There is also a lot of jokes about older (30-year-old) women and their sexuality.
Disgusting.
Also, I watched a part of "Love and Death", where Allen makes fun of the great novels of Russian literature. It's so stupid that it's painful to watch. It's also xenophobic and chauvinistic.
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