Roman Polanski - Special Report
By Monica Sullivan
Every time I think that the bashing of Roman Polanski has peaked, someone else emerges to punish him in print again. The man receives more hostile attention these days than the thugs who murdered his wife, son and friends in 1969.
Much of the hostile attention comes from guys who were not angels when they were younger. How do I know this? Because when they were not pontificating for the record, I would see and hear very different stuff off the record. They were clever, they were never caught, the years passed and then guess what? It never happened? They never had sex with underage kids? (They may have fooled around, but not that!) They never beat up anyone smaller than they were (slapping doesn’t count.) They never created a hostile work environment for young women with 1 % of their power. (It was okay for them to ask “You’re not going to get pregnant are you?” because business is business.) Blah. Blah. Blah. If you take guys seriously when they get sanctimonious, even Novocain won’t dull the pain of their needle artistry.
I get the pain of women who’ve been discarded like toilet paper after their status as sexual prey is over, over, over. What I don’t get is the amnesia of so many guys who used to whine about their much younger lovers. Now they whine about Roman Polanski as if he were an alien breed, fit only for incarceration and eternal condemnation. Condemnation from everyone it would seem, except the young girl who later forgave him for hurting her.
Roman Polanski’s own childhood was torn to shreds by Adolph Hitler and the world is a better place with this imperfect man in it.
Every time I think that the bashing of Roman Polanski has peaked, someone else emerges to punish him in print again. The man receives more hostile attention these days than the thugs who murdered his wife, son and friends in 1969.
Much of the hostile attention comes from guys who were not angels when they were younger. How do I know this? Because when they were not pontificating for the record, I would see and hear very different stuff off the record. They were clever, they were never caught, the years passed and then guess what? It never happened? They never had sex with underage kids? (They may have fooled around, but not that!) They never beat up anyone smaller than they were (slapping doesn’t count.) They never created a hostile work environment for young women with 1 % of their power. (It was okay for them to ask “You’re not going to get pregnant are you?” because business is business.) Blah. Blah. Blah. If you take guys seriously when they get sanctimonious, even Novocain won’t dull the pain of their needle artistry.
I get the pain of women who’ve been discarded like toilet paper after their status as sexual prey is over, over, over. What I don’t get is the amnesia of so many guys who used to whine about their much younger lovers. Now they whine about Roman Polanski as if he were an alien breed, fit only for incarceration and eternal condemnation. Condemnation from everyone it would seem, except the young girl who later forgave him for hurting her.
Roman Polanski’s own childhood was torn to shreds by Adolph Hitler and the world is a better place with this imperfect man in it.
© 2010 - Monica Sullivan - Air Date: 05/19/10
Movie Magazine International
Movie Magazine International
Love your comment, Monica, one of the few thinking articles I've come across in all this witch hunt mire chasing after Polanski since in fact forty years now, right after Tate's death.
ReplyDeleteHere's someone who has analysed and chronicled the case and then some from the start, and it's an eye-opener to all those idiots who have no first clues about what really happened in 1977. Or ever since. It's very long, but worth a read to be thoroughly educated.
http://novalislore.wordpress.com/2009/12/10/roman-polanski-he-said-she-said-they-said-an-op-end-case-analysis-part-one/
http://novalislore.wordpress.com/2010/01/10/roman-polanski-he-said-she-said-they-said-an-op-end-case-analysis-part-two/
And actually, Geimer never said Polanski 'hurt' her, not once. Read this to find out 'why'. Geimer said only some years back: "He had sex with me, he wasn't forceful or hurting me or mean or anything." So that's NO hurting or 'rape' to me either way, just 'sex'.