quote:Originally posted by Animalman: [QUOTE]Harrison Ford is Roman Polanski's friend. I doubt he thinks what Polanski did was right.
Someone correct me if I am wrong, but it appears from the articles that Ford befriended Polanski many years after the rape occurred.
It's one thing to have a friend accused of a crime and stand by that friend.
It's quite another to befriend someone who raped an underaged girl, got convicted AFTER PLEADING GUILTY, and fled to avoid sentencing.
There is no question as to Polanski's guilt. There is no evidence that Polanski has reformed.
By befriending him, Ford is sending a message that he doesn't think child rape is a big deal. That he doesn't factor a person's actions or their morality into the question of whether to befriend them. That says a lot about Ford's character. And it isn't good.
quote:Polanski received an Oscar because the Pianist is an extraordinary film, and he did a fantastic job directing it. He did not receive the award because the Academy thinks he's a moral person. This is art, not politics.
Tell that Elia Kazan.
Kazan was the director of such film classics "Gentleman's Agreement" "On the Waterfront," "A Streetcar Named Desire," "East of Eden" and "Splendor in the Grass."
In 1952 Kazan testified before the House Un-American Activities and informed on eight of his old friends from the Group Theater who, like Kazan, had once been members of the Communist Party.
"Kazan's testimony, and his refusal to apologize for it in later years, made the legendary director something of a nonperson in politically liberal Hollywood. ... Kazan was snubbed by several prestigious Hollywood organizations, including the American Film Institute and the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn., both of which refused Kazan lifetime achievement awards."
In 1999, the decision was made to award Kazan a lifetime achievement Oscar. When the award was announced "Demonstrators had noisily protested the acclaimed director's lifetime achievement award outside the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion earlier in the day, urging Oscar-goers to sit on their hands during Kazan's appearance. According to eyewitnesses at the ceremony, many...stayed seated and did not applaud...Steven Spielberg remained seated, although he applauded; actors Nick Nolte, Ed Harris and Amy Madigan made a point of staying in their seats and not applauding."
People can disagree on what Kazan did. However, this clearly demonstrates that politics do influence the awarding of the Oscar.
Furthermore, the fact that Kazan's award was more controversial than Polanski's to the academy raises an even more interesting question: has Hollywood become so liberal that child molesters are more easily tolerated that anti-communists?
quote:to most, the act doesnt have to be text book to be referred to as criminal...Some people feel the same way about homosexuality. Regardless, they're happy, and he broke no law.
I think you're off the mark here on two levels, if I am reading you correctly.
The first is comparing homosexuality to pedophilia. One involves consenting adults. The other involves a consenting adult and a child who is incapable of consent.
Furthermore, too many people seem to have forgoten the actual details of what Polanski did.
Polanski did not have sex with some teenaged "Lolita," who "willingly" gave herself to him. The testimony at Grand Jury from the victim established that Polanski got the girl drunk, doped her up and forcibily raped her, both vaginally and anally. She testified that she did not resist because she was afraid of him.
He then, as noted above, pled guilty and later fled to avoid sentencing.
As such, I think it specious to assume that Polanski has reformed. The man has never shown remorse and, in fact, continues to evade responsibility for his actions.
In addition, I think we need to put aside the idea that you honor the art without honoring the artist. Using that idea, we could give "Mein Kampf" awards for being well-written.
But in the end, the real point is this: Ford did not befriend the work "the Pianist." He befriended a convicted child rapist. He made his statement about the man, not the work.
And, in making that statement, he lost both my respect and my business.
