Have you ever been turned off of an author's books...

[Andy Mangels]

and while I have watched his movies in the past I won't watch anymore Roman Polanski movies now that I know he's a child molester.

To me, the movies and the crime are two different things. Polanski should definitely answer for his crimes, just like anyone else. Talent is not a get-out-of-jail-free card.

But "Rosemary's Baby" and "Chinatown" are still classic films. They didn't suddenly become bad movies just because their director did something vile.

Anne Perry is a convicted murderer. Her mystery novels are still worth reading, regardless of her past.

^ I'm inclined to agree with this perspective. A whole lot of absolutely amazing art of any variety, throughout history, has been made by deplorable people.

It's a weird and slippery slope. Victor Salva, for instance, is convicted molester, and served time for his crimes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Salva

And today, he makes movies, which often have young men and semi-nudity. Which strikes many (including myself) as more than a bit skeevy. OTOH, I felt POWDER was BRILLIANT, and have watched it often. And I enjoyed parts of the Jeepers Creepers films.

If Polanski had done his time for his crime (which involved drugging the underage girl he molested), would seeing his work be any less objectionable?

Or, as Thrawn suggests, can we embrace the artistic value of the art, while rejecting the deplorable nature of the artists?

"Can" or "should," however are definitely a personal choice; as personal as whether the work itself has artistic merit.

 

[Brikar99]

I enjoy many films starring actors who are open Scientologists, despite that I hate everything about that organization.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Anne Perry is a convicted murderer. Her mystery novels are still worth reading, regardless of her past.

To be fair, Perry was also 15 at the time of the murder. While that's hardly a young child, she wasn't exactly a mature adult, either.

(BTW, to anyone who hasn't seen it, the film Heavenly Creatures is about the murder that Perry and her best friend committed, and it's a brilliant film.)

Definitely Kate Winslett's best role, she is brilliant in it and had a brilliant script to shine in (unlike the Titanic). I also thought she was great in Holy Smoke, another sleeper. Heavenly Creatures is a riveting film.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Soon-Yi was also an adult even when the (romantic) relationship began, afaik. She's 39 now. If she's happy with it, I don't see why anyone else should care. I don't think the existence of a legal, normal and relatively long-lived marriage is a particularly good reason to avoid some of the excellent films Allen's did over the years.

Plus, and I just discovered this, Ronan Farrow is a huge crybaby.

^^

Allegedly, Allen took photos and had a romantic interest in Soon-Yi while she was underage....

That's sort of a gray (or is it 'grey'?) area where--if Allen and Soon-Yi kept it to themselves--what happened behind closed doors, happened behind closed doors.

Charlie Chaplin was a womanizer (and was a bit of an ass) but his movies are fun...

Roman Polanski was definitely wrong in what he did, but I still want to see the movie The Pianist.

Ghandi was allegedly said to be sexist....

Martin Luther King, Jr. was allegedly said to have had an extra-marital affair....

....and so on...

 

[Greg Cox]

Mary Shelley was a teenage homewrecker who ran off with a married man whose wife later committed suicide.

H. P. Lovecraft was a xenophobic recluse with racist tendencies.

Robert E. Howard was a suicidal manic-depressive mama's boy.

And Edgar Alan Poe was not exactly a role model . . . .

Doesn't matter. I still have their books on my shelves.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

^^

 

[Lonemagpie]

Soon-Yi was also an adult even when the (romantic) relationship began, afaik. She's 39 now. If she's happy with it, I don't see why anyone else should care. I don't think the existence of a legal, normal and relatively long-lived marriage is a particularly good reason to avoid some of the excellent films Allen's did over the years.

Plus, and I just discovered this, Ronan Farrow is a huge crybaby.

^^

Allegedly, Allen took photos and had a romantic interest in Soon-Yi while she was underage....

That's sort of a gray (or is it 'grey'?) area where--if Allen and Soon-Yi kept it to themselves--what happened behind closed doors, happened behind closed doors.

Charlie Chaplin was a womanizer (and was a bit of an ass) but his movies are fun...

Roman Polanski was definitely wrong in what he did, but I still want to see the movie The Pianist.

Ghandi was allegedly said to be sexist....

Martin Luther King, Jr. was allegedly said to have had an extra-marital affair....

....and so on...

Fuck.

IU feel so fucking boring by those standards;....

I shouldn;t type after a works night out, should i?

some pints of John Smitht;s smoothis, some Captain Morgans, and a couple of wines.... bottles.

And now I really wish I had some Pringles or Rivce Cripsies in the house.

Fuck.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Mary Shelley was a teenage homewrecker who ran off with a married man whose wife later committed suicide.

H. P. Lovecraft was a xenophobic recluse with racist tendencies.

Robert E. Howard was a suicidal manic-depressive mama's boy.

And Edgar Alan Poe was not exactly a role model . . . .

Doesn't matter. I still have their books on my shelves.

But have they ever debated with you on an internet message board? Thats where the line in drawn!!!!!!

 

[Daddy Todd]

...I won't watch anymore Roman Polanski movies now that I know he's a child molester.

I recently re-watched Chinatown, and I found certain resonances between the film (which remains one of the finest Hollywood films of the '70's) and Polanski's life interesting (in a kind of disturbing way.).

 

[JD]

and while I have watched his movies in the past I won't watch anymore Roman Polanski movies now that I know he's a child molester.

To me, the movies and the crime are two different things. Polanski should definitely answer for his crimes, just like anyone else. Talent is not a get-out-of-jail-free card.

But "Rosemary's Baby" and "Chinatown" are still classic films. They didn't suddenly become bad movies just because their director did something vile.

Anne Perry is a convicted murderer. Her mystery novels are still worth reading, regardless of her past.

Soon-Yi was also an adult even when the (romantic) relationship began, afaik. She's 39 now. If she's happy with it, I don't see why anyone else should care. I don't think the existence of a legal, normal and relatively long-lived marriage is a particularly good reason to avoid some of the excellent films Allen's did over the years.

Plus, and I just discovered this, Ronan Farrow is a huge crybaby.

Really? I thought I remembered reading somewhere that Allen started the relationship with Soon-Yi while she was still underage, and that that was why his wife who he was married to at the time left him. I will admit that despite my feelings about his life I actually have been considering watching some of his movies. It just creeps me out to think that he got involved with a woman that he raised as his daughter.
I realize now that my information came from wikipedia and that was probably not the best source for this kind of stuff.

As for Roman Polanski, since what he did was a serious crime it makes it harder for me to do anything that feels like it's supporting him. I understand that a bad person can make good movies (I really enjoyed Chinatown) but I feel very strongly about the kinds of crimes he committed so that does make it hard to move past them.

 

[Nerys Myk]

From what I understand Allen and Farrow lived in seperate houses through out their relationship. So I'm not sure just how much involved he was in raising Farrow's kids. Also he and Farrow were never married.

 

[JD]

Hmm, it's starting to sound like this actually wasn't quite as bad as I was making it in my head. I'll admit that all I knew of this for a long time was just that my mom said he was a perv who maried his adopted daughter. And now that I look at wikiepdia's article again I see that it wasn't quite. I was always imagining this as him having raised her her whole life, now I see that she was already older when he first became involved, and that she was actually Mia Farrow's daughter not their daughter. It still creeps me, and seems very wrong, but I'm thinking I might be able to move past it to watch his movies. Which would you guys recommend as his best, Annie Hall?

As for Polanski.... still not sure. I actually was thinking about watching Rosemarie's Baby before I found about all of this, but I'm not sure if I can.

 

[Sci]

Hmm, it's starting to sound like this actually wasn't quite as bad as I was making it in my head. I'll admit that all I knew of this for a long time was just that my mom said he was a perv who maried his adopted daughter. And now that I look at wikiepdia's article again I see that it wasn't quite. I was always imagining this as him having raised her her whole life, now I see that she was already older when he first became involved, and that she was actually Mia Farrow's daughter not their daughter. It still creeps me, and seems very wrong, but I'm thinking I might be able to move past it to watch his movies.

Personally, I'd equate it to a guy who dates his grown-up step-daughter after a divorce. Unseemly and possibly creepy, but not necessarily evidence of pedophilia or anything morally wrong per se.

Which would you guys recommend as his best, Annie Hall?

Annie Hall is often considered his best. I prefer Play It Again, Sam -- though I prefer it as the play it was originally, not the film. Though, to be fair, that's a function of the fact that I played the Woody Allen character in a community theatre production of it about six years ago.

 

[Myasishchev]

Play It Again, Sam isn't a Woody Allen directed feature, though he wrote it, so I can split the difference there. And it's a good movie.

I might suggest starting with the earlier stuff. Sleeper is probably my favorite. Take the Money and Run is great, as is Love and Death. There are a lot of really good Allen movies.

I actually didn't like Annie Hall that much, however. Go figure, right?

 

[Greg Cox]

Play It Again, Sam isn't a Woody Allen directed feature, though he wrote it, so I can split the difference there. And it's a good movie.

I might suggest starting with the earlier stuff. Sleeper is probably my favorite. Take the Money and Run is great, as is Love and Death. There are a lot of really good Allen movies.

I actually didn't like Annie Hall that much, however. Go figure, right?

But if the Soon-Yi thng creeps you out, stay away from MANHATTAN!

(I admit that one is a little hard to watch these days.)

 

[David R. George III]

^ I just watched Manhattan, and it came off as a very creepy wish-fulfillment piece, as did Whatever Works.

Beyond the issues of Ms. Previn's age (thirty-four years younger than Mr. Allen) and her relationship to Mr. Allen prior to their liaison, I think about Ms. Previn's siblings. How did they feel, I wonder, when a girl raised as their sister became involved with a man they considered their father (or in Ronan Farrow's case, a man who actually was his father)?

 

[JD]

Yeah, there's a quote from Ronan Farrow on wikipedia where he says he can't even be around them.

 

[Myasishchev]

Indeed, hence my provisional estimation of Ronan Farrow is a crybaby.

The only people named Ronan should be big blue badasses capable of wielding the Universal Weapon.

 

[thumbtack]

L.R. Hubbard & O.S. Card.

At least one of them has the common decency to be deceased.

 

[JD]

The only people named Ronan should be big blue badasses capable of wielding the Universal Weapon.