Polanski

Everyone's already weighed in on this, but I'm trying to write other shit and just keep getting distracted by new and disgusting and ridiculous Polanski defense arguments. Why did the Swiss wait so long to act? Must be a conspiracy of one vague sort or another! Film fests are special "extraterritorial" safe spaces for criminals in the film industry! Plus--guys? Hello, he's a...Holocaust Survivor! Who can blame him for seeking freedom! Did you ever even think about that?!

I don't think prisons have anything to do with justice. I'm not invested in having Polanski serve time, beyond my divergent feelings of anger and fear; anger at the exceptionalism practiced by Polanski and his supporters, leading me to spitefully wish for his incarceration, and fear that if he is incarcerated the romantic star of his outlaw artistry will only rise, and I don't want a child rapist martyr. So, whether he ever goes to prison? I don't care much.

I do care that he did something terrible and violent and violating to a child, and that this hideous act is misleadingly reduced to a "morals charge" in the language of his supporters. It's as if men who drug and rape girls just "slip up", get a little too wild, nudge nudge wink wink. Hey, it was the 70s! Everyone was drugging and raping girl children then, you can't judge historical figures by today's morality!

He plead guilty to a reduced charge, he got a harsher sentence than he was expecting, and rather than appealing he fled the country.

Fuck that guy.

If Polanski and his lawyers want to challenge his conviction, fine--we do that in court. If Polanski's many impressive friends and admirers wish to testify on his behalf or submit letters of character--great, fine, but we do that in court, too. Fucked as the legal system here in the US may be, I see no reason why Roman Polanski specifically deserves some kind of amnesty. There is no evidence that Polanski was set up or that his trial was rigged--there are allegations that the judge acted inappropriately, but he was also then removed from the case. There's no reason to believe that Polanski will be treated unfairly in court. He's not a political fugitive. He has not been persecuted or unfairly targeted. He was not found guilty of a crime that anyone can reasonably argue is victimless, he did not break an unjust law.

Polanski's arrest was not illegal or extraordinary. It sets no "dangerous" precedent for artists or anyone else.

The support Polanski has enjoyed in the name of cinema does set a horrifying precedent, however. It sends an awful message: making a crappy Holocaust movie outweighs raping a child. Especially if the child in question is a girl--if he'd raped a boy, he might be some kind of freak. This is how patriarchy is generated, right here, before our eyes, and I'm appalled by the cultural message this sends, what it inscribes on our collective unconscious. The Greatness of Great Man Artists is Greater than the human rights of girl, so much so that it is treated as reasonable to demand that Great Male Artists be held above such unpleasantries as the most basic accountability.

Haven't we all discussed navigation of the the good artist/bad person quandry a kajillion times? One can respect Polanski's art--even support it, if they choose--without actively diminishing the terrible things he's done, without asking the judiciary to forgive him. Polanski will have to show up to ask for forgiveness, leniency in sentencing, or whatever else he wants, and he has every right to do so. It is disgusting and scary that so many artist, many of whom I respect, would argue that Polanski should not have to contend with the judiciary at all, with absolutely no legal argument to back it up. It doesn't matter (but is disputable!) that he's a "great artist". It doesn't matter that he committed the crime a long time ago (and let us recall he has broken the law by evading justice as recently as his arrest a few days ago.) It doesn't matter that the woman he raped has forgiven him--her civil suit is settled, this is the State of California vs Polanski. It doesn't matter that he'd traveled to Switzerland without incident in the past, or that (just like Kanye!) police upstaged his special awards moment. It doesn't matter that he may not be a threat to children today. None of this is relevant to the legal validity of his arrest and extradition.

ETA: I might feel a little better if I could find any well-know artists criticizing Polanski and his defenders besides Jewel. If you come across any, let me know!