<
https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-cancellation-or-conflicted-joy-grappling-with-the-work-of-our-art-monsters-202748>
"Author Claire Dederer started off writing a book about the film director Roman
Polanski. Forty-five years ago, Polanski fled the United States after pleading
guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.
Samantha Galley (now Geimer), who was 13 years old in 1977 when she said she
was drugged and raped by the director, has told her side of the story numerous
times, including in her 2013 memoir
The Girl: A Life in the Shadow of Roman
Polanski.
Geimer has forgiven Polanski. And just last month, in an interview with the
director’s wife Emmanuel Seigner, she reiterated that “what happened with
Polanski was never a big problem for me”. What weighs heavily on her is having
to repeat that, over and again.
Dederer, who started her writing life as a film critic, has long been a
Polanski fan. But for her, Polanski is a big problem. For more than any other
contemporary figure, Dederer argues, it is Polanski who balances so equally the
forces of “the absoluteness of the monstrosity and the absoluteness of the
genius”.
Dederer knew a book about Polanski was going to be complicated – that’s why she
embarked on it. But somewhere along the way, her project morphed into
Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma. It’s a thrilling work of feminist cultural
criticism which promises to be career-defining for her and essential reading
for those of us who have wrestled with the ethics and emotions of fandom.
Fallen idols: we all have at least one. While I was reading
Monsters,
comedian and satirist Barry Humphries died, prompting a nationwide debate about
how he should best be remembered – for his iconic roles as Dame Edna and Sir
Les Patterson and general comic genius, or for his transphobia, casual racism
and rather flippant defences of unacceptable workplace behaviours?"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
