OnStage Blog: Let’s examine the biography of a man who lived and breathed entertainment – a man who, by so many standards for so many years, was branded a genius. This man redefined how and what kinds of stories his community told, and was the brilliant mind behind that was credited with discovering and nurturing the careers of numerous critically lauded artists. He created an empire of not only art, but of people: he curated a personal community of followers who were brainwashed or threatened into degradation and violence for the sake of their craft. More than one woman went public about the terrifying environment that his company enforced via media exposes, nightmarish practices that went ignored for decades because of the sheer amount of power this man wielded over his artistic community.
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It always makes me proud that theater community in general tends to be more 'woke' or 'progressive' in certain matters such as sexual violence, abuses or privileges. However, it is painfully clear that even with the relative awareness, the matters do not get addressed nearly enough and some people still have to fight to have their voices heard. I agree with the article that we should remember the uncomfortable side of Hugh Hefner as well as the good side of a man who lived and breathed the entertainment industry. Although to be honest, I would like to know more about the negative impact he had on many many actresses and on the female bodies, images and identities as merchandising commodities. Although theater usually gets categorized with the entertainment industry, there is a lot of wriggle room to throw in the message here and there. The talk needs to happen more often and more loudly.
Let me play Devil’s advocate for a minute (I’m not sure if I believe any of the things I’m about to say, but I have been mulling these over for a long time).
I’m not sure that it is necessary or helpful to bring up terrible things people have done in the past. The only thing you can change is the future, so why bring up something you can’t change? It is important to know that people do bad things and to be aware how you and your community can change the culture and protect everyone, but after a person is dead. What’s the point unless it is to change the future?
If we imagine a minor infraction: “He lied that one time.” It would be ridiculous to bring it up every time a deceased person entered the conversation. Why then do we say, “well, he was a sexual predator” or “oh, he beat his wife”?
Are some things unforgivable?
Are they unforgivable if the person had no remorse?
What about if they felt really bad about it but kept doing it?
What about if they did it once and never again?
What about if they saw someone else doing something and didn’t stop it?
The day after Hefner died the Equal Rights Amendment facebook page which I follow posted a picture of him that just said "this ones complicated" and I thought that that perfectly summed up the way that a lot of women and men were feeling about his death. I really have no idea how I feel about him dying or if it even matters. I think a lot of women have very different ideas of what abuse and over sexualization is, and we will never know for sure how much he forced onto those women and how much they wanted. Personally, I think that any over sexualization of women is bad and that it turns us more into objects, but truthfully there a lot of women who feel empowered by that and part of being a true feminist is me supporting those women even though I don't understand. So Hefner is dead and it's the end of an era but thats not the worst thing in the world, and my hope is that as we move forward women continue to use their sexuality to empower themselves, but that as a society we don't require a man to give us permission that it's okay.
This is an incredibly informative and eye opening article about the realities of Hugh Hefner and his somehow acclaimed legacy due to his "liberation of women". I've never been that big of a Hefner fan because everything he did didn't feel inspiring in any sorts, its just felt kind of creepy. He may have made strides in terms of business and entertainment but its hard to deny the fact that he's dated a pair of twins, enabled Bill Cosby, and ran a house that was two steps away from being a brothel. The article candidly stated that Broadway is better than Hollywood, and I could not agree more. The theatre community has made strides to ensure that the treatment of women on stage are stellar, but in Hollywood they hide behind sets and cameras, there has been many a times when women are forced to do a violent scene over and over again with no attention to what is happening to them, this is the blind eye that Hollywood turns to inhibit big time directors, CEO's, etc. like Hugh Hefner.
When I found out about Hugh Hefner’s death my first instinct was to say “Oh no! That’s awful.” even though I didn’t remember exactly who he was. I just knew the name and that was all that was important. I am glad that there are still articles that do point to his many flaws, while still acknowledging the good that he did do. I appreciate that I am able to learn more about Hugh Hefner in the wake of his death, and not have a Christopher Columbus type approach to him where all the wrongdoing in abolished and forgotten. I think the article’s talk about how theater is better at dealing with women’s rights to be good, but not particularly constructive. It didn’t talk much about how the theater community might be able to work with Hollywood and try to fix the issues they are having by giving advice. Hopefully one day all of these issues will find peace, and we will find a balance between remembering the good, and not forgetting the bad.
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