More than a year after the #MeToo movement was started by allegations of sexual harassment and assault against Harvey Weinstein, a new TV series written by a man accused of harassment has arrived on Amazon: "Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner's "The Romanoffs."
5 comments:
The #MeToo movement shook the world, not because it was something that no one had ever expected existed but because of the wide spread of assaults that prevailed in the industry.
Numerous men have been accused although few have been punished. Numerous instances have been repeated again and again but everything has fallen on deaf ears. The condition of women continues to stay the same in the industry although it is clear that they have been wronged. All this is disappointing.
But this disappointment reaches its peak accurately in this article. It is disgusting enough that a man who has been accused of sexual misconduct by several women is allowed to continue to work in the industry, operating through a position of power when this goes out of hands to see the same man directing an episode which shows how a woman is sexually, mentally and physically assaulted and how no one quite pays heed to her in the episode.
Showing art versus showing the degradation of a woman through a medium as strong as television is just disgraceful for the people who are participating in such endeavors.
The movement is a real thing; if one cannot help with it, they definitely should not be the ones degrading the value of women in the society.
I find the shamelessness and audacity with which powerful men tend to act sickening. I have not watched the show or the episode in question, so I cannot fully form an opinion on whether the episode itself was truly abhorrent (most of the description sounded like a valid and biting critique of the abuses, but the author also seemed to feel that the abuse was commodified and showcased rather than simply used for an exposé), but its intrinsic distastefulness aside, an abuser (or even a public figure who was falsely accused, as unlikely and uncommon as that is) has no place working on such a story. I find it astonishing that anyone works with them at all, much less that they would dare take on a subject that they are so clearly on the wrong side of. We seem to finally have reached a point where powerful abusers can face real consequences for their transgressions, but stories like this are certainly reminders of how far we have to go.
I really am glad this article exists. I think that its point concerning what we choose to air and fund as projects is just as important as how we actively work to stop and prevent abuse off camera. The article states, "as Hollywood reckons with what happens behind the camera in the wake of #MeToo, we also have to pay attention to what goes on in front of it. Representing women as victims and playthings whose pain is ignored only contributes to a society that views women that way." This is so powerful. A lot of research has gone into how biases are formed, and a lot of evidence backs up that our media intake, surrounding us like a fog, influences us deeper and earlier than we ever considered. Families that actively work to promote issues of inclusion, diversity, and equity often have their efforts undermined by the TV and movies their children watch. We need to hold our content accountable because it is very influential, and the stories we tell need to be worth telling. I honestly am tired of seeing women abused and killed as plot motivators for male characters advancement and development. We are more than a plot device, and deserve better stories.
Funny enough, I have this show on my watchlist and that is the main reason this article caught my eye. It was an interesting article and it caused me to think very deeply about the shows that we watch that show violence against women without even realizing we have been conditioned to see this as normal even when deep down in our stomach, we feel it turn. What struck me the most in this article is the statement "Television has the unique ability to rapidly respond to events in the real world in a way that film doesn't". We hear this often but I don't think we understand the full extent of the power television has in promoting or giving a platform to narratives. People watch more television these days and it bothers me what type of content that we are feeding them. It even bothers me more that the people who control the content are people who have been perpetration/supporters of these sick and disgusting narratives. REPRESENTATION MATTERS!!!!! This is something I feel has to be said over and over again because people are being taught/fed with ideologies that are downright sickening.
I don’t think that this episode was a bad idea as a whole, but the details behind it really make me sick to my stomach. I think that perhaps something like this could be good for people to see, to really bring out the horror that women in the film industry are facing, and how so often no one gets the justice they deserve, but the context of who’s creating it is unacceptable. For amazon to have allowed a man who is known to be a sexual abuser when create a show, let alone allow him to make an episode like this makes me want to throw up. I have never seen this show, but the thought of this man sitting back and thinking that this episode was even ok to think up in his position means that he has no remorse, and no place in this industry. The way this episode was handled seems like everything was just for shock factor, and to produce an atmosphere of horror, but we don’t need tv to horrify us, the world does that on its own. This was just salt in the wound.
Post a Comment