(no subject)
Mar. 31st, 2021 09:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smokingbootIt's been a bad time, full of petty failures and small sickness. My dreams have been nightmares, yet easily forgotten except in vignettes; the vampire tied to a bed begging for release, a blonde woman released, described as being '... A wolf spider for humans...' where did I read/hear that before? A strange friendly fat being, covered in jewels, that put its arm round my neck in a friendly caress and then began to strangle me; but breaking away was easy enough. Last night I was woken by R because I started screaming.
Ugh. Think of something else.
There is a lot of fuss about the Allen/Farrow documentary. I'm not sure I like either Farrow or Allen from the little I have seen, but Allen's defences are very much of his time and gender: she's hysterical, a woman scorned, an unfit mother, the child's been coached, I'm sure she believes it but...
These voices eh? These women and their never trustworthy voices. I don't know what to make of a man who watches a girl grow from 9 years old to 17 and then takes pornographic photos of her. Or perhaps I do. Perhaps I know perfectly well how to label such a man.
But he's an artist, a genius, an icon, and because people just cannot bear the Death of the Artist, they turn away from this aspect of his life. It is a peculiarly 21st century myth, this demand that talent must be accompanied by virtue. Yes, Death of the Artist is entirely possible. It is entirely possible to say that Shakespeare was a genius but like most of his time, he espoused misogynistic, racist, and anti-semitic views. Carravagio was a murderer, Jackson was very probably a paedophile, Polanski is a paedophiliac rapist. The creator is the organising/collating spirit, perhaps the lens, seldom the focus. They are not the entirety of their art, they are only ever the beginning of it if that. Bad people can create great art; great people can create mediocre art. One way or another, goodness has nothing to do with it.
What there is, is the very 21st century preference for the audience to be so disgusted by the evil doer that they cannot enjoy the art, because it is assumed that admiration of a person's creation means affiliation with that person. The reviling of Entartete Kunst becomes more important than the actual art itself. Partisanship becomes a sacrament.
It's so dull and dishonest.
Anyway, enough of that. What else?
NIP! Ah yes, NIP!
The Northern Independence Party who are going to take votes from Labour in the North. Well now. What a gift to the Tories if that should happen, Labour out of the way and a teeny party with little in the way of funding breaking up the opposition. I can see the possibilities for a right hand/left hand approach from the Cons. The Tories could spend their cash first on building up the NIP and then when it has completely KO'd Labour, pulling it down. They would cheer at that, the cheering would stop if NIP actually gained the power to go indy. Unlikely though not bad for Scotland; suddenly the troublesome border is much further away, and the North, rather than Scotland, becomes the immediate fixation for Westminster. At that point the sense would be for some instigator of upheaval to start stirring up the Cornish Independence Movement, give Boris something else to flail at. If you're going to make trouble, do it at the same time everyone else is making trouble.
I quite like the idea of a Celtic League of Nations with real power to look after itself. England is a thorough basket case right now, and I don't know what it takes to pull it away from its own Mirror of Erised.
Just noticed I have an appointment this morning. Guess I had better get moving.
Ugh. Think of something else.
There is a lot of fuss about the Allen/Farrow documentary. I'm not sure I like either Farrow or Allen from the little I have seen, but Allen's defences are very much of his time and gender: she's hysterical, a woman scorned, an unfit mother, the child's been coached, I'm sure she believes it but...
These voices eh? These women and their never trustworthy voices. I don't know what to make of a man who watches a girl grow from 9 years old to 17 and then takes pornographic photos of her. Or perhaps I do. Perhaps I know perfectly well how to label such a man.
But he's an artist, a genius, an icon, and because people just cannot bear the Death of the Artist, they turn away from this aspect of his life. It is a peculiarly 21st century myth, this demand that talent must be accompanied by virtue. Yes, Death of the Artist is entirely possible. It is entirely possible to say that Shakespeare was a genius but like most of his time, he espoused misogynistic, racist, and anti-semitic views. Carravagio was a murderer, Jackson was very probably a paedophile, Polanski is a paedophiliac rapist. The creator is the organising/collating spirit, perhaps the lens, seldom the focus. They are not the entirety of their art, they are only ever the beginning of it if that. Bad people can create great art; great people can create mediocre art. One way or another, goodness has nothing to do with it.
What there is, is the very 21st century preference for the audience to be so disgusted by the evil doer that they cannot enjoy the art, because it is assumed that admiration of a person's creation means affiliation with that person. The reviling of Entartete Kunst becomes more important than the actual art itself. Partisanship becomes a sacrament.
It's so dull and dishonest.
Anyway, enough of that. What else?
NIP! Ah yes, NIP!
The Northern Independence Party who are going to take votes from Labour in the North. Well now. What a gift to the Tories if that should happen, Labour out of the way and a teeny party with little in the way of funding breaking up the opposition. I can see the possibilities for a right hand/left hand approach from the Cons. The Tories could spend their cash first on building up the NIP and then when it has completely KO'd Labour, pulling it down. They would cheer at that, the cheering would stop if NIP actually gained the power to go indy. Unlikely though not bad for Scotland; suddenly the troublesome border is much further away, and the North, rather than Scotland, becomes the immediate fixation for Westminster. At that point the sense would be for some instigator of upheaval to start stirring up the Cornish Independence Movement, give Boris something else to flail at. If you're going to make trouble, do it at the same time everyone else is making trouble.
I quite like the idea of a Celtic League of Nations with real power to look after itself. England is a thorough basket case right now, and I don't know what it takes to pull it away from its own Mirror of Erised.
Just noticed I have an appointment this morning. Guess I had better get moving.
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no subject
Date: 2021-03-31 11:52 am (UTC)Many years afterwards, I interviewed Mia Farrow when I was working for People Magazine.
I'd tell you whose story I believe if you asked. 😊
But, of course, I don't know what happened.
I agree with you 100% about the weird puritanism of the 21st century "woke." They're fuckin' idiots. But it is their moment to roam the planet and stomp their mighty feet, I suppose.
I am so sorry you are feeling low. I wish there was something I could give you that would make you smile and feel better. xxxooo
no subject
Date: 2021-04-01 09:51 am (UTC)And yes, of course I would be very interested to know whose story you believe!
no subject
Date: 2021-04-01 01:20 pm (UTC)Farrow really does have a hysterical vibe about her even in the most casual of contexts.
Farrow's brother, by the way, went to prison a few years back for molesting a couple of ten-year-old boys. Since people who molest prepubescent children are frequently people who were molested themselves as prepubescents, this did make me wonder about what might have been going on in the Farrow family while Mia and the brother were young children.
Allen's relationship Soon-Yi is distasteful by contemporary standards. But that's not a moral absolute. As recently as the 19th century, men married within extended family relationships quite frequently so long as the women they were marrying were not blood relations.
Do I think the relationship was tacky? Sure. On general principle, I'd never go out with the X-Significant Other of any woman I'm friends with or related to. But tacky or not, the relationship has lasted for nearly 30 years, and the couple would never have been allowed to adopt their daughters if authorities really thought there was a chance Allen was a molester.
So, you know. The HBO show is a narrative designed to drive up sagging ratings.
Incidently, I dislike nearly all the movies Allen has made after Annie Hall except for Match Point. Allen was best when he was funny.
no subject
Date: 2021-04-02 07:44 am (UTC)Farrow has always had that weird tremulous fragility. I don't know where/if her movie persona ends and she begins.
I hear what you say about men and wives from extended families, and get that it is not a moral absolute, but still, on the most visceral level, I would never let this man near a daughter of mine because at best he displays a nonchalance about the pain he causes in the service of his penis (Seems I've morphed into a Cornelia Blimber /Granny Clampett hybrid.) At worst, he is a clever grooming predator. Then the question becomes the specific nature of his predation.
His long lasting marriage to Soon-Yi bolsters their true love narrative, something they both need for credibility. He has been an over-riding power in her life since she was 9. If something was wrong, how would we know? Would she tell us? If she had been groomed and even now defends it, how would she defend her children, or anyone else's children against it?
I definitely get what you say about the need to boost ratings.