Roman Polanski's Abuse In The Pianist

Ever since Harvey Weinstein 's extensive history of sexual harassment and sexual abuse finally came to light thanks to some very brave women, Hollywood has been in an uproar. The problem with this, besides the obvious violent and disturbing acts that have occurred, is this is not at all surprising. Do you remember when Bill Cosby was exposed and accused of drugging and raping over 50 women? What about when Roman Polanski drugged and raped an underage girl in the 1970 's, fled to Europe, but still got to make movies that won Academy Awards.

But, to the contrary to we might assume, we see in Hollywood’s filmography that they have been assigned few roles, which are also mostly stereotyped and unflattering. In this essay, we will review some

“If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one”. This statement means the same way a mother gets help to take care of her child, the same way a serious offense will get swept under the bridge because of your role in society. I agree with this statement because in the movie police officers, family members, lawyers, administrators, and even other newspaper reporters knew about the sexual assaults with priests and little children.

Unfortunately, celebrities and athletes are accused of rape or sexual assault, when rarely are the accusations true. According to powersthatbeat.wordpress.com, “The social phenomenon known as public perception can be seen as the difference between an absolute truth based on facts and a virtual truth shaped by popular opinion, media coverage and/or reputation. Celebrities, politicians and corporations all face the same scrutiny by the public they serve, and it can be very difficult to overcome a negative public perception.” The public perceived Kobe Bryant as a rapist when he was accused of sexual assault in 2003 at a Colorado resort. Ultimately, Bryant was found to be innocent of the charges while his reputation was tarnished

The first is the stigmatisation of sexual assault victims,. In the documentary we see how Audrie Pott was sexually assaulted, and how pictures of the crime were were circulated on social media. She committed suicide after being harassed, and even blamed for her own assault. Victim-blaming is shockingly common in modern society and its impacts are exacerbated by the capabilities of social media. Within our piece we explore this through a video of Sierra being raped being circulated online, receiving over 100,000 views on Facebook. Comments on the video also depict a culture of character assassination by viewers, ‘look at this slut, she’s probably got an STD’. One audience member reflected on the portrayal of social media within our piece, ‘it was amusing at times and also realistic, especially the victim-blaming comments.’ Overall, we were happy with how the social media scene reflected the realities of stigmatisation, however we also reflected on how to

There are different notions that the society has towards both Brock Turner and the victim, but whether good or bad, this case has sparked many new perspectives and conversations about situations such as this. The article proposes that this is only the first step to developing a culture that does not tolerate sexual violence in any form and a judicial system that deals appropriately with cases that involve sexual assault.

Visualize living in a society where slut-shaming occurs every day and someone's mistake is publicized to the point that everyone knows what happened. Some people would believe this would be referring to the Puritan society that existed during the 1600’s, but unfortunately, this is common situations that appear in today’s society. A “famous” person's error can show up on social media, covers of magazines, and every talk show throughout America. For example, recently the break up of the beloved Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie appeared everywhere in less than a day. The breakup sparked news on twitter, talk shows such as Wendy Williams, and prevailed to be the lead story on every tabloid by the following day. Even though our society did not devise

Living under the stoplight may have some benefits for celebrities but when one of them commits a crime everything is magnified. They lose what little privacy they have left and serve as examples to the public. For instance, Bill Cosby was a common household name, known for his work on television. Unfortunately over the past few years, his previous actions have managed to ruin his reputation. After sexual accusations against the star hit the tabloids people around the world were shocked. They could not wrap their minds around the fact that the actor they had grown up watching might be a sexual offender. Dealing with a case like Bill Cosby's add additional burdens on top of the legal system. For example, the public to questions the legal system's

The sports media in America has a lot of power. How the media portrays athletes and how it is perceived can be polarizing. Sports media depicts athletes based on race. It is becoming a daily occurrence for sports media to portray Caucasians is a positive light and African American in a more negative light. When an African American commits a crime it reinforces the negative stereotype and makes national sports television. But, when a Caucasian athlete commits the same crime the information is difficult to find on a local newspaper. The media’s portrayal can alter the fan’s experience. Which is the case for two current active NFL players. In 2011, USA Today reported Ben Roethlisberger the quarterback of the Pittsburg Steelers was accused of rape

In July 2003, Kobe Bryant, shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers and one of his generation’s greatest athletes, was accused of raping a 19-year old hotel employee (Howard, “Sexual assault allegations cast shadow over Kobe Bryant legacy”). Following the precedent set by Simpson and Lewis, Bryant was able to overcome seemingly overwhelming evidence to maintain his innocence. The victim’s blood was found on the inside of Bryant’s shirt and a nurse discovered injuries consistent with sexual assault, including vaginal trauma and a bruise on the victim’s jaw (Fox News, “Detective Details Alleged Rape in Kobe Hearing”). Bryant’s defense strategy was essentially to defame his victim, claiming that her injuries were “consistent with a person who has had sex with three different men in three days.” The defense team also “accidently” leaked documents containing the victims name and sexual history to various media outlets, despite a so called “rape shield” that usually protects rape victims’ sexual histories from being brought up in court. This led to the victim actually receiving death threats from avid fans (TheDenverChannel, “Death Threat Against Bryant's Accuser Results In Arrest”). It is not at all surprising that the victim opted to end the criminal case and instead file a civil suit. After the criminal case was closed, Bryant issued an apology, in which he admitted that he “recognize[d] now that she

In the article, “When Rape Goes Viral,” Ann Friedman, a columnist for New York magazine’s website and the Columbia Journalism Review, argues that in this time period that sexual assaults are becoming more aware of and tackled due to social media. People are viewing these assaults by videos, picture, and postings from different social media pages, claims Friedman. Friedman reports that the postings of these pictures and videos have helped in multiple cases of sexual assaults. If there were no photos or videos of evidence from the cases then some of the convictions that have been made throughout time might not have ever happened, argues Friedman. She insists that the post with the most attention leave the victims in traumatic circumstances that

Many of these women, although not all of them, were trying to break it into Hollywood at the time that they were assaulted. One woman claims that Cosby told her, “You’re never going to make it in this business unless you sleep with me.” While this type of remark is not surprising to hear from someone who allegedly drugged and assaulted women, it is actually more commonly heard than most people think. Performing sexual acts for a director to get a role, which is often referred to as the “casting couch,” is a form of sexual harassment that many aspiring actors have encountered over the years. Many women have revealed that they have been denied a part in TV, a movie, or a Broadway show because they refused to either sleep with or perform sexual favors for the director. To be asked to do such things to get a role is completely demeaning to a woman, both as a human being and as an actor. The prevalence of sexual assault, both involving and not involving alcohol consumption, cannot be accurately determined, because many incidents go unreported altogether. Society has made quid pro quo an acceptable means of getting a job, regardless of legality, and overtime, this has become a normal way to land a job. In the case of the Cosby trial, society shamed the women who had the strength to come forward, claiming they were only saying

If there is no consequence to an action, then it can be seen as acceptable. When the Canterbury Bulldogs had six players accused of assaulting a twenty-year-old in a hotel pool, the story had to make the news (English, 2004). Despite the entire country seeing the victim’s story, the players got off without charge (English, 2004). Instances like this show that even under immense public scrutiny, rape in Australia can destroy the victim’s life but not affect the perpetrator. Both Australian athletes and the public see alleged rapists get off the

Along with television shows, news stations are accused of trivializing rape aswell. How many times have you heard, “She asked for it.” or any other type of victim blaming, or a derivative of,“Boys will be boys.” to make rape seem like not such a big deal (1a)? News channels will even go as far as scrutinizing a victim’s dress, mental state, motives and history to make the victim seem in the wrong about their rape (1a). Some channels will inflate the fake rape statistics to make rape seem like a less

Since its humble beginnings in the later years of the nineteenth century, film has undergone many changes. One thing that has never changed is the filmmaker’s interest in representing society in the present day. For better or worse, film has a habit of showing the world just what it values the most. In recent years, scholars have begun to pay attention to what kinds of ideas films are portraying (Stern, Steven E. and Handel, 284). Alarmingly, viewers, especially young women, are increasingly influenced by the lifestyle choices and attitudes that they learn from watching these films (Steele, 331). An example of this can be seen in a popular trope of the “romantic comedy” genre in this day and age: the powerful man doing something to help, or “save” the less powerful woman, representing a troubling “sexual double standard” (Smith, Stacy L, Pieper, Granados, Choueiti, 783).