Age and Attitudes Toward Polanski
It’s been a big Polanski week with Hollywood debating the merits of art vs raping 13 year old girls. It’s not exactly the toughest argument in the world, unless you happen to be Whoopi Goldberg, in which case you’re not exactly the smartest person in the world, but let’s face it the smartest person in the world wouldn’t be caught dead on The View. But despite the backlash against Hollywood, 90 percent of the support for Polanski came from men over the age of 60. Virtually no one under 50 came out to support him. The list of prominent directors for Polanski is fixed on people like Scorsese, Lynch, Landis and Woody Allen, aging directors who did most of their work in the 70’s to early 80’s. The few women who came out in support of him, again are the same age like Whoopi Goldberg and Debra Winger. Meanwhile the backlash has come more from younger people, which suggests that what we’re looking at are different generational attitudes toward women and rape. An older generation seems a lot more gray area and exculpating circumstances, the whole “rape-rape” deal. A younger generation is more likely to think that no means no. Older directors, particularly from the 70’s, made use of the casting couch themselves and see nothing wrong with it.
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