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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSarah Polley: The Men You Meet Making Movies
One day, when I was 19 years old, I was in the middle of a photo shoot for a Miramax film when I was suddenly told it was time to leave. I was wearing a little black dress, showing a lot of cleavage, lying seductively on my side and looking slyly at the camera. The part I had played in the movie, Guinevere, could not have been more removed from this pose. My character was an awkward girl, bumbling, in fact, who wore sweatshirts and jeans, and had little sense of her sexual power. But this was how they were going to sell the movie, and at a certain point, I was tired of being a problem, which is how a female actor is invariably treated whenever she points out that she is being objectified or not respected.
I was pulled out of the photo shoot abruptly. The publicist said that we needed to be in Harvey Weinsteins office in 20 minutes.
Are we done here? I asked. No was the answer. But Harvey wants you there now.
In the taxi, the publicist looked at me and said: Im going in with you. And Im not leaving your side. I knew everything I needed to know in that moment, and I was grateful.
<snip>
But I had forgotten a key ingredient of the acting process. Most directors are insensitive men. And while Ive met quite a few humane, kind, sensitive male directors and producers in my life, sadly they are the exception and not the rule. This industry doesnt tend to attract the most gentle and principled among us. I had two experiences in the same year in which I went into a film as an actor with an open heart and was humiliated, violated, dismissed and then, in one instance, called overly sensitive when I complained. One producer, when I mentioned I didnt feel a rape scene was being handled sensitively, barked that Dakota Fanning had done a rape scene when she was 12 And shes fine! A debatable conjecture, surely.
Im not naming names in all of these instances. And that invites criticism for some reason. Which is funny, because when women do name names, they are criticized for that, too. Theres no one right way to do any of this. In your own time, on your own terms, is a notion I cling to, when it comes to talking about experiences of powerlessness.
<snip>
Several years ago, I approached a couple of successful female actors in Hollywood about an idea I had for a comedy project: We would write, direct and star in a short film about the craziest, worst experience wed ever had on a set. We told our stories to one another, thinking they would be hysterically funny. We were full of zeal for this project. But the stories, when we told them, left us in tears and bewildered at how casually we had taken these horror stories and tried to make them into comedy. They were stories of assault. When they were spoken out loud, it was impossible to reframe them any other way. This is how wed normalized the trauma, tried to integrate it, by making comedy out of it. We abandoned the film, but not the project of unearthing the weight of these stories, which wed previously hidden from ourselves.
more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/14/opinion/sunday/harvey-weinstein-sarah-polley.html
Lunabell
(6,105 posts)It's called rape culture. It is everywhere if you're a female. I suffered through it. My wife suffered through it. How about you? It is fucking RAPE CULTURE! And it is all over this goddamned planet.
InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,122 posts)It started for me as a pre adolescent. I "bloomed" at a young age. Men and boys harassed me most of my life. Starting from the boys snapping my bra straps to an old man asking to touch my 14 year old breast to harassment over being a lesbian.
InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,122 posts)We ALL need to stand up against it, and have each others back, anytime we see that crap going on or hear about it.
Duppers
(28,127 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)Thank you for sharing.
obamanut2012
(26,137 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)Bradshaw3
(7,529 posts)It didn't surprise me she shared such a powerful testimony. Great director and actress, just brilliant overall.