Can “talent” give you moral immunity? Let’s start with Woody Allen, who retired after a successful career

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Why do artists always have moral immunity?

Not long ago, 86-year-old director Woody Allen said in an interview that the "Wasp 22" currently in production will be his last film. In other words, he, who already has four Oscars, will "retire" from the position of director - and is likely to get out of the case of sexual assault on his adopted daughter.

As early as 1992, Allen's partner Mia Farrow (also the queen heroine of many of his films) accused the adoptive father of sexually assaulting their adopted daughter Dylan Farrow when she was only 7 years old. The incident was actually due to another equally shocking incident: Mia discovered that he had taken nude photos of her 19-year-old adopted daughter Soon-Yi (Allen's next wife). Woody Allen insisted that the relationship with the girl 35 years younger than him and the adopted daughter of his girlfriend was just "I fell in love with this girl, and then I married her."

More than 20 years later, Dylan Farrow, now an adult, came forward again and reiterated his accusation that he was sexually assaulted by his adoptive father in his childhood. He received support from his brother, Allen's son Ronan Farrow (the genius Ronan, who entered Yale Law School at the age of 16, was one of the famous investigative reporters who first exposed the "Weinstein sexual assault scandal").

After this accusation, "A Rainy Day in New York" was still released after being shelved, and he still has many supporters. He not only has the opportunity to shoot a new film, but also has the initiative to choose to leave with dignity.

This kind of "moral immunity" is not actually considered "special treatment" for male artists. Let's take a look at this long list:

Polanski, the exiled director wanted for sexually assaulting a young girl, won the César Award for Best Director in France;

Katsura Kan, a famous Japanese dancer who psychologically manipulated a female student Sharon to death, is still active on stage and has come to China for activities;

Sharon was originally a rich girl with a nearly perfect life. Under the manipulation of her teacher Gui Kan, she suffered a mental breakdown and committed suicide. Her parents have been clamoring for justice for her. This is the relevant website familiesagainstcultt...

Placido Domingo, a famous singer with great influence in the classical music world, continued to tour Europe after being accused of sexual harassment many times;

Placido Domingo, one of the world's three tenors, was found to have abused his power to sexually harass and molest women over the past two decades. He called it "just being too attentive to women," but after the results of the investigation came out and his attempt to spend money on mediation failed, he issued an apology statement. | Source: valleycentral

Bill Cosby, the "American Dad" who sexually assaulted more than 60 people, was imprisoned for only two years before being acquitted due to "procedural violations by the prosecution";

Photographer Nobuyoshi Araki, who exploited female model KaoRi in the name of "muse", is still active today;

KaoRi began her post on her social media platform with "Here is my #me2 story", detailing how Araki had endlessly objectified and exploited her in the name of "muse" and "art", including taking nude photos of her without permission, profiting from her own photos without getting paid, and being indifferent to the destruction of her private life.

The poet Gu Cheng, who violently manipulated and murdered his wife, is still remembered for his “talent”.

Cheating, prostitution, sexual harassment, sexual assault and even murder... Each of these crimes can nail ordinary people, even ordinary celebrities, to the pillar of shame, but they seem to be ineffective when applied to artists. The crimes they commit against women are often quietly resolved by their followers (filial sons) with the words "art is art, morality is morality".

This is undoubtedly an indulgence of the abuser and a secondary harm to the victim.

When "art" becomes the name and means of exploitation

The violence and exploitation that many artists inflict on women are often closely related to their creations. The most common argument is that "the muses sacrifice themselves for art." This includes posing in front of the camera without their consent (Nobuyoshi Araki, etc.); forcing the filming of violence, sex, etc. (Last Tango in Paris, etc.); asphyxiation by hanging, causing the actors to faint (Kim Ki-duk, etc.); and even naked rape (Battlegrounds, etc.).

In addition to using art to do evil, they can also use art as an excuse to get away with it. "Art" has become a means for them to do evil. They constantly brainwash women: this is creation, this is necessary. There is also a considerable number of "rational" onlookers who say: I understand the reason, I sympathize with the feelings, but this is for art .

—— For art? The final result is nothing more than inflating the fame and fortune balloon blown up by male artists, and the "Muse" becomes disposable consumables. Their lives will be defined by the art of male artists and quickly replaced, and in the end they will receive cheap sighs from the audience: What if they lose their lives? What they get in return is art.

This kind of atmosphere is very tempting for women. For example, Kori once planned to commit suicide for Nobuyoshi Araki: "I even considered contributing to his work as a muse surrounded by loneliness, and seriously thought about suicide. I also set a suicide schedule."

Her voice is a very precious "Muse's confession", which shows us that the "Muse" is not a motionless model in the window, manipulated by people, and completely dependent on the likes and dislikes of male artists and spectators:

While being Araki's muse, she had to maintain her daily life... At that time, she could only hide herself and live a life like an invisible person... But just when her life was getting on track, it was destroyed by Araki's willful behavior.

Sometimes, he called me "my woman" and "I can't die because of the Muse", as if I was the most important woman to him. Sometimes, he called me "whore", "a woman who doesn't even need to buy an apartment", "a person who doesn't know how to live", etc.

...He has long been oblivious to the harm it will cause me. He has always treated you as an object and never thought of changing his ways.

As a model, I have not accumulated anything in these 16 years. I have nothing left. ... I am the one who was deceived and exploited by the concept of "private photography". I am also the one who devotes myself to art and works hard.

The only body an artist can decide to devote is his or her own body. Using the so-called "muse" as a "generous act" has nothing to do with dedication, but only with exploitation. What can decide women's bodies is not art, not artists, but only women themselves.

Performance artist Abramović's work "Rhythm 0" allows the audience to use 72 items on the table on her, including a pistol, which almost got her shot. This is called dedication to art. | Source: art-woman

Another mistake we often make is to equate "art" with the "artist" itself. Everything he does is a sacrifice to the god of art , and sometimes it also includes the people around him - his wife, lover, children, actresses, models... Many times, they don't even have their own names, as if they are just a vague background board around the artist, marginalized and objectified. When we hide the glittering name and just state what they do, we can clearly understand the severity of these gender-based violence.

What makes them shine? Is it their talent? No. The real reason is that in a patriarchal society, talent and art can become an equivalent exchange of power .

It is not art that brings immunity, but privilege

In a society that advocates "winner takes all", everything in the world can be objectified as a resource that can be exchanged by alpha males, including women - but this rule does not apply to women. In other words, women and sexual minorities and other "lower-ranking" people in the gender order cannot sit at this card table. Their greatest success is framed as "selling themselves at a high price" as "potential resources". This is the cunning hidden in today's vulgar success theory.

The exemption of artists is essentially an exemption of privilege. It is not art that allows them to do whatever they want, but money, status, fame and the right to speak that comes with it, which are the reasons why they are exempted. From this perspective, we can understand why some people repeatedly deceive women in the name of "talent" and "art": they think that possessing so-called "talent" is equivalent to being close to the center of "power". And why do they have this illusion? Because male-dominated art history is written in this way; because the public's prejudice is believed in this way; because the stories circulated in the past are narrated in this way; because this illusion has always been allowed.

Under the protection of such a system, anyone in a high position can escape from gender violence with a high probability. Artists and their friends often control the discourse power of public opinion, which is more conducive to creating illusions that are beneficial to themselves. For example, after Gu Cheng's death, many artists described him as a "poetry genius who is ignorant of the world", so that until today, the simplified Chinese Internet has made a jaw-dropping degree of beautification of this almost pathological control desire and the crimes committed: "Love to the extreme", "fragile and great", "a genius poet who can't grow up under the knees of the Muse", "a poetic giant baby"... Completely blurring the fact that he is a criminal who beat his wife to death. If Xie Ye had such a group of friends who controlled the discourse power, people would commemorate the "beautiful female poet who was hacked to death by her mad husband" - Yes, Xie Ye is also a poet.

As Kori said after being “used” by Araki and NHK: “Everything about famous artists is treated as heroic biography here and is legitimated, which makes me have a strong distrust of the media’s judgment.”

The essence of artists’ moral exemption is to romanticize the exploitation of women. This is a huge conspiracy: in front of the power structure, art is just a thin fig leaf; in front of objectified women, art becomes a deceptive signboard of “becoming a muse”; in the eyes of the public, art becomes the best excuse for “genius needs to be favored and tolerated”.

Use your hands and feet to vote for women's art

The good news is that this old alliance is already loosening.

When Polanski was announced as the winner of the César Award, many filmmakers walked out in anger;

Domingo, who had been accused for many years, was recently confirmed by the police to be involved in human trafficking, and his reputation was completely ruined;

Famous conductor Dutoit loses all performance opportunities after facing multiple sexual harassment allegations;

More powerful evidence comes from Woody Allen himself. At the beginning of the accusation (from the 1990s to the 2000s), Woody's career was not affected at all. He won the Golden Globe Lifetime Achievement Award, and Hollywood public relations completely blocked negative news about him. On the contrary, Farrow was suppressed to the point where he had almost no room to survive. After the "MeToo" incident, the wind direction suddenly changed: many stars and media stood on the opposite side of him, and the distribution of his films became difficult. The entire cast of "Last Rainy Day in New York" donated their remuneration to make a statement. The forces behind him (including Weinstein and other Hollywood bigwigs) were no longer effective under the surging public opinion.

If we say "please separate the work from the person", then according to this logic, can we cancel their right to authorship of the work, donate all income to the victims, and give the prize to the work itself - if not, wouldn't that be tantamount to acknowledging the artist's excuse of "gaining both fame and fortune no matter what"?

Moreover, it is precisely because of the inequality of the “second sex” that female creation has been buried and suppressed, which has led to the binding of art with men, and then the “artist’s privilege” is used as an excuse to exploit women. This is the first driving force when this huge gear starts to turn.

Only by making Li Guohua disappear can there be no next Fang Siqi. Do we really need an old man who raped a young girl to receive a lifetime achievement award? Do we really need a teacher who sexually assaulted female students to "send them to the palace of art"? We can let people who respect women write poetry, let people who respect women compose music, let people who respect women direct movies, and let women themselves achieve all of this. Every time we make a consumption and aesthetic choice, every time we speak out, we are making a choice for the future we want.

Change starts from now on.

* Zhao Si also contributed to the content of this article

// Author: Tegang a cat

// Editor: Zhao Si

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