usuallyhats | (no subject) (Reply)

I have been reading a lot of things about Roman Polanski these last few days. I don't know why, possibly I hate myself. (I have not been reading a great deal of pro-Polanski stuff, because punching your computer screen is generally a bad idea, especially if you are at work.) Anyway, I think one of the many worst things about it is that generally when you hear about the rearrest of someone who thirty years ago fled after being convicted of raping a thirteen year old, but before being sentenced, you think that at least things probably won't get any worse. In this case, however, they seem to have done nothing but.

ohnotheydidnt has a list of signatories to the "Free Polanski" petition aka a list of people I don't respect any more. It is rather distressing to see people like Guillermo del Toro and Terry Gilliam on there. (There is a much better list here full of people who have spoken out against Polanski, there's a lot of names on there that please me, like Javier Grillo-Marxuauch, Neil Gaiman, Lexa Doig (I am following her on Twitter and may be a little bit in love with her) and various others. There is also a petition supporting the extradition and arrest - 1,000 new signatories since yesterday lunchtime!) According to some of the comments on Shakesville, Almodovar released a statement saying that he was protesting the manner of the arrest, rather than the arrest itself, which frankly is nonsense: what exactly is the "correct" way to arrest a convicted rapist? Film festivals are all well and good but they don't put someone above the law simply by conferring an award on them, and the idea that they might is pretty horrifying.

Some links, ie people who are more eloquent on the subject than I: Kate Harding's piece at Salon has been recced all over the place, and deservingly so; Melissa McEwan has an excellent post up on the Guardian's Comment is Free section; Sady Doyle weighs in at Tiger Beatdown.