Roman Polanski

[technicolor]

Polanski is a survivor of the Holocaust and then his pregnant wife Sharon Tate was murdered by the Manson gang in the 60ies, and they were citing Rosemary's Baby as an "inspiration", far as I can remember. IMO his strongest work is also really driven by an understanding of how violence and trauma work and how victims are haunted by these experiences. Which makes sense, since he's been a victim himself. None of which makes his refusal to take responsibility for his actions and his refusal to serve his prison sentence any less disgusting, of course. I also suspect that he feels guilty for what he did since he understands the consequences for the victim quite well, just not guilty enough to take responsibility. Ugh.

[luminosa]

Feb 25, 2017 11:55:25 GMT -4 technicolor said:

Polanski is a survivor of the Holocaust and then his pregnant wife Sharon Tate was murdered by the Manson gang in the 60ies, and they were citing Rosemary's Baby as an "inspiration", far as I can remember. IMO his strongest work is also really driven by an understanding of how violence and trauma work and how victims are haunted by these experiences. Which makes sense, since he's been a victim himself. None of which makes his refusal to take responsibility for his actions and his refusal to serve his prison sentence any less disgusting, of course. I also suspect that he feels guilty for what he did since he understands the consequences for the victim quite well, just not guilty enough to take responsibility. Ugh.

I'm a dingbat. I forgot that Sharon Tate was his wife! That is awful as well as his childhood. I can't imagine. Still doesn't make what he did right.

[celerydunk]

What he did was so predatory. I would have sympathy for him if he snapped and stabbed someone in a bar fight. Wouldn't make it right, but I could easily comprehend someone that has gone thru as much as he has losing control of his impulses in a moment of rage. But he actually plotted it out - he gave her the drugs, watched them take effect and raped her.

He has felt levels of pain and powerlessness that most of us will never experience. He could have been a hell of an advocate.

[Ninja Bunny]

His parents died in the holocaust and his wife was murdered. So what? He's still an evil child rapist who deserves to rot in prison. His life has been pretty cushy for the most part.

[deux]

Feb 25, 2017 11:44:07 GMT -4 Millis said:

Well, both his parents died in concentration camps, he was sent into hiding and escaped from a ghetto in Poland when he was 10 or so and then roamed the countryside trying to survive. He was born in 1933, so this all took place at a very young age. I believe he even saw his father being taken away by the Nazis. Then as an adult his wife and unborn child were brutally murdered. So, in general I would say his life was HORRIBLE, but doesn't excuse him raping a child.

Well, actually only his mother died in the holocaust. His father survived and Polanski was reunited with him after WWII.

He is still a rapist. Don't care about his past or excuses. My Dad was born during WWII, he also had a bad childhood and was a young adult in the 70s and still managed to live his life without drugging and raping young girls.

[HotLips]

This reminds me of what I was saying recently in the politics thread about Melania Trump - you can feel sympathy for parts of a person's life and still think that person is an asshole. I feel sympathy for Roman for what he experienced during the Holocaust and losing his wife and child. But he's also a rapist who should be in prison. My Uncle was raped as a child and grew up to rape dozens of children himself (including my mother). I can't stand to hear his name or look at pictures of him as an adult, but when I see childhood photos, I feel heartbroken for him. Life is weird and complicated like that.

I don't feel comfortable brushing off his Holocaust experience or his wife's murder with a "Who Cares?" because OMG, those are horrible things for one person to go through in a lifetime. But I would guess that pedophiles are pretty much always people who have experienced horrors in their lives. Pain either makes you stronger or makes you fucking bananas. Clearly, Roman went for the bananas option. And he needs to own it and serve his time. Especially since he's getting up in years.

Feb 25, 2017 11:55:25 GMT -4 technicolor said:

Polanski is a survivor of the Holocaust and then his pregnant wife Sharon Tate was murdered by the Manson gang in the 60ies, and they were citing Rosemary's Baby as an "inspiration", far as I can remember.

As a true crime buff, IIRC they weren't inspired by Rosemary's Baby. Sharon wasn't even the intended target that night. Doris Day's son, a music producer, had lived in the house before Roman and Sharon. He had rejected Manson's music and that's why they went to that address.

ETA: I just remembered - one of the other murder victims that night was a childhood friend of Roman's. How awful to survive the Holocaust and then have your life end that way. So tragic.

[kateln]

Feb 25, 2017 11:34:54 GMT -4 luminosa said:

Feb 25, 2017 7:41:43 GMT -4 kateln said:

I remember hearing/reading about it when I was a kid (12 or 13) and thinking it was gross, but I don't know--that times were different in the 70's, that it must've been consensual in some sense? I don't think I completely understood the case, and I knew some of the kids I was in school with (13/14/15 year olds in 7th-8th grade) were having sex or at least said they were.

Now? 1. She was a 13 year old girl. There was no way she could consent. I remember myself at 13, I see my niece at 13, they are kids who can't fully grasp their actions. 2. No matter what? She said no, and was drugged. I don't care if she was 13 or 33, it was rape. "Rape-rape" Whoopi.

Roman Polanski had a hard tough life. I feel sorry for him for that. But that doesn't justify or excuse his raping of a young girl. We are all complicated/tough/weird creatures--and I can sympathize for him, or understand that he is a great filmmaker, but I also think he should be punished, and that if he won't serve the time then he should be a legal pariah.

Im not snarking or being facetious, genuinely asking- what was so hard about his life? I guess I can go google, but to me, being able to live out his life in a beautiful country, while still making his "art" free from being blacklisted by the Hollywood elite, doesn't seem that hard to me. He got away with a disgusting, unforgivable act and is still lauded. I was not around in the 70s and I'm sure the "times" were different, but that can be said about any decade. Rape is rape no matter what year it is. (Kateln, this wasn't directed at you. I just went off on a rant).

Sorry I've been offline, no offense taken. As others have stated, the guy went through hell in his youth--and that has to have fucked him up. But he still raped a young girl, affecting her life forever.

[Millis]

I don't think his past in any way mitigates his guilt. I think there is a large percentage of criminals who have horrible childhoods, and probably many pedophiles were once abused themselves. No one is saying that his horrible past excuses his actions, but his past probably explains WHY he acted the way he did. I imagine that for a child that had to learn to fend for himself in horrific circumstances, they learn to disengage from other humans and probably any empathy they've developed up to that point is crushed.

[discoprincess]

Feb 25, 2017 13:14:13 GMT -4 celerydunk said:

What he did was so predatory. I would have sympathy for him if he snapped and stabbed someone in a bar fight. Wouldn't make it right, but I could easily comprehend someone that has gone thru as much as he has losing control of his impulses in a moment of rage.

...especially someone with neo-Nazi leanings, or (in light of current events) if he were to go vigilante against those who have been calling in bomb threats to Jewish community centers.

Feb 25, 2017 21:04:37 GMT -4 HotLips said:

I don't feel comfortable brushing off his Holocaust experience or his wife's murder with a "Who Cares?" because OMG, those are horrible things for one person to go through in a lifetime.

I don't either. I wonder whether he wouldn't have committed such a crime had Sharon Tate not been brutally murdered. ETA: I'm not caping for Roman Polanski at all.

Has anyone seen this? Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir

[celerydunk]

Feb 28, 2017 10:24:28 GMT -4 Millis said:

I imagine that for a child that had to learn to fend for himself in horrific circumstances, they learn to disengage from other humans and probably any empathy they've developed up to that point is crushed.

Then he builds a life for himself with Sharon and she is killed in a horrific way. Then the public spectacle of the Manson trial.


If we just write people off as "bad" and don't try to understand why they do what they do we lose the opportunity to learn from it, and perhaps prevent it in future generations.