Mia Farrow's son -- Ronan Seamus Farrow -- really creeps me out!

sometimes you still hear things like WA "counts ingmar bergman among his influences" (i heard this in a recent BBC Four hagiography) like, ok, if namedropping someone is being influenced by them, then i guess so, but i think didion's right that bergman was just something else to mention, like avocados or psychotherapy, and it made the right sort of people feel flattered that they were part of the conversation

we should probably change this thread to a forking-paths thing where each path leads to

- discussion of sex-abuse allegations against woody allen

- possible creepiness/hotness/media savvy of ronan farrow

- woody allen, (non)intellectual and filmmaker

not only is joan didion a better artist than woody allen could ever hope to be, but mia farrow is too

he used Bergman's cinematographer, had dinner with IB, blatantly parodied him several times in the early funny ones etc.

i dunno tracer hand, have you seen stuff like "shadows and fog" or "interiors"? the bergman "influence" (by which i mean near-plagiarism in terms of particular shots, overall tone, etc.) is all up in the audience's face.

i grant that those are exceptions among allen's films, and if I'm not mistaken were made at the height of his critical prestige and cultural relevance so he probably thought "fuck it, I'm going to make an art film like Persona"--but it still proves his debts to bergman pretty plainly.

xpost that too

Mia Farrow seems to have made about ten non-shit movies and nine of them were written and directed by WA. xp

athough she was very convincing as the wacky neighborhood lady in Be Kind Rewind

btw WA has always claimed in interviews he's just an autodidact who'd rather watch the Knicks game, not an intellectual -- "They only eat their own." Didion seems a decent rep of who he meant.

― images of war violence and historical smoking (Dr Morbius), Friday, 7 February 2014 01:21 (20 minutes ago) Permalink

Sometimes I can't tell in Woody Allen films whether he's trying to portray the character as being different from those intellectual schmoes or just obliviously thinking he's different while not realizing he's one of them. The Knicks scene in Annie Hall is a good example of that -- are we laughing at Alvy or nodding?

*he said, as he took off his basketball shorts*

Further from Dylan Farrow:

People are saying that I am not actually remembering what I remember. People are saying that my ‘evil mother’ brainwashed me because they refuse to believe that my sick, evil father would ever molest me, because we live in this society where victim blaming and inexcusable behavior – this taboo against shaming the famous at the expense of their victims – is accepted and excused….My memories are true. What happened to me as a little girl … is my cross to bear. But I will not see my family dragged down like this. I can’t stay silent when my family needs me.

He has a foot in both camps. I'm p sure he did not write his publicist's remarks saying on some morning show that "he cartainly deserved that lifetime achievement award."

I agree w/ am that this is no place for movie breakdowns, but that's old. xp

Why is this stuff going to PEOPLE magazine?

that's where the NEWS is.

and she didn't even ask the cast of Cassandra's Dream to condemn him this time.

"Oh, wow" annoyed me too. Maybe it just seems like kind of a played out "I got nothin" response in the internet age.

― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Friday, 7 February 2014 01:18 (14 minutes ago) Permalink

i have a friend who sometimes responds to observations she thinks are stupid by raising her eyebrows and saying "wow!" in a ridiculous old-timey radio voice. it can be fucking devastating.

I don't see how it benefits her to have this turn into a tacky he said-she said deal played across the tabloids (esp. when PEOPLE is writing the copy for your she-saids).

i have a friend who sometimes responds to observations she thinks are stupid by raising her eyebrows and saying "wow!" in a ridiculous old-timey radio voice. it can be fucking devastating.

― tɹi.ʃɪp (Treeship), Thursday, February 6, 2014 8:06 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i like to imagine that she adds that old-timey tin-can-like distortion to her voice when saying this.

remember when Whiney whined that she didn't publish her initial piece on Tumblr instead of the NYT

I don't read Whiney posts.

If the end game is that you're looking to get people to acknowledge that there is an accusation that Woody molested you and maybe think about it then the Open Letter via the Times is probably your best bet (esp. since no one reads Vanity Fair, I guess). Anything else you do after that is probably not helping.

Not to get all "well here's what I would do if I was molested by Woody Allen twenty years ago" just saying that each successive link to People magazine takes this out of the realm of "real tragic event" and into "total crazy tabloid nonsense" and I can't imagine I'm alone there.

the whole "exclusive People Magazine scoop!" thing does weird me out, they pay for such revelations, correct? i mean given all the shit we've been discussing taking money from People Magazine is probably the least of anyone's sins, but it isn't the best look if your most powerful and convincing weapon is righteous outrage.

i get it. it's hard to stop talking about something you've suppressed for a long time once you've started talking about.

Um talking to People magazine not exactly the same release as talking to your shrink, your friends, your family.

If she wants to get the message out to as many people as possible, that's her prerogative. Sure, the initial open letter was available online and thus to anyone with an internet connection but the readership of the NYT and the readership of People are probably still a bit different in 2014.

especially since the Times' ombusman told Nicholas Kristof that he is not her lawyer.

Do the readership of People magazine give a shit about Woody Allen though?

seems pretty clear she only did the particular interview with People in direct reaction to that Moses Farrow article there calling her a liar

they didn't esp care about OJ when he was Detective Nordberg from the Naked Gun movies either.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n08mNz9f0FQ

I'd be surprised if People had a wider readership than the NYT, but maybe it's a vastly different demographic.

Maybe. Like it's been said, she probably can't take Woody to court anymore due to the statute of limitations blah blah so since we're all putting ourselves in the shoes of someone who was raped years ago, if I were her, I'd think that my message being spread to as many people as possible would be more important than the perception of a few people that it's "total crazy tabloid nonsense".

good point anon

the internet has a weird leveling effect - I never would have picked up a copy of people magazine but I will obviously read a "scoop" in people magazine online if it's something I care about

(acc to alexa nyt.com is substantially more popular than people.com)

Do the readership of People magazine give a shit about Woody Allen though?

― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Thursday, February 6, 2014 9:26 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you mean people in waiting rooms and my aunts? yes

Could be that People magazine has more currency among Dylan/Moses' generation than ours

that seems highly unlikely. I thought it was kind of a dying brand.

People magazine will never die as long as waiting rooms exist.

Maybe People mag has greater currency among showbiz kids

What was the rag that I saw once on Entourage and everybody made a big deal about it? Variety? I have no idea what that is

Dylan spoke to PEOPLE shortly after she learned what her brother had said. Clearly anguished, she sobbed as she said, "My brother has broken my heart. Moses divorced himself from the family a long time ago. I always missed him. I loved him and I kept him in my thoughts. These lies – this betrayal – is unfathomable to me coming from a brother I loved and cherished and grew up with," she said.

most devoted People reader i know broke firmly with woody allen the first time around so they may be out in front on this one

What was the rag that I saw once on Entourage and everybody made a big deal about it? Variety? I have no idea what that is

― 龜, Thursday, February 6, 2014 9:49 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you just aren't their aud (that's a latin word -- variety mag uses a lot of them! ;) )

Latin?? Tired of the blatant bias towards Occidentalism in Hollywood. End Occidental Hegemony Now

You really didn't know what Variety was? That's a big deal in Hollywood.

Thinking it was the Hollywood Reporter. The text was Green

http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/exhibitionist/variety.jpg

it's not far off

trying to summarize this story in Variety lingo

Harrowing Farrows Knock Altecocker

Sick of this viridescent-bias in Hollywood. End Viridscent Hegemony Now; Promote A New Vermilion World Order

http://o.onionstatic.com/images/10/10443/3x4/120.jpg?6423

Item!

"Oh, wow." is basically the most memorable thing joan didion ever wrote (i have a terrible memory).