Separating Hollywood Evil From The Art
The shameless sexual misconduct of taking advantage of young women has been going on in Hollywood since its inception with the first movie release in 1920’s. It has been the unspoken rule with young starlets that if you wanted to make it big in movie town, you better be prepared to hand out your favors to the powerful men in charge. So, they did and as history repeats itself again and again, the powerful take advantage of the vulnerable, needy, driven and weak.
For years, tales of misconduct in trailers, on backlots, during parties, in executives’ hotel suites were categorized as celebrity-related “gossip.” When the first proven account of what went on in Hollywood hit the tabloids in the 1921, it came with the rape scandal of silent film comic Fatty Arbuckle, a 1937 covered up rape of a 20-year-old dancer by MGM and in 1943, handsome actor Errol Flynn stood trial for statutory rape. Old time glamorous Hollywood starlets such Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe shared stories of harassment at the hands of male moguls in their memoirs.
The Weinstein Effect
This year will be remembered as a cultural landmark, the moment a century of rape and harassment moved from gossip to a national crisis. They are just beginning to ask the questions of how a Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey or Louis C.K. could have gotten away with such blatant misconduct for decades. That sexual aggression has always been part of the business and accepted in the same energy as labor pains being part of the birthing process. Now the accusers are coming from every decade and circumstance to tell their harrowing and humiliating Hollywood sexual abuse experience.
So now that we are now fully aware the movie business has always been filled with men with absolute power who used that power against the young and vulnerable. But what about all the great art that was created by these men? In America, the pop culture of movie blockbusters is more than a frivolity, it’s a way of life. What do you do when you find the network that supports all the enjoyment you have taken part of since you were a kid, is littered with pigs?
Art From the Under Shadows
The producers, directors and cameramen in the background are feeling it but it is the actors who are taking the biggest hits in their careers, at least until the “cry foul” quiets down. Those of us who enjoy this form of entertainment that has such a dark underbelly of abuse of power against women, will find a way to separate the dirt from the enjoyment, it is human nature.
There’s a reason why stories of unrequited love are so popular because it is one of the rules of life. You are going to have your heart broken at least once. And that’s what’s happening in Hollywood right now, we have had our hearts broken by an industry that makes what we love and we are discovering that it does not love us back.
It has been a romance that has been exposed as being repugnant and repulsive and that has actively worked to cover up crimes in hopes their dirt would never be exposed so we would continue to visit their alternate world of entertainment without question.
But the reality is, Hollywood’s contributions cannot be totally discarded just because a handful of villains overshadowed them. The great artists out there are still producing and acting and are the ones we hope to redefine our pop culture of movies in the future after all these emerging painful truths.
Psychic Susan Z’s Reading
The movie industry has always been one of illusion and creating for its audience moments of escape. It is a given that most actors have huge egos which contribute to the energy of taking what they want without expecting consequences. Now that we have moved into new Aquarian energy of exposing what is hidden, new rules of conduct will be made.
Susan Z Rich is an emotional addiction counselor, spiritual intuitive and holistic therapist. She counsels others to see life in a more positive way and teaches personal accountability for life choices. She is also the author of several children’s books and Soul Windows…Secrets From The Divine.