The Week - UK (2020-09-12)

(Antfer) #1

10 NEWS People


Bringingdownafraudster
WhenAndrewWakefieldsaid
he’dfoundalinkbetweenthe
MMRvaccineandautismin
199 8,ittriggeredaworldwide
panic.Butonemansmelta
rat,saidDeccaAitkenhead
inTheTimes.BrianDeer,an
investigativejournalist,gotto
work,anddiscoveredthatthe
parentsofthechildrencitedin
thedoctor’sstudyhadallbeen
referredtohimbyapersonal
injurylawyer.Essentially,
Wakefieldwasfabricating
evidenceforaclassaction
lawsuit.Deerexposedallof
thisinaseriesofarticlesfrom
2004 .Wakefieldfoughtback,
butfinally,sixyearslater,he
wasstruckoff.TheLancet
retractedhispaper,andthe
BMJdeclaredita“fraud”.
Deermusthavethoughthehad
won.Buttherewasasecond
act.Wakefieldfled totheUS,
wherehehasstyled himself
asamartyr whosetruthwas
silenced–andhehasfound
areadyaudienceamong
anti-vaxxers.Now,heisrich
and famous, anddatinga
supermodel (ElleMacpherson).
It’s gallingforDeer;butwhat
worries himisthatWakefield’s
message,thatvaccinesare
unsafe, isstillcuttingthrough:
surveyssuggestthatathird of
Britonsmight refuseaCovid
vaccine. “Tounderstand where
we arenowwith Covid, you
needtoknowthe past: tosee
how the anti-vaxmovement
developed,”hesays.“Thisis
how wegothere:through this
manandwhathedid.”

Why cinemaisover
Although perhaps
best-knowninBrita
the starof the Frenc
thrillerTheBureau,
Mathieu Kassovitzm
his name behindthe
camera.In 1995, he
wrote anddirected
La Haine–a
searing drama
about three
young men
fightingagainst
policebrutality
in aParisian
banlieue.The film
was inspiredby an
incidentin which
ateena ge boyfrom
Zaire wasshot in
the head in police
custody, andith ad
amassive impact.
Twenty-fiveyears on
andKassovitz is as

radicalasever,saidJonathan
DeaninTheTimes–buthe
nolongerseesanypointin
makingmovies,becausethe
powertoeffectchangelies
online.Inthedaysbeforethe
internet,hesays,directorslike
PaulGreengrassandKen
Loachtoldusthingswedidn’t
know.“NowIcangoon
YouTubeandseerealthings
fromrealguysfilming theirlife
withtheirphone.Everyonehas
theinternet.Youknowthe
dolphinsaregone.Thereis
pollution.Blacksarekilledby
cops.Youcannotdiscover
anythingnewincinemas
anymore.”Makingfilmsis
painful –“soithastobefor
somethingworthit.Whether
money,fame,girlsorpolitics.
ButIdon’tcareaboutany
reasonotherthantowarn
people,andnowIcandothat
onmyInstagramfeed.”

The KarateKidat 58
RalphMacchiohadalready
provedhis actingchopsin
films likeThe Outsiderswhen,
aged 22,he wascastinthe title
rolein1984’sTheKarateKid.
Thefilmwasamajor hit
–buthedidn’tcapitaliseon
itssuccess.Instead,hewent
back tolive withhis parents
on LongIsland,marriedhis
childhoodsweetheartand
settleddowntolifeasa
suburbandad,saidHadley
FreemaninTheGuardian. He
hasbarelyacted sincetheearly
1990s.Now,though,at 58,he
is backonscreen,inCobraKai
–a“ludicrouslyenjoyable” TV
seriesthatreuniteshisKarate
Kidcharacter Daniel
ithothers
m,played
ginalactors.
arefansof
ndknow
out it than
o(left )does.
lbe
ingascene,
they’llsay:
memberthat
youlifted
rleft arm?
ewayyou
inted that
gerwas
efinitive
omy
hildhood!’
mlike:
Dude,Iwas
ust saying
line!’ Oh,
sreally
derful.”

John Boyega went toaBlack Lives Matter protest in June intending
to protest quietly. But when he got there, he was asked to address
the crowd. The impassioned, off-the-cuff speech he delivered made
headlines around the world. Boyega, who grew up in south
London, experienced racism from early childhood. But he says the
anger and the pain he expressed that day stem largely from what
happened later, when he achieved his dreams and found success as
an actor–only to meet racism there, too. It was his lead role inStar
Wars:TheForceAwakensthat made him famous. But his casting
provokedastorm of racist protest; and after the first film, his
character was largely sidelined. “I’m theonly cast member who had
their own unique experience of that franchise based on their race,”
he told Jimi Famurewa in GQ. “It makes you angry withaprocess
like that. It makes you much more militant; it changes you. Because
you realise, ‘I got given this opportunity, but I’m in an industry that
wasn’t even ready for me.’ Nobody else in the cast had people
saying they were going to boycott the movie because [they were
in it]. Nobody else had the uproar and death threats, and social
media, saying, ‘Black this and black that and you shouldn’t be a
Stormtrooper.’ Nobody else had that experience. But yet people
are surprised that I’m this way. That’s my frustration.”

Viewpoint:
Trump’smedia strategy
“Donald Trump hasinstinctively
understoodthe greatproblemof
information intheinternetage. This
is not, as is oftenimagined, primarily
‘fake facts’, but is ratherthesheer
volumeof facts,thegreat porridge
of information, that is now available
to everybody.Asuccessfulpolitician
must shoutlouder than ever to attract
attention, mustnever be boring and
remember that dullnessis nevernews.
Trump’s tweets maysound maniacal,
but they work perfectly as news head-
linesthat jump offthepageoroff the
TV or computerscreen.Compare his
utteranceswith thos eofJ oe Biden,or
of Hillary Clinton four yearsago, and
see whythey fail to compete.”
PatrickCockburninThe Independent

Farewell
David Graeber,
anarchist, “anti-leader”
of Occupy Wall Street
and LSEprofessor, died
2September, aged 59.
Lady Judge,lawyer,
banker and first chair-
woman of the IoD, died
31 August, aged 73.
Ian Mitchell,bassist for
the BayCity Rollers, died
2September, aged 62.
Lord O’Neill of
Clackmannan,shadow
defence secretary,died
26 August,aged 75.
Sir KenRobinson,
influ entia leducationist,
died 21 August,aged70.

DesertIslandDiscsreturns on 20 September

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