The Hollywood Reporter – 28.02.2018

The Business

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 86 FEBRUARY 28, 2018

MEGAPHONE: ISTOCK.

Politics

Picture Arts and Sciences,

founded as a guardian of indus-

try reputation in 1927, would

be perfectly justified in expel-

ling him. But no sin or crime

by Polanski the man will ever

reduce the towering achieve-

ment of Polanski the artist, from

his starkly low-budget Knife in

the Water (the first foreign film

I saw in college) through master-

works like Repulsion, Rosemary’s

Baby and Chinatown.

The case of Woody Allen, who

began his career as a comedy

writer and stand-up comedian,

is quite different. Polanski’s

chilly worldview descends from

European avant-garde move-

ments like surrealism and

existentialism. In a sinister cameo

in Chinatown, Polanski sliced

open Jack Nicholson’s nose with a

switchblade knife. Allen, how-

ever, in his onscreen persona of

lovable nebbish, seductively ingra-

tiated himself with audiences.

Hence the current wave of disillu-

sion with Allen and his many fine

films emanates from a sense of

deception and betrayal, including

among some actors who once felt

honored to work with him.

It was overwhelmingly men who

created the machines and ultra-

efficient systems of the industrial

revolution, which in turn eman-

cipated women. For the first time

in history, women have gained

economic independence and no

longer must depend on fathers or

husbands for survival. But many

women seem surprised and

unnerved by the competitive, piti-

less forces that drive the modern

began in the Jazz Age of the

1920s, when African-American

dance liberated the body and

when scandalous Hollywood

movies glorified illicit romance.

For all its idealistic good inten-

tions, today’s #MeToo movement,

with its indiscriminate catalog

of victims, is taking us back to

the Victorian archetypes of early

silent film, where mustache-

twirling villains tied damsels in

distress to railroad tracks.

A Catholic backlash to Norma

Shearer’s free love frolics and

Mae West’s wicked double

entendres finally forced strict

compliance with the infamous

studio production code in 1934.

But ironically, those censori-

ous rules launched Hollywood’s

supreme era, when sex had to

be conveyed by suggestion and

innuendo, swept by thrill-

ing surges of romantic music.

The witty, stylish, emanci-

pated women of 1930s and ’40s

movies liked and admired

men and did not denigrate them.

Carole Lombard, Myrna Loy,

Lena Horne, Rosalind Russell

and Ingrid Bergman had it

all together onscreen in ways

that make today’s sermonizing

women stars seem taut and stri-

dent. In the 1950s and ’60s,

austere European art films

attained a stunning sexual sophis-

tication via magnetic stars like

Jeanne Moreau, Delphine Seyrig

and Catherine Deneuve.

The movies have always

shown how elemental passions

boil beneath the thin veneer

of civilization. By their power of

intimate close-up, movies reveal

the subtleties of facial expres-

sion and the ambiguities of mood

and motivation that inform

the alluring rituals of sexual

attraction.

But movies are receding. Many

young people, locked to their min-

iaturized cellphones, no longer

value patient scrutiny of a colossal

projected image. Furthermore,

as texting has become the default

discourse for an entire generation,

the ability to read real-life facial

expressions and body language is

alarmingly atrophying.

Endless sexual miscommu-

nication and bitter rancor lie

ahead. But thanks to the miracle

of technology, most of the great

movies of Hollywood history are

now easily accessible — a collec-

tive epic of complex emotion that

once magnificently captured the

magic and mystique of sex.

professions, which were shaped by

entrepreneurial male bonding. It

remains to be seen whether those

deep patterns of mutually bruising

male teamwork, which may date

from the Stone Age, can be altered

to accommodate female sensitivi-

ties without reducing productivity

and progress.

Women’s discontent and confu-

sion are being worsened by the

postmodernist rhetoric of aca-

deme, which asserts that gender

is a social construct and that

biological sex differences don’t

exist or don’t matter. Speaking

from my lifelong transgender

perspective, I find such claims

absurd. That most men and

women on the planet experience

and process sexuality differ-

ently, in both mind and body, is

blatantly obvious to any

sensible person.

The modern sexual revolution

M

ore diverse leadership, the ability to anonymously report incidents and

implementing training and awareness programs are on the industry’s radar

to reduce sexual harassment at the workplace. But more is needed beyond Time’s

Up activism to foment change. Like, the guys. “The male ally is the single most

important person who is going to cause change,” says Janine Yancey, CEO

of Emtrain, which helps companies create healthier cultures. (Netflix and

Dolby are clients.) “We can’t castigate them. So when a Matt Damon

makes an off comment, you can’t beat him up. Don’t be confronta-

tional because that doesn’t work.”

When a DP with several women reporting to him featured soft-

porn screensavers on his computer, “lots of other department heads

knew about it, but no one wanted to get involved,” says an industry

source. “That has to not be the case.” A nonconfrontational communications

system to call out co-workers can help. Yancey uses a “workplace color

spectrum” tool that she has shared with her 785 clients. “Green is

ideal: respectful, positive, productive. Yellow means we’re not using the

best communication strategies — it’s stressful, demotivating — we’re

all impatient creatures. Orange means you’re being exclusive, making

comments about people’s traits, race or gender — it’s disrespectful

and demoralizing. Good people go orange all the time. Red is abusive,

creating a hostile work environment — that person should not be in

power.” One Emtrain client, a New York City-based CEO, rates his teams by

these colors in weekly companywide meetings. “It makes it impersonal and easier to talk,”

says Yancey. “Sorry, so-and-so, but that’s a little orange. Then they can say, ‘OK, my bad.’ ”

A couple of green examples? Judd Apatow and showrunner Greg Daniels, who insiders

say emphasize a respectful and supportive set. — SHARON SWART

Sources: Women in Film and National Sexual Violence USA Today, Creative Coalition,

Resource Center survey, published Feb. 20.

Matt Damon (Yes, Him) and Other Male Allies Hollywood Women Need

Sexual Harassment

by the Numbers

21%

Women who have been

forced to perform a sexual

activity in the workplace

94%

Women in entertainment

who have experienced some

form of sexual harassment

or assault in their careers

64%

Women who have been

propositioned for sexual

activity in the workplace