One of the chief characteristics of a mob is its quickness.
It is sudden. It pounces.
It is sudden. It pounces.
— Teju Cole
That's because Allen's son, famed investigative reporter and father of the #MeToo Movement Ronan Farrow, strong-armed Hachette, the book's would-be publisher, into dropping it.
Fortunately, Allen's book was rushed out by a competing house.
Ronan Farrow objected to Hachette publishing Apropos of Nothing due to its savage portrayal of his mother, actress Mia Farrow, who three decades ago alleged that Woody Allen had sexually abused their adopted daughter (the case was twice dismissed by the courts).
Farrow threatened to sever his own ties with Hachette and egged the publisher's mostly-female staff to walk off their jobs in protest.
I just read Apropos of Nothing—I love memoirs by aging rock stars and Hollywood people—and am glad to have Allen's account of his three marriages, first to Harlene Rosen; then to Louise Lasser; and then to Mia Farrow's and his adopted daughter, Sun-Yi Previn. Allen clearly loves all three of his wives and has done his best by them.
His girlfriend Mia Farrow—herself the victim of an abusive, alcoholic father—is quite another matter. Allen admits he was foolish ever to become involved with such a crackpot, but Mia Farrow was a pretty, cultured, award-winning actress on the hunt for a new husband when they met (Farrow's ex-husband, Andre Previn, had dumped her the year before).
If Woody Allen was guilty of anything, he was guilty of being a schlimazel—a dupe and a patsy, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
Which brings me to #MeToo. (Me to #MeToo. Confusing, huh?)
#MeToo is grounded on the idea that no tomcat should be immune from justice.
I don't agree.
Some men are tomcats who deserve caging. Think of predators like Roman Polanski, Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, R. Kelly and Larry Nasser.
But some men are tomcats who don't. Think of Romeos like Chico Marx, Louis C. K., Al Franken, Melvil Dewey—the librarian and inventor of the Dewey Decimal System—and, yes, Woody Allen, the sultan of schlimazelhood.Ronan Farrow objected to Hachette publishing Apropos of Nothing due to its savage portrayal of his mother, actress Mia Farrow, who three decades ago alleged that Woody Allen had sexually abused their adopted daughter (the case was twice dismissed by the courts).
Farrow threatened to sever his own ties with Hachette and egged the publisher's mostly-female staff to walk off their jobs in protest.
I just read Apropos of Nothing—I love memoirs by aging rock stars and Hollywood people—and am glad to have Allen's account of his three marriages, first to Harlene Rosen; then to Louise Lasser; and then to Mia Farrow's and his adopted daughter, Sun-Yi Previn. Allen clearly loves all three of his wives and has done his best by them.
His girlfriend Mia Farrow—herself the victim of an abusive, alcoholic father—is quite another matter. Allen admits he was foolish ever to become involved with such a crackpot, but Mia Farrow was a pretty, cultured, award-winning actress on the hunt for a new husband when they met (Farrow's ex-husband, Andre Previn, had dumped her the year before).
If Woody Allen was guilty of anything, he was guilty of being a schlimazel—a dupe and a patsy, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
Which brings me to #MeToo. (Me to #MeToo. Confusing, huh?)
#MeToo is grounded on the idea that no tomcat should be immune from justice.
I don't agree.
Some men are tomcats who deserve caging. Think of predators like Roman Polanski, Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, R. Kelly and Larry Nasser.
#MeToo is among the most urgent political movements of our time. And it isn't just hashtag feminism, as leftist critics say; nor McCarthyism, as right-wing critics say. It's really all about truth, justice and the American way.
But in the hands of angry mobs, #MeToo promotes a radioactive Cancel Culture that suppresses the sort of honest talk you'll find in Apropos of Nothing.
In the hands of angry mobs, #MeToo pounces, weaponizing virtue against schlimazels.
And that's not fair.
Note to readers: As a rule, links embedded in my posts provide my sources and frequently "fun facts" omitted for brevity's sake.
And that's not fair.
Note to readers: As a rule, links embedded in my posts provide my sources and frequently "fun facts" omitted for brevity's sake.
