Two Handfuls of Link
Tuesday, May 29, 2018 at 10:30PM • The Guardian Isabelle Huppert has really outdone herself with her answers in this new Q&A
• Variety Roseanne cancelled at ABC after Roseanne couldn't help herself and went on yet another round of racist remarks. Still, that's quite a move by ABC given the success and profitability of the show (and their past indifference to her statements). Corporations aren't really known for not letting money do the loudest talking.
• Variety interesting buiness related follow up: In the very recent upfronts ABC had basically built its whole Tuesday schedule around Roseanne as ratings savior. What will they do now?
• Slate an oral history of The Muppets
• Coming Soon Uma Thurman to star in Netflix's supernatural drama series Chambers. Let's hope she has better luck than Naomi Watts did with Gypsy.
• Pajiba Let's talk about Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag, Solo)
Much more after the jump including Jake Shears new song, George Takei exonerated, Interview magazine, Mean Girls album, a Spawn reboot, and what to do when stars disappoint us...
• Towleroad Jake Shears is having a big year. Here's his new video "Creep City"
• Deep Dish Interview magazine folded (*sad*) but here's a fun gallery of old covers. I was so sad as a kid when they stopped having painted covers because it used to set them apart so much from other celebrity rags
• /Film First images from Drew Goddard's Bad Day at the El Royal features Chris Hemsworth showing off his abs. We like it when stars understand their own appeal
• Film School Rejects Zach Snyder is planning to film Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. Yeah an Ayn Rand adaptation is what we need right now (*groan*)
• Playbill a deep dive into the Mean Girls original cast album
• Broadway Blog a chart about what happens to musical ticket prices when the show wins the Tony (In other words, get your Band's Visit tickets now)
• Variety Asghar Farhadi will lead the jury at the next Sarajevo Film Festival
• Coming Soon in the age of superheroes, everything will be filmed and/or rebooted. Spawn is coming back with Jamie Foxx taking over the lead role
• Cinema Enthusiast just completed a huge project of watching the movies of 1969
• Cinema Enthusiast and here's her top ten of that year. I haven't heard of so many of these but I have to admit I didn't much care for Funeral Parade of Roses.
Finally, three thought-provoking reads about our ongoing cultural battles related to toxic masculinity and/or inappropriate and sometimes illegal conduct and the like...
• Observer a lengthy piece on the recent already walked-back accusation against George Takei. I weep for Takei that people think so ill of him now and so much damage is already done when he is so clearly such a good guy and a civil rights hero. But in our currrent climate people don't care about collateral damage. Ever the class act, Takei has released a statement that he wishes the man peace and no ill will.
• Into a really interesting piece on shifting feelings about the drag queen Kameron Michaels and the gay community's relationship with masculinity
• Boy Culture Matt on the Arrested Development battles and the Morgan Freeman story. I'm pointing you here because Matt is saying a lot of what I've been feeling about social media outrage about celebrities who've disappointed us and acted horribly but I just don't have the stamina to write because it's so depressing. 'Is there no way to calibrate our outrage?' Jason Bateman is not a Harvey Weinstein for being tone deaf about another actor's behavior, you know? Morgan Freeman is not a Bill Cosby for being creepy! You can be disappointed in someone and want them to suffer appropriate legal problems if they did something illegal but wanting them to lose their entire careers and legacies is... well... it's troubling. Matt didn't go here but for me it points to a lack of broader empathy in our culture which is in "burn it all down" mode for various complicated reasons. But when even progressives and people who want to fight against racism and sexism and homophobia and xenophobia lose their sense of empathy we are going to be in a lot of trouble as a society. It's a slippery slope towards becoming the intolerant prejudiced hateful thing you're fighting against.
Reader Comments (21)
Can we please put Huppert and Streep in a movie together - and for the hell of it, have it be directed by Von Trier!
I really don’t get that article at all, I’ve only seen defenders for Morgan Freeman. Both Michael Jackson and Charlie Chaplin are dead they also had many detractors. I think you guys get so wrapped up the in a few tweets etc. you fail to see the bigger picture. I haven’t heard anything about Bateman until you mentioned it.
@Tony-Shut the fuck up and take all of my fucking money!!!!! I would totally go see that.
Those tweets were indefensible. I'll miss my weekly dose of Laurie Metcalf.
I could not agree with you more on every word you say in that last paragraph.
There are infinite ways to love Huppert. This short interview is no exception. While she mused about cities she wants to visit, the people who will people her dream dinner party (Flaubert! Plato!), and her description of her husband ("he knows, they know"), it is her recollection of her mother that is as unexpectedly touching as it was very beautifully worded.
RE George Takei,it is so sad,it's about time this stopped,I am all for making sure bad/abusive people in power are taken down as long as there is evidence and proff that whatever happened did really happen.
Seems the accuser got cold feet or realised too late how what he had done.
The Spacey stuff so far has lead nowhere and no one knows how true or elaborated on it all was,what was Rapp's agenda,no word from him for 8 months,Freeman is now on the defensive.
I mean men can't even lay a finger or an arm round someone without something being made of it,seems it's the twitterati who seize on this stuff and then out it goes for us to digest and make up our minds with no Proof or Evidence but a person's life is scarred forever and it could just have been 1 step to far or a misunderstanding or a vendetta for some reason we don't know.
This world baffles me.
So, several thoughts.
The Takei continues to be a weird scenario where even I don't know what to think anymore. Apparently after retracting the accusation he retracted his retraction, and this isn't the first or only time I hear about troubling behaviour regarding Takei. I'll leave it at that.
I don't really agree with that piece...because I don't see that perception at all. The uproar on social media was indeed swift and loud (and I think there's a good worthy discussion about this to be had) but comparisons of Bateman and Freeman to Weinstein and Cosby I did not see. Anywhere. Ever. I agree on the layers of well, abuse but I think the writer and to an extent yourself underestimate how much people *are* aware of the different levels of toxicity.
The backlash was indeed intense, but I think that's due more so to how social media works nowadays and with trending topics. The reality is the backlash is all these men will face, many of the men who had accusations raised against them last year are slowly making their comeback already. All they need to do is keep a low profile for a few months and then boom, they're back at work.
Nikki -- I guess it depends on when you're logging on to twitter. (shrug) I heard a whole day of condemnation of Bateman about how awful he is as a person (because he committed the sin of mansplaining and being dumb about a woman's valid complaints) and then more snarking about his apology. Even though he was not the person doing the harasssing! People are HARSH with other people out there. I'm always going to try to fall back on the 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you' thing but I'm honestly surprised that so many people think that that's old fashioned or a wrong way to behave now and we need to make like Thanos and cancel half the population.
AlexD -- we'll see but I think you're underestimating the scorched earth policy of people these days. When I hear many actresses names mentioned lately -- actresses who have committed no crimes -- it's with some disclaimer about how they're complicit "problematic" actresses because they once worked with so & so or said this dumb thing in an interview or what not. People are very harsh with other people... and I only hope they're treated with more respect in their own lives than they're willing to grant complete strangers.
Perhaps in a past life I was murdered by a torch mob or something? LOL. Or maybe it's just scars from growing up gay in an anti-gay religion and homophobic society but crowd condemnation is really triggering for me. I find it so distasteful and hypocritical not to mention karmically unwise and problematic.
One of the things I've been noting over the last couple years is how we are living in an age of hyperbole, where thoughts and feelings are so grossly exaggerated that everything comes across as insincere. Everyone has to be "disgusted" at the latest scandals, every news item that may cause the slightest of ripples on social media now has "broken the internet" or "gone viral." I feel as though the way we use language is so imprecise these days, and I'd extend that to a lot of the writings and reactions to the Me Too movement. When we are so used to writing in extremes, we tend to praise and condemn people in similar ways.
David -- that's a good point.
What hurts so much about the Roseanne thing, is that she was such an integral part of my life growing up as a young teen in the late 80s/early 90s.
I admired her and respected the character she put out there each week.
Then suddenly she flipped and became the most heinous, bigoted person in real life.
It would be like all of sudden finding out that The Golden Girls, or Madonna were bigoted, awful people. It's so sad.
Ugh. I would rather talk about how great Phoebe Waller-Bridge is and that Pajiba article.
Nathaniel, your philosophy of "do unto others as you would want done to you" is not old-fashioned. Decency is never exactly "fashionable", but like some trees, it's an evergreen!
I too feel that crowd condemnation is triggering. I do feel, though, that almost without exception, people I know in "real" life - from family and friends and colleagues to strangers I meet - are level-headed and inclined to see the nuance in any situation. Hopefully that's the case for you too. I think that social media can paint a warped picture of human nature and that it's good to step away from it as often as possible to remind oneself of the better sides of people.
Edward L well written,what is triggering,I hear it a lot.
I applaud ABC for holding Roseanne accountable for her vile comments.
I wish the same would be done for Jennifer Lawrence. Joking about rubbing your butt on sacred rocks in Hawaii is 100% unacceptable, and is not the first highly ignorant and offensive statement she has made. We shouldn't be so selective about the people we choose to hold accountable for bad behavior; no one should be considered beyond criticism.
markgordonuk: Thanks. Triggering tends to mean an emotional response to something that has been a reminder of a prior traumatic event. I find crowd condemnation triggering in the sense that it frightens me into thinking how easy it is for a crowd to turn on someone.
Roseanne can have whatever views she pleases as long as she keeps them off the internet.
It's so school playground of her.
That Huppert and Waller-Bridge pieces are so great.
Scissor Sisters is one of my favorite bands but I'm not quite feeling that new Shears single. Hopefully the rest of the album is better.
I saw a lot of criticism directed at Bateman but nothing that said he should be fired or never work again so I sure hope people aren't comparing him to Freeman or Weinstein.
In our current witch hunt era everyone is guilty.even if the accusation makes no sense....."Spawn" was a horrible movie which should not be remade...if any modern movie star understands his appeal is the gorgeous Mr Hemsworth
Can we all say FUCK JEFFREY TAMBOR AND HE SHOULD BE UNEMPLOYED now?!