An unnerving question but someone's gotta ask it.

Tools    





Aye, but sexual assault is much harder to prove than murder, especially failed sexual assault. And note what I mentioned about the statute of limitations, too. There are a lot of factors that are very relevant from a legal perspective, but not as much from a personal/ethical one, just as an individual trying to judge what happened. The main point is that the two are (necessarily) different standards.

And this is all, again, independent of Spacey's seeming admission.



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
Oh okay. But were you saying that people may be a little more forgiving of Simpson as a celebrity since he was found not guilty?



In this case, Spacey has apologized and very nearly confessed,
He's a fool if he “very nearly confessed”. Either he did it or he didn’t. And if he didn’t, it’s best to not say anything.
__________________
I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.



He's a fool if he “very nearly confessed”.
Well, maybe he is. Famous people do lots of foolish things. But I wouldn't say he's a fool simply for feeling guilty and admitting fault. It's not foolish to have a conscience.

Either he did it or he didn’t.
I'm not sure if you read his statement, but he claims he doesn't remember the incident, but apologizes anyway and says that if it happened, he would've been very drunk. The most charitable interpretation of that is that he knows he's capable of the act based on his tendencies and his substance abuse. That seems to occupy a space somewhere between "did" and "didn't."



Oh okay. But were you saying that people may be a little more forgiving of Simpson as a celebrity since he was found not guilty?
Huh? No. I was using Simpson as an example of someone who is pretty clearly guilty but was not convicted, to demonstrate that it's not reasonable to require a conviction to believe in someone's guilt.



Well, maybe he is. Famous people do lots of foolish things. But I wouldn't say he's a fool simply for feeling guilty and admitting fault. It's not foolish to have a conscience.
How can one “very nearly confess”? It’s meaningless is my point.

I'm not sure if you read his statement, but he claims he doesn't remember the incident, but apologizes anyway and says that if it happened, he would've been very drunk. The most charitable interpretation of that is that he knows he's capable of the act based on his tendencies and his substance abuse. That seems to occupy a space somewhere between "did" and "didn't."
Personally, I would never admit to something I may have done based on a tendency to possibly do something like this. Especially if I can’t remember doing whatever I’m accused of doing. But, that’s just me.



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
Huh? No. I was using Simpson as an example of someone who is pretty clearly guilty but was not convicted, to demonstrate that it's not reasonable to require a conviction to believe in someone's guilt.
Oh I see, sorry I misunderstood what you were saying, that makes more sense.



How can one “very nearly confess”? It’s meaningless is my point.
By apologizing and saying it may have happened. There are a few other ways to confess in spirit without doing so in a legalistic sense, I think, as well.

Personally, I would never admit to something I may have done based on a tendency to possibly do something like this. Especially if I can’t remember doing whatever I’m accused of doing. But, that’s just me.
That is exactly my point: I think that describes most people, which is one of the reasons his statement is significant. Most people would not apologize and say a thing could have happened unless they have a good reason to think it did.



It's one of the greatest American movies ever made, it's overwhelming sometimes how good it is. Spacey once said that he likes to keep his life private because it's easier for the audience to believe he is the character his playing... he knows Americans can't make that distinction.



i'm SUPER GOOD at Jewel karaoke
1) Comfort. If he creeps you out now and takes you out of the movie, then maybe it's not worth it
basically what i was gonna say. don't do it if it feels weird for you. if you do watch it, it doesn't mean you're a bad person lol. at least you're aware of how creepy he is and not pretending otherwise. that'd be worse.
__________________
letterboxd



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
You start censoring art cause someone that was involved in the creation process was a horrible human being, you will have nothing to see... Separate the art from the artist, Kevin Spacey is one of the great actors of all time, any crime/irresponsible behaviour he committed won't change that, and I'll keep watching his movies. The same way I watch Polanski, hear Elvis or Wagner.



This makes me want to watch American Beauty again. I've only seen it once, and it's a great movie. I really like Kevin Spacey as an actor. It's too bad his career got ruined by something he did decades ago. I can understand people's reaction, and certainly don't condone what he did, but I think it's pretty tame compared to what a lot of other people in Hollywood have done. A lot of actresses get told they have to do nudity if they want to make it in the business, and they wouldn't have done it otherwise, but they get manipulated. Some actresses were tricked by the director who had a camera hidden when they were lead to believe their nudity would be off-camera.

Spacey is basically a pervert, but I can forgive him. I can forgive Marlon Brando, and it seems some people aren't quite sure what really happened. I did do some reading up on it when there was a thread about it in the past. I don't know a whole lot, but what I read is that he and director Bernardo Bertolucci discussed using butter without the actresses knowledge in order to get an authentic surprise in her performance, but otherwise she agreed to doing the rape scene. The only thing that wasn't consensual was the use of butter as lube. She said in interviews that she felt like she was raped, but not that she actually was. It reminds me of all the scandal over Blue Is the Warmest Color when the actresses said things like, they felt like prostitutes, and it was difficult to do those long sex scenes, but they also said they didn't regret it and weren't manipulated. They loved doing the movie and it pushed them as actors and launched their careers, but just because of the way people took their comments a little out of context in interviews it created a controversy where there wasn't one.

It's no wonder the Harvey Weinstein's of the world get away with it for so long when people are so preoccupied with witch hunts over lesser offenses.

I'm reminded of Roman Polanski. He was accused of pedophilia, but it's not like he had sex with a twelve year old. He had sex with a teenage girl who looked like she could have passed for 18. I still don't condone it, but I don't think he deserved the prospect of prison time. So I really don't have an issue with him fleeing the country and continuing to make movies elsewhere in the world. He's a brilliant filmmaker and I don't care if he has consensual sex with teenage girls who want to have sex with the big famous filmmaker to try and get rich and famous and pursue their dreams of becoming movie stars. I'm much more concerned about so many young women being coerced into doing nudity and sex scenes, and models being taken advantage of all over the world. Many 14 and 15 year-old girls want to become models and get sent around the world with no one to protect them where they're easy prey for sexual predators. And then there's the porn industry where many girls and women do get raped.

I just think we need to sort out our priorities in these matters and at the very least devote more time to exposing the worst crimes than we do condemning people for lesser crimes.



Is it OK to watch American Beauty? I mean, after the huge Kevin Spacey controversy about underaged people... it's way to correspondent with the plot of American Beauty, which gives the impression of bad taste when watching the film. This isn't really a "should you separate the man from the character" thread at all, but more of a question of timing and taste.
Firstly, it’s your private life- if you were going to organise a family and friends get-together to watch American Beauty, some people might think that was tasteless but who cares what film you watch?

The ‘bad’ person is the person who’s done the crimes. You watching or not watching the film has no bearing on that.
__________________
You cannot have it both ways. A dancer who relies upon the doubtful comforts of human love can never be a great dancer. Never. (The Red Shoes, 1948)



mattiasflgrtll6's Avatar
The truth is in here
Roman Polanski should have gone to prison. I'm not gonna stop watching his movies because he didn't get caught, but it's pretty repulsive he took the coward's way out and managed to avoid getting punished for his crime.



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
It's off topic, but as far as movies go, I would love to see a movie made of the Roman Polanski case.