Kevin Marshall's America
Roman Polanski in January 2009 (Associated Press photo)
Last week, the Swiss government made the decision not to turn over film director Roman Polanski, who is currently wanted in the United States for skipping out on a hearing that would have determined his sentence for statutory rape.
There’s a documentary called “Wanted and Desired” that chronicles the media circus surrounding the accusations and resulting conviction. There was a lot of mismanagement, most of it centering around a judge who was more concerned with his own perceived fame and ego than with administering justice.
I understand that there was some legal unfairness and double-talk at the time of his conviction, and that many people had gone against their word. However, what it comes down to as far as I’m concerned is that at worst he was perhaps unfairly (but not illegally) cheated out of a deal that he never should have received in the first place given the severity of his transgression.
Even though the victim has forgiven him twenty plus years later, that doesn’t change the facts of the case: in 1977 he drugged and raped her when she was only thirteen years old.
Which is what’s especially maddening about the defense he gets from so many in Hollywood (and some from right in our own back yard). There’s an insinuation that what he did wasn’t all that wrong, that he may not have been aware of her age and that in the words of Whoopi Goldberg it wasn’t “RAPE rape;” as if sex with a child, if consensual, is okay and forgivable for a person if they didn’t serve the proper time for it.
Geimer the year the incident happened.
And if you have any doubts as to the disturbing nature of the incident, read the testimony of Geimer herself. Also, look at the picture to the right, and tell me that’s not a child. There was no mistaking her as a little girl, and not as a woman at the age of consent.
Polanski knew what he was doing was wrong, and he did it anyway. Then, and now, he is unwilling to face the consequences of those actions.
I’m under no misapprehensions about the nature of celebrity in our society. Since the inception of the Hollywood star system our society has granted permission and forgiveness to celebrities, both legally and culturally, that we under no circumstances grant to the everyday working man. For the longest time, though, I still thought there were some crimes for which that wouldn’t apply. Polanski and the excuses others make for him have shown that not to be the case.
If a Schenectady man who works as a school teacher were to drug and have sex with a 13-year-old girl, he’d rightfully be sentenced and viewed as reprehensible. With Polanski it’s okay, because he directed “Chinatown.”
Give me a break.
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16 Responses to A Rapist By His Own Admission, Polanski Still a Hero to Some
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Well said, Kevin. I would like to add that these same sentiments apply to our professional athletes as well. It’s a shame that so many find talent surpasses moral and legal responbilities in our society.
Justice should have no statute of limitations, and prosecution should not be swayed by budgetary concerns.
If it took 40 years to find and try and convict and imprison Thomas Blanton for the crime he committed at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, then that’s what has to happen.
If it took 20 years to find and try and convict Adolph Eichmann for the crimes he committed against humanity, then that’s what has to happen.
What Roman Polanski did was a crime. It’s still a crime today. The fact that he has sequestered himself in countries that will protect him from extradition and arrest is nothing short of abhorrent.
Roman Polanski should spend the rest of his days rotting in prison.
Let the punishment fit the crime: he should be drugged and raped in prison.
Maybe I should run for supreme court?
When I see people sticking up for this scum bag, just because he MAY be a telented director, it makes me sick. As if we should forgive him because he’s talented. If he was a “reglular guy” he’d be in jail.
I say the Geimer family members get him alone in a room for, lets say, 6 hours.
After that we can call it even.
Thanks, Kevin. Great piece. I’ve always been a huge fan of Polanski and have believed him to be a genious ever since I saw his Macbeth at the Playboy Theater in 1971(?). (I know you weren’t born and I think I was already 40). i was in graduate school being force fed 1950’s understandings of the play. He put another part in my hair.
But I’ve never waivered from the view that he belongs in jail. it always struck me that the Hollywood elite wanted from the start to give him a pass. It’s as though, to them, one can’t be both genious AND a child molester. The fact is, contradictions are not so because we say they are. Polanski is proof of that, as is Whoopi Goldberg who is undoubtedly immensely talented AND a moron.
Very well said, Kevin!
Personally, I understand the Swiss’ point of view on this…
If the tables were turned, and it were an American citizen, and things had played out in the Swiss courts like they did here, I am not so sure I would be in favor of turning over the guy.
I’m not sayin’ he did or didn’t do it…I’m just saying, on the extradition of one’s own citizen question…I would support a strong burden of proof and I can see a reasonable person/judge feeling that, in this instance, it hasn’t been met. That’s all I’m sayin’.
-gen
It looks to me like a somewhat different take on not being able to separate the art from the artist. Usually that applies when someone can’t appreciate a piece of art because its creator has said or done some pretty objectionable things, but in this case, some people are willing to overlook Polanski’s crimes because he’s a respected artist.
Awesome job, Kevin.
I can’t imagine how triggering this must all be for the victim. I sort of wonder if it is less that she had forgiven him, and more that she just wants this to be over so she can stop being constantly reminded of it.
As a victim of sexual abuse as a child I wonder….why hasn’t anybody whacked this guy yet?
Since when is drugging someone of ANY age for sex acceptable? Combined with the underage factor, I’m not seeing how the two wrongs make this OK.
Isn’t statutory rape consensual, but under age? But if someone was drugged, that doesn’t seem very consensual to me.
Unacceptable.
Kevin, Thanks for writing this. When I watch the news about RP I often wonder if my husband and I are the only people who are repulsed by him as a person and the entire situation. I am happy to know that we are not alone.
I agree, but what matters is that he got off. This has been going on for over 30 years by now. Now, about the “unfair” judge — I think no judge on earth would end up being fair if the Polanski legal and PR machine were unleashed against him: it’s their job to paint their client as a victim and his persecutors as unfair. If you learn the details, you will see that the judge didn’t do anything wrong. A judge cannot “reneg” on a plea: he’s not obligated to stick to any particular pleas, a fact that as a matter of procedure is made very clear to the accused entering the plea. No one owes anything to Polanski, nor ever did. He’s a criminal on the run, that’s all there is to it.
WTF, Whoppi, you kidding me? You who like to cry about much less in your life? Lost what little respect I had for you.
The whole Roman Polankski thing makes me see red! Lock him up and throw away the damned key.
(Sorry for commenting so late. I’ve been off-line big time this week.)