Because no one seems to be talking about Roman Polanski I was curious if you have ever avoided the creative work of someone that you may have enjoyed or supported otherwise, solely because you did not like the creators personal life?
I have never watched any of Polanski’s movies (I am 39) but it had nothing to do with his behavior; I just was never exposed to his work and didnt know much about him or his films.
After finding out that he gave a 13 year old girl a few drinks and a couple of ‘ludes, slipped her the ol’ Liberace, then hightailed it to France to thumb his nose at the law, I am not too anxious to go check out his movies.
How about you?
Anyone who you wont support only because you dont like thier behavior, even though you may otherwise like thier art?
“Ever boycott an artist because of thier behavior?”
No. Let me tell you why…
Tom Cruise is a nut-job. Off the charts crazy. If my plumbing is leaking and ruining my house I call a plumber. I call someone who is recommended. Someone who is good at his job. Now, if while grinding my leaks to a halt he casually mentions he’s a Scientologist, am I going to kick him out? No. I didn’t hire him to be my spiritual mentor - I just need him to do the job I hired him for.
Same goes for presidents (Clinton) and so on. There is a break over point (I don’t have any early Hitler stuff on my walls) but there are TONS of artists that I don’t approve of their behavior but enjoy their work because they are good at it.
As my username indicates, I’m a big skier. There’s an amazing (or so I’ve been told) ski film called “The White Ecstasy” that stared Leni Riefenstahl which I’ve never been able to watch because of her other work. I just can’t bring myself to watch anything she’s been involved in.
Roman Polanski is a skeevy motherfucker, but Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown are still great movies. Michael Jackson was probably a child molester, but Off the Wall and Thriller are still great albums. Hemingway was, by all accounts, a miserable bastard, but For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Sun Also Rises are still great books.
Art exists for its purposes, enjoy it on its own merits.
Yeah, I haven’t watched a Woody Allen movie in years. His humor is, or was, based largely on his relationships with women, and his all the RW info about his relationships has come out, I am no longer amused.
Same here, but for me it’s because his beliefs bleed over into his writing quite a bit, to the point of being outright distracting. There are quite a few other writers whose politics I find disgusting but whose books I enjoy quite a bit without guilt and without being so constantly reminded of my disgust, so I don’t think I’m simply turned off by him being a ranting homophobe with flaaaaaaaming tendencies so much as he makes sure I’m aware of it in every book he writes. I think I might find this equally damning of his writing even if his views were ones I agreed with, though then I might find it easier to ignore and enjoy whatever good elements of the story there were.
That and I think the quality of his output rapidly declined by the third Ender book.
I think I mostly avoid works involving people I find annoying, and often obnoxious politics or fanaticism goes along with that. If an artist or actor has somehow tripped my “douchebag” meter, well, part of me is still going to be thinking “douchebag” even if he’s pretending to be a guy who wants to kill Hitler. This can carry over into narrative voice for directors or authors, though better ones manage to make themselves “invisible” enough that it doesn’t come into play. However, being “evil” is separate from being irritating, so I can enjoy Wagnerian opera or Richard Avery movies without any trouble at all.
I haven’t watched a Roman Polanski or Woody Allen film since their misdeeds came to light (or to my attention, at least). I refuse to support, directly or indirectly, artists whose behaviour I find morally repugnant.
Quirkiness is fine. I draw the line at sexual misconduct with children.
It’s not that I formally “boycott” anyone. It’s not a matter of saying “I won’t support” them. I just lose interest in their work.
It’s like having a great friend you always enjoy spending time with. Then you find out that friend did something stupid or horrible. Suddenly you’d rather hang out with someone else.
Ever since Jim Carrey joined the traveling carnival that is Jenny McCarthy and her anti-vaccination crusade, I can’t watch anything he’s in. I can’t take him seriously anymore and it ruins the experience for me. I go to the movies to be entertained, and Carrey doesn’t do it for me anymore.
Not quite the same thing but I didn’t go to the Bodies Exhibition when it ran in Dublin because of some or all of the cadavers they used nor did some other people I know.
More directly, there’s McCarthy and her books. My wife read them and enjoyed them, and suggested I read them as well. No can do – no matter how entertaining they might’ve been had someone else written them, I’d be spending the whole time furious over her flaming ignorance.
Yes. I don’t care if they don’t suffer monetarily from my boycott. The person represents behavior I abhor, so why watch something I’d hate because they are in it. I may think the movie is cool, but it’s going to be ruined by that person being in it.
I might watch Tom Cruise being burned at the stake but only if admission was free. I wouldn’t contribute in any way to his financial support. Not that he needs my money.
I was curious if you have ever avoided the creative work of someone that you may have enjoyed or supported otherwise, solely because you did not like the creators personal life?