One of my sisters apparently despises LL Cool J of NCIS: Los Angeles because he is a Republican (rather than the far more substantial reason of despising him because he is on that horrible TV show).
A good friend of mine refused to watch the IRON MAN movies because Gwyneth Paltrow had a major role and she cannot stand seeing her on screen because of various silly things she has said in public unrelated to acting.
I myself found that reruns of “The Cosby Show” were ruined after Bill Cosby’s history as a rapist were publicly exposed.
So I ask y’all: is it necessary for you to like the real-life personality of an artist to appreciate their work? If so, where do you draw the line?
I don’t have to like an artist to appreciate hir work, but I can’t enjoy a work by a person I actively despise. Thus, I like Hemmingway’s writing even though he was something of a jackass I’d have trouble liking IRL. I can’t stand to watch anything with that little pervert Charlie Chaplin in it any more, despite his talent. I made the mistake of reading too much about him.
I assume that most Hollywood types are idiots, perverts, and freaks (aka, “show folk”). If I let that bother me, I’d never watch any TV or movies at all. I just try to avoid seeing them on talk shows so I can remain blissfully ignorant of the details of their depravities. When they *insist *that I witness their insanity by making the evening news (looking at you, Sean Penn), then I pretty much have to write them off my list.
Nope, it takes something pretty extreme. I was never a big fan of The Cosby Show, but I’ll happily watch or listen to Bill Cosby as a standup comedian any day of the week.
Robert Downey Jr is one of my favorite actors. Yeah, he’s had his past and is supposed to be quite a jerk in person.
Clint Eastwood is another favorite. I actually cringed at his Republican convention speech, but knowing he cast a useless vote for Romney in California didn’t bother me.
John Lennon was a jerk, cheated on his wives, ignored his first son, was a heroin addict, and yet I still love his music and writing.
I think it has to depend on the nature of their work, and why they’re despised. With the example of the Cosby Show, any time a modern viewer sees Cosby interacting with a female character, you’re inevitably going to interpret those interactions differently through the lens of your knowledge of his character. On the other hand, if a classical composer had the same history as Cosby, I don’t think it would impact my appreciation of his work at all, since his work doesn’t involve any interaction with women.
I’m a big fan of the webcomic Order of the Stick. I know the creator only from a couple of encounters on the comic forum. Based on these brief encounters I get the impression that if I met him in real life, we wouldn’t get on at all. Doesn’t stop me liking the comic.
Their defect would have to be pretty extreme like a rapist or murderer for me to even care. If it’s just that they are an asshole or have different politics I don’t care. Even with the criminals I can still watch but it will color my perception of the work to some extent.
I’ve never seen anything by Kevin Spacey that I didn’t like. I will still enjoy the hell out of A Time To Kill with no guilt. I watched the Cosby Show all the time when it was on back in the day. Finished wearing out the LPs i inherited from my mom during that time. Nordberg is still hilarious.
If someone finds themselves to be self-righteous to separate the character from the actor, they might want to work on suspending the disbelief just a bit more.
Expanding the range to include directors and musicians:
I’m going out on a limb with this, but I still appreciate Roman Polanski for his early work, particularly Knife in the Water, Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown and The Tenant. What he did was reprehensible, but his work was brilliant.
I met Ginger Baker (Cream, Blind Faith, Ginger Baker’s Air Force) once and he was as arrogant as he appears in videos and books. However, he’s still an amazing drummer that has proved time and time again that true talent doesn’t have to fade with age.
I’m always shocked at the amount of people who don’t know what Jane Fonda actually did to get hated by so many people and just brush it off as “blind right-wing hate”. The trip to Hanoi I have no problem with because she legitimately seemed like she just wanted peace. It’s the whole long-standing thing where she claimed American POW’s weren’t tortured in Vietnam and that they were “hypocrites and liars” which makes her truly a piece of garbage even when there was widespread evidence to the contrary.
There was a brilliant piece by Michael O’Donoghue about Hollywood celebrities. I can’t find the exact quote, but someone he knew in the business was being praised for “caring about caring.” O’Donoghue came up with a long list of things this (anonymous) person cared about more than caring, including his drug connections, his percentage points, and his secret underaged same-sex catamite and about a dozen other things as well.
I think the well-examined life of any professional entertainer or creative type is going to (at best) disappoint or (at worst) infuriate. Best just to enjoy the work until the drug binges and dead hookers come to light on their own, and then decide how important the work still is to you.
I’m not saying Jane Fonda has clean hands or anything, but could you link to the precise statements of hers that infuriate you? Verifiable sources are kind of a thing here. Plus, if your source is from a site with a name like “redstatepatriot.com” or something, it’s very relevant to the strength of your argument.
I like how you come straight out with your own bias fully showing, presumably you think this is going to be your Aaron Sorkin moment where you floor your opponent with such a witty and snappy rejoinder that he has no chance of responding.
But it’s all out there, this article sums it all up nicely.
Oh, and it also depends whether my consumption of the person’s work encourages his or her spotlight, and thus his or her viewpoint by making him/her a moneymaker.
Since you say this and the OP specifically brings up Cosby being a rapist:
Since the the whole Cosby being a rapist reality started I did watch a couple of reruns of the Cosby Show to see how my reaction would be. One was where Theo wanted to move out on his own and Cosby was humorously explaining to Theo about bills and stuff and that he wouldn’t actually have that much money left over after bills.
I used to that find that exchange hilarious as Theo realized the reality of reality. But this last time I saw it. It wasn’t funny. It was tainted by the knowledge that Cosby was raping women during the time that was made.