And I’m not trying to be jerky, but have your own movie day and see it yourself!
(I haven’t seen it Milk yet and I’m not a huge Sean Penn fan, but it’s a story I 've read/heard about and I do want to see it. But I am odd, I will go see movies alone. That’s very odd for a lot of people that I know.)
I wasn’t necessarily referring to Milk but rather to any movie featuring Penn since it seemed from your earlier post that your husband objected to all movies with Sean Penn.
Anyway, I usually don’t let someone’s political beliefs and/or behavior affect whether I like their work or not. I don’t know these people and I don’t have to deal with them as a part of my life. Granted, there are exceptions. I would have a problem, for example, if a writer’s racism or anti-Semitism found its way into his or her work. Also, if an actor’s behavior crossed the line into felonious acts against other people that would likely color to at least a slight degree what I think of his performances.
I go to considerable effort to ensure none of my cash winds up in the coffers of the “Church” of Scientology. That means if Tom Cruise or John Travolta is in a film, I’ll pay for a different film. I have hopes that both men may eventually come to their senses and leave that evil and destructive cult.
It might well have been a mis-translation. I don’t speak a word of French, but I recall the title of the French film Baise-moi was variously translated as “kiss me”, “rape me” and “fuck me”. Perhaps a native French speaker could explain.
“Baise-moi” means “fuck me”. It could theoretically also mean “kiss me” since it was its original meaning, but it’s never used in this sense in a modern context (contrarily to the verb, the noun still means “a kiss”, and since both the noun and the verb are spelled the same way : baiser, I suppose confusion may arise).
Regarding Depardieu, I had never heard of that. I looked up quickly, and I found an old article (dating from 1991) in a French paper reporting about it. According to the article, in 1990, an American journalist alleged the following :
-she would have dug up an interview by Depardieu in 1978 where he stated that when he was 9 y.o. (
) he had raped a girl.
-In her own interview, she would have asked him if he had been involved in other rapes, and he would have admitted to it, stating also that it seemed normal given the circumstances (). The rapes would have taken place when he was a child and there’s no mention of a subway station.
There was no mention of an alleged mistranslation in the article, only of a flat denial by Depardieu that he would have said such a thing, either in 1978 or in 1990. The director (IIRC) of the movie Depardieu was promoting at the time in the USA said that no such statement appeared in the recording of the (1990) interview. The author of the article apparently had no information about the merits (or lack thereof) of the accusation or about the existence of the alleged 1978 interview.
“Baise-moi” means “fuck me”. It could theoretically also mean “kiss me” since it was its original meaning, but it’s never used in this sense in a modern context (contrarily to the verb, the noun still means “a kiss”, and since both the noun and the verb are spelled the same way : baiser, I suppose confusion may arise). It definitely doesn’t mean “rape me”.
Regarding Depardieu, I had never heard of that. I looked up quickly, and I found an old article (dating from 1991) in a French paper reporting about it. According to the article, in 1990, an American journalist alleged the following :
-she would have dug up an interview by Depardieu in 1978 where he stated that when he was 9 y.o. () he had raped a girl.
-In her own interview, she would have asked him if he had been involved in other rapes, and he would have admitted to it, stating also that it seemed normal given the (unspecified) circumstances. The rapes would have taken place when he was a child and there’s no mention of a subway station.
There was no mention of an alleged mistranslation in the article, only of a flat denial by Depardieu that he would said such a thing, either in 1978 or in 1990. The director (IIRC) of the movie Depardieu was promoting at the time in the USA said that no such statement appeared in the recording of the (1990) interview. The author of the article apparently had no information about the merits (or lack thereof) of the accusation or about the existence of the alleged 1978 interview.
I try to enjoy the art for what it is, and not let my opinion of the artist come into play. If the artist is talented enough, or the piece is good enough- then it will be totally forgotten for the entirety of the (book, movie, song, whatever)
There are a few exceptions
A> Said Art is merely an excuse to spew said opinions onto the world.
B> Said Artist’s oddities have become so pronounced- that it is nearly impossible to watch this person without thinking of them. (Tom Cruise fits into this category. Which is unfortunate- because he typically made enjoyable movies beforehand.)
Oh, and by the way, I don’t think “Baise-moi” is worth viewing. It’s kind of an ultra-violent road movie (with a lot of very explicit sex scenes, but IMO, the violence and indifference to human life depicted in this movie is much more disturbing than the sex), which doesn’t really seem to have any point.
(Depardieu doesn’t play in it, in case people would be confused)
Well, there’s no reason he should see it if he feels that way…I personally refuse to see any Sean Penn movies, not just because I think his politics are moronic but also because his acting grates on me.
One of the most revealing moments of my life was the time when I realized that my father chose singers (and therefore, songs) based on his perception of their politics, not on their singing ability.
I try not to; I’m also conscious that it’s perfectly possible for a song to have lyrics that I find horrible and music I love, or to be used by different people in completely different ways. I laughed out loud when a sampler of Johnny Cash songs produced a hymn called something like “We Shan’t Be Moved,” which in Spain was a Communist hymn… before being reused in a TV series (“Verano Azul”) which has been one of the biggest commercial successes of Spanish TV history.
I can think of no authors that I won’t read because of their personal lives. This may be primarily because I don’t know enough about the lives of any author that I read.
I can think of few actors that I won’t watch because of their personal lives. Sean Penn is one of them. If we redefine the question a little and make it “entertainers” than I would include Bill Mahar.
An actors personal life does not effect me in the slightest. Especially actors. I’m pretty conservative so if that were the case there wouldn’t be much I could see. I don’t like things I have heard about Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise or Sean Penn but I have enjoyed many of their movies.
Norman Mailer,arrogant often married squabbling jerk . But a very good writer.
A sufficiently picky person can find a reason to despise almost anyone. For example: my angel of a gf is just too adorable; it’s a crime. 
I honestly pay very little attention to the personal qualities of the authors/entertainers I enjoy. I don’t read anything new from OSC because he’s writing off the wall political BS in his books, not because he’s doing it in newspaper columns.
Hubby doesn’t let you out of the house by yourself?
Okay, follow-up question for those of you who, because of a writer, actor, whatever’s personal demons/proclivities/positions, refuse to read their books/watch their movies/whatever: Is it because the knowledge of their personal scrofulousness makes it impossible for you to enjoy their work, or because you don’t want to line their pockets with your hard-earned money even though you would enjoy their work?
(I’m not talking about circumstances where you wouldn’t enjoy the work regardless of the personal stuff.)
I’ve met Jeremy Piven several times and found him to be an officious jackass. He also treated a female friend of mine extremely poorly. I have a hard time enjoying anything with him in it.
It seems to me that avoiding actors or authors who are jerks is as counterproductive as avoiding lawyers or surgeons who are jerks. I patronize these people because they are talented, not because they’re nice.
That being said, I do try to avoid reading negative things about my favorite authors. For example, I’m vaguely aware that Patrick O’Brian was not a good husband and father, and that James Herriot had mental health problems and his marriage was not ideal. I don’t try to deny those facts, but neither am I going to read their biographies.
I don’t care about the private lives or opinions of actors or writers. All I care about is how much I like their work.
Tony Hendra is a wonderful writer. Having read his daughter’s memoir, though, I think I’ll pass on that planned purchase of Father Joe.
I have a friend who can’t read Alice Walker because of her daughter’s memoir. I read parts of it and basically came away with more of an “Having read Alice Walker’s daughter’s memoir makes me not want to read any more of Alice Walker’s daughter’s writing- very whiny and self-pitying (boo hoo hoo, my mommy wasn’t a good mother and while my stepmother was a great mother she was white and Jewish and can’t know what it’s like to be me…”), though as I’ve admitted before that I have a major prejudice- I know it exists and I don’t justify it but I’ll admit it’s wrong and still there- against whiney rich kids, regardless of the validity of their whines. (Walker herself I find a loopy liberal- she seems to regard Fidel Castro as somewhere between Jesus and Mr. Rogers- which is why I can’t read her non-fiction, but The Color Purple and a couple of her other works are fantastic [and a couple more- Temple of My Familiar for instance- less so, but PURPLE is enough to rest any career on if you never write more than a grocery list afterwards).