There's no debating that a number of Roman Polanski's films are works of artistic genius. Polanski undoubtedly deserved his Best Director Academy Award for The Pianist, and Rosemary's Baby also merited a number of awards. It's also indisputable that Polanski suffered greatly throughout his life; both of his parents were sent to concentration camps during World War II, and he had to go into hiding in Poland to survive the Holocaust. Later in life, his wife, Sharon Tate, was the victim of a brutal murder at the hands of the Manson Family. But neither his artistic genius nor his painful experiences excuse Polanski's rape of a 13-year-old girl. And Hollywood's defense of this man's despicable actions is downright reprehensible.
In 1977, The Washington Post broke the story of Roman Polanski's rape of the 13-year-old. Polanski invited a young girl to pose in a photo shoot for French Vogue; some of the pictures from this first shoot included topless photos of the girl. After the first shoot, the young girl felt apprehensive about the second, but went anyway. At this second photo shoot, Polanski gave the minor champagne and slipped her a sedative. He then had intercourse with the girl after her protests. The Washington Post closely followed Polanski's case, and reported that Polanski accepted a plea bargain in which he plead guilty to engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor (statutory rape). In 1978, Polanski fled to France, where he held citizenship, and escaped extradition and arrest for 31 years. On Sept. 26 2009, Polanski was arrested while entering an airport in Switzerland.
And Hollywood is defending this man! On the morning talk show The View, Whoopi Goldberg said that what Polanski was charged with was, "... something else. It wasn't rape-rape." What does Whoopi mean by "rape-rape" anyway? Does statutory rape no longer count as rape? Is forcible rape the only kind of rape that matters? Whether Polanski was charged with forcible rape or statutory rape does not change Polanski's actions; he drugged a girl and forced her into having sexual intercourse with him.
There's also a petition going around that objects to the arrest of Polanski, and urges his release from the Swiss jail in which he is being held. The most notable signatures on this petition include famous directors such as Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, and David Lynch. This petition also features a number of signatures from prominent foreign directors and actors. Other supporters of Polanski include Producer Harvey Weinstein, who called Polanski's actions a "so-called crime."
Many of these famous people (and other not-so-famous journalists) argue that Polanski's 30-plus-year "exile" to Europe and the fact that Polanski's victim no longer seeks the charges brought against him should excuse him from punishment. They believe that Polanski has suffered enough by not being able to return to the United States (he was unable to pick up his 2002 Academy Award in person), and they believe that because so much time has passed, Polanski has changed, moved on, and even started a new family. To Polanski's supporters, this three-decade time period has proved to be a time of healing and rehabilitation for the director. Many also argue that his survival of the Holocaust and wife's murder excuse his panicky flee to Europe because he feared an irrational sentence.
But we, as a society, can never excuse rape, forcible or statutory. We cannot make up excuses for those that have suffered past injustices. And we most certainly cannot excuse talented directors, actors, or any other celebrities because of their fame.
To allow Polanski to walk free after committing such a brutal rape discredits the pain and experience of his victim, and undermines the American judicial system. To say that Polanski's 32-year-old crime is no longer worthy of jail time tells the victim that the ordeal she went through as a child is no longer important to the system. It also belittles the crime of rape itself, and paints the crime as a minor one that disappears if the perpetrator flees the country for a few decades. Furthermore, if Polanski is not extradited and prosecuted in the United States, the judicial system will suffer a huge setback. Allowing Polanski to get away with this rape is to say that celebrities are above the law and are not held accountable for their actions. To allow this is to place these people above every other citizen of the United States and allow them to get away with murder - or rape in Polanski's case.
Roman Polanski's case is not a question of rape; he indisputably drugged and raped a child. Hollywood should not overlook this fact in its haste to defend Polanski. Polanski is clearly an admired and respected director in the Hollywood community, and he surely suffered a great deal throughout his earlier life. But it cannot be denied that he broke the law, and for this, Polanski should pay the same price that any other rapist would.
Claire Shotwell is a Viewpoint writer for The Cavalier Daily.
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