An Open Letter From Dylan Farrow

**Taedium** · February 3rd, 2014, 01:38 PM

In the 60's Woody made jokes about his ex-wife being sexually assaulted.

**witchcurlgirl** · February 3rd, 2014, 01:42 PM

well, that's proof right there.

**Taedium** · February 3rd, 2014, 01:48 PM

Originally Posted by witchcurlgirl

well, that's proof right there.

yup, because it's totally normal to find it funny & make jokes about your ex being raped.

**CornFlakegrl** · February 3rd, 2014, 01:49 PM

Originally Posted by MohandasKGanja

It really makes me wonder what goes on in his mind and what his basis for calculating what moral right and wrong is.

Also, I totally understand the artist/art compartmentalization, especially with his older films when he hadn't gone off the deep end with his decision making. There are a lot of people with significant public achievements who were a-holes. It doesn't necessarily negate the work. I wouldn't expect Germans to stop using the autobahn just because Hitler enthusiastically endorsed and funded it.

I'd guess he finds morality archaic and for the plebs. He seems to live for his own pleasure, exclusively.

As for the art argument -- Commoners who get caught breaking the law lose their careers. I don't give special status to the Allen's and Polanski's of the world. Granted, WA hasn't been convicted but if one believes he's a criminal, it's not a reach to wish he didn't enjoy fame and fortune.

**witchcurlgirl** · February 3rd, 2014, 01:52 PM

yup, because it's totally normal to find it funny & make jokes about your ex being raped.

You know, I've heard some directors make movies where people get killed. They are all clearly murderers and must be stopped.

**Taedium** · February 3rd, 2014, 01:56 PM

Originally Posted by witchcurlgirl

You know, I've heard some directors make movies where people get killed. They are all clearly murderers and must be stopped.

Finding your ex-wife getting raped amusing/entertaining is exactly the same thing. Rape is so funny.

**MohandasKGanja** · February 3rd, 2014, 02:01 PM

For anybody having difficulty with YouTube, the dialog between Cavett and Allen was something like this:

Cavett: I understand you're facing some kind of legal issues.

Allen: My ex wife is suing me because I made an amusing remark about her. She lives on the Upper West Side and she was violated on her way home. That's how they put it in the New York paper - she was violated. And they asked me if I would make a comment. I said, 'Knowing her, it wasn't a moving violation.'

People were laughing. No boos or "ohhhhhhhs" I think it was a different era where somehow a joke like that would fly. About all you can say is that Allen was definitely not ahead of his time on women's issues.

**witchcurlgirl** · February 3rd, 2014, 02:07 PM

And I think it's a funny joke. I've heard other comics make rape jokes. Some are funny, and some are not.

**MohandasKGanja** · February 3rd, 2014, 02:12 PM

Originally Posted by witchcurlgirl

And I think it's a funny joke. I've heard other comics make rape jokes. Some are funny, and some are not.

I think the problem is that at a personal level, a woman who was actually raped (or sexually assaulted), wakes up the next day and finds out that her ex-husband is in a major public newspaper making a joke about her being a bad lay for a rapist.

I get that some humor is really biting and draws blood, but I think this joke would backfire in a really major way in this era.

**witchcurlgirl** · February 3rd, 2014, 02:15 PM

Well, she did sue him.

**czb** · February 3rd, 2014, 02:19 PM

^^^ was it louise lasser? and did she win?

**MohandasKGanja** · February 3rd, 2014, 02:20 PM

Originally Posted by czb

^^^ was it louise lasser? and did she win?

No, it was his first wife - Harlene Rosen. Lasser was his second wife, and they had a very amicable split.

**sluce** · February 3rd, 2014, 02:21 PM

The Talk just came on and Sharon Osbourn just shared her opinion on what a saint Mia is because she didn't adopt the "pretty kids."

**MohandasKGanja** · February 3rd, 2014, 02:26 PM

Originally Posted by sluce

The Talk just came on and Sharon Osbourn just shared her opinion on what a saint Mia is because she didn't adopt the "pretty kids."

I think that, next to Woody, all of them looked like precious jewels from the Harry Winston collection.

**NoNoRehab** · February 3rd, 2014, 02:38 PM

They were a family unit, father, mother and brother & sisters.

By no one's account, including Woody, Soon-Yi and Mia's, was Woody a father figure to Soon-Yi nor were they ever a family unit. Woody and Mia never lived together and according to Mia, he never once spent the night at her place (she always went over to his). He came over for dinner with her and the kids a couple of times but according to Mia Woody hated it. He couldn't stand the noise and she estimated that he'd exchanged maybe five words with Soon-Yi (and the other kids who were not his own) throughout her childhood. That's why Mia was so surprised when one night when SY was in college Woody took Soon-Yi to a basketball game. According to Mia, Woody was not even interested in being a dad to his own kids and couldn't have cared less about her other kids. I think she claimed at the time that it didn't bother her because the other kids either had a father already (Andre Previn) or it was understand Mia was raising them as a single mom. There was a separation between Mia's kids, Mia and Andre's kids, and Mia and Woody's kids. Yes, it's super weird but at the time Mia and Woody were poster children for modern, bohemian blended New York relationships.

Soon-Yi said she and Woody maybe have exchanged chitchat once or twice, but she never paid much attention to him and aside from meeting him a couple of times he was not a fixture in her life. Her story is that she never talked him until she was in college and wanted to go to a Knicks game and she knew via Mia Woody had season tickets so he agreed to take her. She was aware Mia and Woody were dating throughout her childhood but he wasn't present as "Mom's boyfriend." Soon-Yi also claimed that in their later years, Mia and Woody had even stopped dating and were just friends and collaborators, but that may be her excusing her own guilt for having the affair.

Soon-Yi also disagreed with Mia on a lot of details of her life. Like the birthdate issue, Soon-Yi said she not only has documentation of her birth but she remembers her early childhood, including her Vietnamese family, and her correct age was 21 at the time she got together with Woody. She claimed that Mia tried to downgrade her age to make Woody seem worse. Soon-Yi also claimed that Mia lied and made her early years in Vietnam seem like a horror story to better fit her adoption narrative.

As for Dylan and Ronan considering Soon-Yi their older sister, that's been inconsistent. In the 90's, the story from the Farrows (Mia and the kids) was that Soon-Yi was always a damaged child who isolated herself and didn't bond with her family. In recent years however Ronan has tried to claim that Soon-Yi was a beloved older sister. However, at the time the scandal broke and Woody and Mia split, Ronan was 5 and Dylan was 7. Soon-Yi was 21 and had moved out of Mia's home a year or two prior, when Ronan was around 3 and Dylan around 5, to attend college. Considering Mia and Soon-Yi broke off all contact when Ronan was 5, and the huge difference between Soon-Yi and Ronan and Dylan's ages, I'm doubtful that Ronan knew Soon-Yi well at all. Even if Soon-Yi was completely devoted to her younger siblings and spent every second with them (which no one has claimed) Ronan would have very few if any personal memories of Soon-Yi due to his age. Most everything he knows about Soon-Yi would have to have come from Mia or other family members who were much older.