I'm a little surprised at some of the stuff I've been reading on the right about Allen. Because he's culturally liberal, if not politically, conservatives are just as happy to condemn him as the feminist left is. Does it always have to be about the teams? So many on the right are trying to calm rape hysteria.
Dylan Farrow wrote a piece for NYT (I'm not going to link--it's everywhere) revealing some details about the allegations. Dylan and her brother Ronan are, at the very least, very unhappy and damaged people. I'm sorry for their problems, but I'm unconvinced of Allen's guilt.
If you were paying attention when Allen was first accused, you'd know that it wasn't much more than a blip. Allen had run off with Farrow's adopted daughter and there was no end to Farrow's (and the public's) outrage. The accusations surfaced and the authorities found no reason to even bring charges, let alone try him. The allegations slipped out of the public's mind.
Accusations of paternal sexual abuse were very much in the air in the early 90s. The media was thrilled to have such a high-profile crime but lost interest when the evidence didn't come together. The story faded to a footnote until recently.
I'm amazed that, while Allen's reputation as a predator has swelled in recent years, Farrow's reputation as strange has entirely disappeared.
- She's an actress that grew up in a show business family, which isn't a recipe for being well-adjusted. She affected the lost-little-girl look and attitude in public and private.
- She married Frank Sinatra when she was 21 and he was around 50 (sound like anyone she knows?) and proceeded to drive him crazy. She claims now that she never really split from him and says that the child known as Allen's biological son, Satchel/Ronan, is probably Sinatra's.
- Upon divorcing Sinatra, she accompanied The Beatles to their fabled trip to see the Maharishi.
- She stole her second husband (Andre Previn, also fifty when they married) away from his wife with a pregnancy and started a lifelong habit of birthing and adopting children.
- I believe the total number of children is fifteen (six after Allen's departure), with four biological kids in the mix. Imagine if she had that many cats--would people be as accepting of her pronouncements?
Red Pillers will recognize the type: Farrow played the Tiny Fragile Creature card throughout her life, especially with Sinatra (he was first on the scene after the scandal started). Delicate little birds that need to be protected but won't be caged--that is, needing a strong man to protect them from the consequences of their actions, no matter what the costs. It's a tactic to receive unconditional love--love me despite what I do--and is by no means incompatible with hoarding children, who can't help but love their mother.
But that tactic loses its effectiveness as one loses her youthfulness. The beautiful young girl too gentle for the world becomes the middle-aged woman who can't handle reality. It's not hard to imagine that, past her prime both physically and professionally, she'd find the humiliation of her man marrying her daughter to be unforgivable.
Allen documentarian Robert B. Weide had a piece in The Daily Beast last week that outlines the investigation (and prompted Dylan's article). He points out that the central incident happened as Allen and Farrow were negotiating custody and support--and in Farrow's Connecticut home, surrounded by Farrow's staff. Hardly the most opportune time to commit a sexual crime.
Weide provides plenty of circumstantial evidence that the accusation was fabricated but what's most important is that the medical board that examined Dylan said that no molestation had taken place:
We had two hypotheses: one, that these were statements made by an emotionally disturbed child and then became fixed in her mind. And the other hypothesis was that she was coached or influenced by her mother. We did not come to a firm conclusion. We think that it was probably a combination.Of course, we can't know what Allen really did. Dylan certainly believes that he molested her. But history has shown us that children are easily manipulated into telling the stories they think adults want to hear. Told over and over, the details become more vivid. The adults communicate a message that something terrible has happened to you.
The aftermath of the satanic ritual abuse scandals produced a great deal of adults who traumatized themselves with false memories of horrific violence. Even though their memories never happened, they can still have flashbacks and emotional problems throughout their lives. Dylan was abused--the nature of the abuse and who abused her is up for debate.
Allen's ill-advised behavior opened the door. He did not "marry his daughter," as some like to claim, but marrying the daughter of your romantic partner is nothing to applaud, even if the marriage lasts.
Also damaging to Allen is that his character in Manhattan has a relationship with a seventeen-year-old girl. In the world of rape-culture feminism, there is no difference between a seven-year-old girl and one a decade older. The difference is clear to any rational person, but Allen still did himself no favors.
It's generally true that child molesters are repeat offenders (look for this to be the basis of redefining pedophilia as an "orientation" rather than a perversity). Sex offender registries exist for a reason--simple conviction and punishment does not rehabilitate. We haven't heard a single accusation that Allen has abused anyone but Dylan. If he's sexually attracted to children, he's managed to control himself well.
Sex has always featured in Allen's work, mostly as a source of anxiety and yearning, but his love life has been serially monogamous. Wikipedia has a list of the main women in his life (including the seventeen-year-old whose fictional counterpart figured in Manhattan). He has always concentrated on his work at the expense of everything else, including promotion and accepting awards. And he doesn't seem to like anyone, including kids. The only juvenile figure in his work is the main character of Radio Days, and that was autobiographical.
The dots don't connect. The accusations are vehement but come from a scorned woman and the memories of a seven-year-old.
Despite the dots not connecting, despite the fact that no charges were filed, and despite Farrow's flakiness, in our feminized, "creep"-shaming culture, the twenty-year-old accusation will stay with Allen, and will figure in his obituary. To be accused, it seems, is to be guilty of something.
Keep yourselves squeaky clean, gentleman, because there's no telling what may stick to you.
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