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Old 11-29-2017, 11:00 AM   #5 (permalink)
StarShine
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Join Date: Mar 2009
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Hogwarts RPG Name:
Mona Deandra Hellmann
Gryffindor
First Year
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¼ of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pls

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steelsheen View Post
one of the rare good things about being older is that you remember things with better clarity from the noise-of-the-moment and a wiser perspective of life

Depp had many demons-- usually involving alcohol and drugs. he also had a temper and it wasnt unusual to hear that he and his friends trashed a hotel room or got thrown out of a restaurant. its the stuff of tabloid headlines and teeny bopper magz in the days before the internet.

given what i know of his history as a celebrity and as a creative person the women in his life bears a heavy influence. i will be the first to say that he went downhill when he divorced Vanessa. he swung wildly between amazing and awful when he was with Winona. and now this thing with Amber? do you see what i'm getting at?

im not saying Amber was never hit. even a blind person knows that there are issues between them. im just saying that certain people bring out the worst in other people. this Johnny-Amber pairing is obviously one such case.

(...)

lastly, im getting tired of the demonizing of men to justify equal footing for women. given my age and the industry i work in i know too friggin well how unequal things are being a woman in this world regardless of what country you're in. but all these frothing at the mouth, flying off the handle, SJWing on someone's mistake and throwing all their good qualities out the window like it doesnt matter is getting really irksome. theres a saying-- dont throw the baby out with the bathwater.
I bolded one phrase in your comment on purpose - because I don't think you realise what you are implying. The 'thing' you speak so lightly of is violence at a human being - purposefully hitting someone. Let's get that right. It's not just a 'thing'.

Now, I would like to talk about the main issue here and I quoted you, but it's also a general comment:

If I am getting you right, what you are saying is, "Johnny Depp was punished (he and Amber settled on an undisclosed amount of money, I believe?) and he's a great actor, so I don't see why we need to punish him more." Such punishments are never easy, because it's not a case of "Someone stole XXX amount of money, I want it back." It's not a physical crime we can directly and accurately measure the effects of. Therefore, I believe whether the punishment is enough or not depends on the people subject to such crimes and them only. And since we will never know for certain whether Mrs. Heard thinks Depp paid for what he did to her or not, and since the law does not forbid Depp to work wherever, I believe it's unnecessary to discuss that aspect.

I want to talk about something we must discuss, though. This movie primarily is directed at two groups:
  1. The children and teenagers,
  2. Us, die-hard fans.
I'm sure Depp is going to do a great job as an actor, so in case of children and teenagers, after the movie, they're going to look up the cast (if they don't know already), and the first thing they'll come across will be this controversy. Then they're going to read about it, and what they will think is this: Depp has lots of fans, and he's also a very successful actor, and therefore it's okay to hit his wife. He's also a drug and alcohol addict, but those are totally fine! I mean, in this industry, who isn't addicted, right? That's how I am reading your comment and I can reassure you that I am an adult, that's how they'll read most of the comments by his fans.

As a die-hard fan, what I am getting from this whole thing is this: Someone who is an addict and an abuser can star in a movie set in the world of "love and righteousness" where the good eventually prevails, and nothing will ever happen to him - he's immune to any and all criticism.

When I was a kid, I used to want to be like the characters and therefore, the actors/actresses who play them. I would look up their biography. I actually still do this, even though I no longer want to (or can) be like them. Do you see where I am going to with this? These kids will look it up, they will see this, and in their subconciousness the idea that "it's okay to be an addict and abuser if you want to be successful in this industry" will settle. Kids idolise people who they think are powerful and successful, and Depp checks both boxes. Do we really want them to idolise this man who has a... 'thing'? There are TONS of actors out there who are just as successful and can absolutely do the job. The Fantastic Beasts is already a big name movie, they absolutely don't need any more big names. Why not pick someone without any issues? I am definitely not saying Depp must be banished from public forever, no. I don't care what he does to be honest, as long as Mrs. Heard and the law says he's paid for his crimes. But I do care when you put him as the leading actor in a children's/YA movie, because this is saying that "it's okay" just like his fans are saying that it was 'just a thing'.

This isn't demonising men, please get that right. This is just saying, "The name 'Depp' doesn't need to send out hundreds of CVs to be hired as an actor and Fantastic Beasts production doesn't need him to be more popular, there are many other actors out there who can play just as brilliantly, we don't want the children and the people to think 'It's okay, it was just a thing.'."



Like Carla said, the insistence on Depp will help my bank account stay in the positives. I don't plan to watch it in the movies or on the internet, and I don't see myself buying any of the products of or related to JKR anymore. Harry Potter world is finished with the publication of Beedle the Bard for me.
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