Roman Polanski's arrest...

[MouthForWar]

I'm gonna touch a hot button here. This is probably the most controversial thing in the entertainment world and was wondering what everyone here thought about this.

Personally, if you drug and rape a 13 year old, you deserve what's coming to you, and the fact that he evaded his arrest by fleeing the country just makes him even more deserving of being behind bars. If you do something wrong, you TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR IT!

Now lemme get something out of the way. I'm a BIG fan of Polanski's films. Some of his movies are some of my all time favorites, including some of his post-rape work. But that's no excuse to defend the guy and I was happy when his dumb ass got arrested. Even the girl that was raped wished for the charges to be dropped due to what its done to her and her family, but I STILL think he should be put away. What goes around comes around. Not everyone has that kind of viewpoint though. For example, there's a massive petition going around Hollywood right now to free him... on this list are some of my personal heroes like Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, the Coen bros, Harrison Ford, Jeremy Irons, Terry Gilliam, and Guillermo del Toro just to name a few (although I wasn't one bit surprised to see Woody Allen on that list *zing*). Now obviously, I don't share their viewpoint and I'll continue to be fans of their work, but I can't help but be disappointed in their support of Polanski. Some people are even boycotting their films because they signed the petition. That's getting a bit TOO crazy, but I share their disappointment. I know its mostly protesting the the way he was arrested (almost luring him out to where they could get him), but again, I find that almost irrelevant since he's been a fugitive for decades. Also something that COULD be a bit of a factor is the fact that he was a big influence on their films and is someone they admire as an artist, but I don't think that means he should be treated differently. The petition comes off as being the product of a "guild" mentality that implies that the signees are defending "their own" if you will.

But then again, we live in a PC world where child molesters are given a bit more sympathy for being "sick" (which they are) than in previous times. Keep in mind everyone forgot the things Michael Jackson was accused of the SECOND he died and everyone loves him again. But the fact is there wouldn't be so many MJ shirts made or the theatrical release of an MJ documentary if he was still alive... he'd still be the same punchline he has been since the early 90s. Its only NOW that he's some kind of hero who was perfect and never did anything wrong.

So what side of the fence (if any) do MZ posters fall on?

For more details on the actual case, you can learn a bit here:

[metal_bryan]

[lhb412]

[Glow-nut]

[Glow-nut]

[MouthForWar]

[skiddish]

[Glow-nut]

[metal_bryan]

[MouthForWar]

[Benjamin Haines]

I'm in agreement with MouthForWar on this one. Rapists are scum who should be made to face justice regardless of how long after the fact. I like Polanski's films (just saw The Ninth Gate a few months ago and really dug it) but being a good director doesn't make him an exception.

[metal_bryan]

"Anyone who knows anything" is a rather small percentage of the film-going population and those who don't go to films that often included.

[Destroysall]

[Benjamin Haines]

[Green Dragon]

[metal_bryan]

[Green Dragon]

[metal_bryan]

[Green Dragon]

[TheMaster]

[metal_bryan]

[Robert Saint John]