Re-Watching Woody Allen The newly-chilling themes that you can see throughout his movies

[seabeyond]

MICKEY:
Why all of a sudden is the sketch dirty?
ED:
Child molestation is a touchy subject, and the affiliates...
MICKEY:
Read the papers, half the country's doing it!
ED:
Yes, but you name names.

The above is from an early scene in Woody Allen's 1986 film, Hannah and Her Sisters. I've been thinking about it since reading Dylan Farrow's essay in The New York Times, accusing her adoptive father of molesting her when she was a child. The allegations are nothing new. Nobody except Dylan Farrow and Woody Allen knows what happened in that attic, and no one else ever will. But the sheer vividness with which Farrow recounts the experience, as well as the forum in which she does so, is enough to make even the most ardent fan reevaluate an artist's entire body of work, especially one as personal as Allen's



How are we supposed to read "a few disgusting little moments that I regret" when Isaac is dating a girl still in high school? And what are we to make of the scene in Love and Death (1975), in which the wise Father Andre tells the Allen character, "I have lived many years and, after many trials and tribulations, I have come to the conclusion that the best thing is…blond twelve-year-old girls. Two of them, whenever possible”? Or this exchange from Stardust Memories (1980), in which the Allen character, Sandy, hints at incest when talking with his lover Dorrie about her father?

SANDY:
What about you? Did you have a little crush on him? You can admit this to me if you like.
DORRIE:
Sure, we had a little flirting.
SANDY:
A little small flirt? Mother away getting shock treatment, and the only beautiful daughter home. Long lingering breakfasts with Dad.

SANDY:
I'm not attracted to her. What are you talking about?
DORRIE:
Staring at her all through dinner. Giving each other looks.
SANDY:
Stop it. She's fourteen. She's not even fourteen. She's thirteen and a half.
DORRIE:
I don't care. I used to play those games with my father, so I know. I've been through all that.
SANDY:
What games? You think I'm flirting with your kid cousin?
DORRIE:
You smile at her.
SANDY:
Yeah, I smile at her. I'm a friendly person. What do you want? She's a kid. This is stupid. I don't want to have this conversation.
DORRIE:
Don't tell me it's stupid. I used to do that with my father across the table. All those private jokes. I know.

Incestuous themes—stated or implicit—seethe throughout the whole of Allen's career. Here's a snippet of dialogue from Honeymoon Motel, a one-act play produced three years ago:

FAY:
I was a little girl. I had an Uncle Shlomo…
NINA:
Oh Mom!
FAY:
Three fingers, he tried to molest me. Suddenly, three fingers I feel fondling me—
JUDY:
What's the three fingers got to do with it?
FAY:
It's hard to explain, but most people get groped by five.
SAM (to FAY):
At least you were molested. I didn't have sex till I was twenty-five—you were the first one.

That idea: that sexual exploitation and education are conjoined also runs through the Allen canon. In Whatever Works (2009), the Allen character (played by Larry David) marries a childlike twenty-one-year-old, returning to the basic romantic situation that has motivated Allen's work from the beginning, and which you can see even in Annie Hall (1977): A man educates the women he sleeps with. He raises them. Once they're raised, he's no longer interested.



more...

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/culture/dylan-farrow-woody-allen-movies

a couple men on another thread asked where the perverted was in allens thread. one snorted and said, you will not hear an answer on this one.

here is some of the perverted.

[yourout]

1. Tried to watch Blue Jasmine tonight......made it about 20 minutes. Waste of time.

[seabeyond]

2. i havent seen it or know anything about it. i tried watching one of his movies and i walked out of

the theater. had never done that before or since.

any incest or pedophilia references in that 20 minutes? lol. was surprised the number of references he makes in his movies. and joke on talk shows. he seems obsessed.

[yourout]

3. Unless you like endless mindless narcisim don't bother trying. Worst movie I have tried to watch....

in ages.

Go rent Prisoners instead. Good performances by Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal.

[seabeyond]

5. his movies do not do it for me. i really have no interest. lol, but thanks. nt

[yourout]

6. Prisoners is not a Woody Allen movie.....sorry for the confusion.

[seabeyond]

8. i got that. thanks for the heads up on that movie.

really, i do not watch a lot of tv or movie. will check it out. lol

[Tuesday Afternoon]

11. Be Forewarned. The woman is the heavy in this flick of Prisoners.

[seabeyond]

12. i looked. torture. i cant/dont watch movies like that. some of the best movies i have seen

brave heart, one with whats his name and meg ryan, (bad with names), anyway, excellent movies, but i watch once and never again. lol. i pretty much stay away from those movies.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

13. meh. some people get their dose one way others another. I like my reality removed a level. -

Harder for me to read the real accounts than to see a fictional movie or read the first hand account.

I can understand why this Dylan Allen Case has been hard on people.

[seabeyond]

14. good point. personally, i think that is it. i have spent a lifetime in the nitty gritty of it,

i want none of it in my entertainment.

i like the happy ever after, always, lol

interesting tuesday. perceptive

[Texasgal]

7. Oh but sea... we are obsessed.

You see, we cannot have this conversation without being labeled as obsessed.

Never mind woody.

[seabeyond]

9. ya. dylan gave a rebuttal to his. his believers all cheering his, but.... people are tired.

i just felt it fair to put up her rebuttal. of course i got a .... go away. trash thread. and i am pretty damn sure that poster did not say the same to the threads that defend woody or woodys voice.

[msongs]

4. same can be said about Michael Jackson if you're looking for something hidden....

his album titles in sequence:

Off the Wall
Thriller
Bad
Dangerous
Blood on the dance floor...

coincidence

[Tuesday Afternoon]

10. The more I read and think on this the more I wonder about Woody's childhood.

The man has been in therapy -forever-

I really would not be surprised to find out that he himself is a victim of childhood molestation by a family member.