 Media Credit: Hahn-Nebinger-Orban Abaca Press/MCT Campus Director Roman Polanski has experienced an increase in media attention due to his recent arrest. He was arrested in Switzerland on his way to the Zurich Film Festival.
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Let's face it: the news is being diluted drop by drop with sensationalism. It is the consequence of the "24-hour news cycle." While we are able to attain to-the-minute information regarding a myriad of topics and issues, there comes the task of sifting through copious celebrity headlines all begging for our attention. The unfortunate truth is that, no matter the issue, this is typically the only reason such stories are created. Last week, Mackenzie Phillips spoke out to Oprah regarding her incestuous relationship with her father, John Phillips, the late co-founder of the Mamas and the Papas. Needless to say, the confession was startling. However, what seemed like moments after the Oprah interview, the reigniting of Roman Polanski's felony counts replaced Phillips' courageous confessions. As Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times aptly observed, "Elected officials trade their dignity, performers barter their privacy-it's transparency as currency. Famous people can monetize almost anything, but the price of publicity keeps getting steeper." Sensationalists bring these claims to the forefront, and no matter the personal cost, they are torn down and replaced with even bigger stories. No coherent justice is met, particularly in regards to celebrity criminal activity. Even more specifically, our society is witness to far too many cases of pedophilia and molestation among the elite that are only provided media attention in the instance of convenience.
Pedophilia is a great trespass of cultural mores in this and many other countries. However, the issue remains to be avoided by our elite and is even dismissed as a petty crime. In 1977, a young Samantha Gailey was intoxicated by means of champagne and Quaaludes, then aggressively forced into sexual intercourse by Roman Polanski, 43 at the time, when she was only 13 years of age. The case has followed the filmmaker for the past 30 years, Polanski having fled the country before his trial. And yet, despite the gravity of the situation, among many Polanski is considered the victim of American bigotry. The Times' Adam Sage reported, "In a thinly disguised attempt to prevent Switzerland from extraditing a man who is a cult figure among Europe's cultural elite, President Sarkozy called for a 'rapid solution'." This is no singular incident. After the murder of his wife, Sharon Tate, CNN's Peter Wilkinson described a wayward Polanski, "[spending] the first years after [Tate's] death on a kind of sexual spree, and began spending time with younger and younger women, like 15-year-old Nastassja Kinski." Consensual or not, Polanski took advantage of adolescent females on multiple occasions. However, because of his ascribed status, he has remained immune to all charges.
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