Many of you have sent me links to articles on the 'net about the Woody/Mia/Dylan matter — some smart ones, some not-so-smart ones and, of course, a number that strain to link that matter to some unrelated issue so they can exploit the obvious emotion that comes with any allegation of child molestation.
Along with being saddened by the charges themselves, I'm saddened by the rush, not to judgment but to execution by one side or the other. I read a couple of comment threads that were filled with people who are absolutely, positively sure as to who did what and to whom, and who were eager to condemn anyone who said "I don't know" and behead those who said, "You're wrong." I don't buy into all that was in that Robert Weide piece but he was right that too many people discussing this are filled with and are spreading disinformation. An awful lot of folks who have their minds firmly made up think Mia and Woody were married, Soon-Yi was Woody's daughter, etc.
I'll admit I have my hunches but that's all they are…hunches. And hunches are not settled facts except on cable news programs.
For what little difference it may make, I've decided to stop linking to these articles. I don't want to make decisions as to which ones provide balance…and I already feel myself reaching a certain level of burnout on the whole thing. That often happens with me when a serious issue turns into a spectator sport. When it gets to that level, too many people have a vested interest in not letting it be settled or buried…and some stake out silly positions mainly to get attention. How can you tell when we're there? When Nancy Grace is weighing in.
A couple of folks did write to me to ask how I thought all this controversy would affect the chances of Blue Jasmine receiving Academy Awards. My sense of the Oscars and the "buzz" is that well before this bubbled anew to the surface, there was a very strong chance that Cate Blanchett would win for Best Actress and a very slim chance that Sally Hawkins would win for Best Supporting Actress or that Woody would win for Best Screenplay.
I don't think the campaign against Mr. Allen changes the odds at all, though many will probably try to view each win or loss as Hollywood voting on whether or not it thinks he molested the girl or whether they care if he molested the girl or something like that. As I've said here many times, when you guess why a given Oscar vote went a certain way, the only thing you can say with any certainty is that the work was liked by one more voter than liked the runner-up…and you don't even know who or what that runner-up was. There is absolutely no data or survey or way of knowing what, if anything, the voters were trying to say.
So that's all I have to say for now except for this: You get the feeling Woody regrets the last paragraph of this article? Maybe just a little?