Weinstein’s downfall a moment of reckoning for Hollywood

NEW YORK If in a movie, Harvey Weinstein would probably cut the scenes of sexual harassment that have been described against him. They’re too cliche.

The hotel room seductions, the massage requests, the coercive suggestions. They are, as the Los Angeles Times editorial board called them, “classics of the genre.” The encounters depict a Hollywood culture immediately recognizable, one where power-broker sleaziness is an accepted and acknowledged part of the business.

Hollywood now finds itself in a crisis not just because one of its most prominent moguls has been disgraced and fired from the company he cofounded, but because the allegations against him describe a dark underbelly of the movie business rarely scrutinized outside the industry. It’s a moment of reckoning for a Hollywood that has faced increasing scrutiny over its treatment of women, from pay equality to fair employment opportunity behind the camera.

Weinstein’s ouster may have been a long time coming, with allegations going back to 1990. (Weinstein is yet to respond to directly though on Thursday he apologized for the pain he’s caused.) But by apparently bringing down such a pivotal figure — the kind that has long been considered untouchable because of industry and legal might — many see a watershed moment for the industry.

“There is a tectonic shift going on with people having the courage to say, ‘No more,’” said Melissa Silverstein, the founder and publisher of Women and Hollywood, an influential blog that advocates for gender equality in Hollywood. “The climate about the conversation in gender in Hollywood has clearly shifted in recent years.”

“There’s no going back anymore,” added Silverstein.

The movie business has found it increasingly difficult to shy away from questions about how it treats women. Studies have shown year after year how few female directors are hired for major productions. Just four per cent of the top movies at the box office in 2016 were directed by women, according to the University of California's Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism. A pay gap, too, has been brought to the forefront by vocal stars like Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone.