Murphy, Tarantino projects exploring #MeToo territory
It is inevitable that the #MeToo movement will be turned into TV and film. But whose stories are being told? And who gets to tell them?
The answers feel, well, actually kind of predictable for Hollywood.
Last week, The New Yorker published a long and fascinating profile of TV producer Ryan Murphy, and in it he mentioned an idea for an anthology series called “Consent.” Each episode would tackle a different storyline, “starting with an insider-y account of the Weinstein Company. There would be an episode about Kevin Spacey, one about an ambiguous he-said-she said encounter.”
Murphy’s shows — from “Glee” to “American Horror Story” — are tonally varied, but share what he describes as a “maximalist” approach to storytelling. There is a grandness and an over-the-topness to his style and I’m not sure that aesthetic is suited to the (still) highly contentious topic of sexual violence and workplace harassment. Especially when he-said/ she-said is such a common defense tactic used by harassers themselves, why in the world would Murphy consider lumping that in with anything exploring #MeToo?
Another high-profile project is Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” described as a collage of stories about a group of people looking to make it in Hollywood during the summer of 1969, set against the backdrop of the real-life murders of Sharon Tate and friends, which were set in motion by Charles Manson.
“I think we need to be really careful in how we handle these stories,” said Melissa Silverstein, founder and publisher of the news site Women and Hollywood. “One of the great conversations we have been having is: Who are the storytellers? And whose stories are centered in our culture? ... We must ask these hard questions. Why are these projects being made? Why are they being funded? Why are these stories more valid than others?”
Let’s go through some of the odd connections with the Tarantino film: At the time of Tate’s murder, she was married to film director Roman Polanski, who nearly a decade later would be arrested on a number of charges concerning the drugging and rape of a 13-year-old girl. He pleaded to a lesser charge before fleeing the country.
Earlier this year, audio from a 2003 Tarantino interview with Howard Stern resurfaced, in which the director defends Polanksi, insisting: “It’s not rape for these 13-year-old party girls.”
Tarantino has since apologized: “I realize how wrong I was,” he said, adding that he “incorrectly played devil’s advocate in the debate for the sake of being provocative.” This was on the heels of Uma Thurman’s account of her time working on the “Kill Bill” movies, and the dangers involved with a choking scene Tarantino insisted on performing himself, and a driving stunt that left lasting damage.
And then there’s this: “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” is scheduled to be released next summer on the anniversary of the murders. Tate’s sister Debra Tate told the pop culture website Vulture she is outraged: “How is this not vulgar? Or sick? This is not a celebration.”
Both Tarantino and Murphy wield enormous clout in Hollywood. And they share a love for exploitation — for shock and bigness and provocations, especially when it comes to violence. These are identifiable traits that we see in their work again and again, and it’s fair to ask, what are the risks when these types of stories are filtered through the prism of Murphy’s or Tarantino’s style?