Goodbye to Comfort Media

 

The eruption of sexual misconduct scandals seemed to take down all of the entertainment I had once loved.  The accusations ranging from the arbitrary, like Aziz Ansari being too pushy in a club, to the catastrophically harmful like Kevin Spacey allegations of the molestation of his young costar.

 

These men are charismatic.  It is hard not to find them charming, funny and lovable, most of them have made whole careers on these qualities.  The characters they play are relatable, the stories they tell are heartwarming, and the voices they uplifted were sometimes minorities in the mainstream media.

 

 However, all that goodwill is poisoned because it feels like a shattered illusion. It feels like a simple smokescreen intended to be banked on later when the truth was to will out.  

 

I became disillusioned with the entertainment industry when reading about the sexual misconduct allegations against Louis C.K.  He was a personal comedy hero of mine, his honest and gritty stand up surprised me. His on stage persona was fearless where no subject was considered taboo, even donned a “comedy genius” at the peak of his career.  

 

I had the scene from an early episode of his show on repeat as I read his apology letter he had sent to the New York Times.  The scene was a young, fictitious Louie as he talks to his classmate crush and she requests that he “whip it out.”

 

He was accused of and confessed to this exact sexual misconduct. It does not feel quite as fictitious anymore but rather is a twisted fantasy in the mind of man given too much power, too much access, too much creative freedom.  

 

He aligned himself with feminist ideology by joking about the risks women take when dating men, his role as a father to two young girls, and even off stage promoting and supporting women comedy performers like Pamela Adlon and Tig Notaro producing both of their shows that center a female protagonist.

 

I cannot watch his show “Louie” anymore without feeling guilty, without questioning if he misbehaved in some way with the women behind or in front of the camera.  The scenes that would make me laugh then are now tainted and rewatching his shows are a dark easter egg hunt of all the warning signs his audience missed. Jokes then that read as confessionals now.

 

This show that I would return to regularly is now burned from my view list.  It is not entertainment anymore after his detailing of the events it became an inside look into the mind of a sexual opportunist.  Unable to think of nothing than his apt observation: “the greatest threat to women is men.”

 

The entire entertainment network built on open secrets revealed that not only was it the perpetrators themselves that took advantage of this broken system, but the people around them that turned a blind eye for the ultimate goal of profit.  

 

Dan Harmon, co-creator of “Rick and Morty”, admitted to his own sexual harassment transgressions in the workplace when he was writing, producing, and directing his NBC show Community.  Megan Ganz was a young new staff comedy writer that caught his interest. It was unrequited and Harmon proceeded to actively make the workplace a hostile one for her.

 

Amidst the many sexual misconduct allegations being reported at the time, she took the opportunity to recount her own experiences in the writers’ room with sexual misbehavior and power dynamics by taking to Twitter to communicate with Harmon directly.  Harmon responded and the two proceeded to have an open dialogue about their sides of the story. Harmon apologized on his podcast Harmontown where he elaborated on his state of mind around the time of the incidents.

 

Ganz explained how the conversation between herself and Harmon helped her. The interaction alleviated most of her harbored pain.  It validated her experience and though she did not forgive him outright at first she explained that she was trying to, highlighting that forgiveness is a process.  This whole conversation just confused me more.

 

I found myself flip flopping. I can no longer consume the media created by these individuals without feeling like I am part of the problem.  That in supporting the art they produce, I am supporting the lifestyle in which they feel entitled or powerful enough to take advantage of their status or the women around them.  

 

I have stopped watching “House of Cards”, “Louie”, any and all Woody Allen films, “Master of None”, “Parks and Recreation”, any cooking videos of Mario Batali, all films produced by Harvey Weinstein, and stopped listening to the compositions of James Levine, Chris Brown, or R. Kelly.

 

However, I still watch “Rick and Morty”.  An example of my own hypocrisy that I get to pick and choose who I write off for actions that they admit remorse for and who I continue to support by simply feigning ignorance of wrongdoing.  

 

I devalue the statement of this choice constantly.  This does not count as activism for it is too passive in nature to be so.  It is in no way supporting or helping the victimized women. I am not doing this for them, to keep my feminist badge nice and shiny, or even for revenge no matter how small.  

 

I am doing this because it clears my own conscience. It appeases me. This course of action is completely selfish.  It is to make myself feel better that at the end of the day I can hopefully say, “Well, no sexual predators benefitted from my viewership in any way.” However, the reality is that statement will never be concretely true for any kind of media consumption.