To Watch or Not to Watch: A Few Thoughts

In recent years, I’ve thought a lot about the media I choose to consume. I’ve been more reluctant to support films with representation issues, such as whitewashing or cis actors cast as trans characters. I always go into “Oscar mode” during award season, trying to see as many of the nominated films that I can, but of late, I’ve been more willing to decline to see a big nominee if I don’t like rumblings I’ve heard about it from a social perspective (my completist nature was overruled when it came to films like Green Book or Three Billboards.) And of course, there was the Harvey Weinstein scandal that kicked off a massive reckoning for sexual predators in Hollywood and other industries – that last point is what I’ll be focusing on primarily, although what I’m talking about can apply to these other issues as well.

There are different philosophies on what a consumer’s responsibility is when it comes to things like this. There are those who say get rid of all of it, that paying money to support those people and/or projects isn’t right, as well as those who’ve genuinely lost all desire to see anything featuring certain people (there are some who are like that for me – I can no longer see Kevin Spacey’s face without thinking about his victims.) There are others who say older works are fair game but don’t support anything new they make. There are those who say it’s fine to separate an artist from their artwork, along with those who don’t want the rest of the cast and crew to lose revenue due to the sins of one awful person. I don’t think there are a lot of definitive answers about the “right” way to respond in these situations (although I’ll admit my respect certainly dwindles for actors who continue to eagerly make films with people like Roman Polanski, especially A-listers who have the clout and resources to be choosy about their projects.)

I personally have responded in different ways to different people/projects. Some actors I can no longer bear to watch (again, like Spacey,) and I don’t particularly see that changing. But small roles in large ensembles often feel grayer to me (Jeffrey Tambour in Girl, Interrupted?), and I find I have a weak spot for my preferred franchises (it grosses me out that Johnny Depp is playing Grindelwald, but I still saw the last Fantastic Beasts movie in theaters.) If I’m with friends or family and they don’t have an issue with it, it can be harder for me to say no. And while there are certainly exceptions, I tend not to have as strong a reaction when the predator in question was behind the scenes (I don’t think I could go back at watch a film in which I specifically know Harvey Weinstein was harassing one of the actresses during the production, but he produced a ton of movies during his career, some of which I love.) I’m inconsistent, is what I’m saying. I try to make principled decisions, but I also know I make excuses when I don’t want to stick to my guns for whatever reason.

Last year, Pete Davidson did a bit about this topic on SNL, looking specifically at his conflicting feelings of knowing R. Kelly is “a monster” but still loving his music. Here’s the piece.

 Davidson admitted that “you don’t really know how good someone’s music is until you find out they’re a pedophile” – he couldn’t really quit R. Kelly or Michael Jackson, but he said, “If I found out Macklemore did some weird stuff, I’d be happy to free up the space on my iPhone!” He went on to offer compromises between “cut it all out 100%” and “keep listening with zero qualms,” suggesting that we should pair consumption of problematic media with admissions of what their creators did. He explained, “The full sentence should be, ‘Mark Walhberg beat up an old Asian dude, and I would like one ticket to Daddy’s Home 3 please!’” I especially liked the idea he brought up towards the end:

 “Here’s my plan, and hopefully you guys like it: any time any of us listen to a song or watch a movie made by an accused serial predator, you have to give a dollar to charity that helps sexual assault survivors. I’ve already donated $142, and that’s just from the ‘Ignition’ remix alone!”

That seemed like a reasonable solution to me. Rather than cut out everything I’d prefer not to support or be disappointed in myself when I inevitably fail to measure up, I could mitigate my viewing choices with an act of good.

I tweaked the idea somewhat for my purposes, both because 1) I wanted to greater offset the amount of any of my dollars that were profitting terrible people and 2) I still wanted to make myself think before I decided whether or not something was really worth watching. So, if my viewing actively adds to the wealth of someone or something I don’t want to be supporting (ex: I buy a movie ticket/DVD, I watch something on a streaming service,) I donate $10 to a relevant charity. If my viewing doesn’t actively put money in their pocket (ex: I rewatch a DVD I bought years ago, I rent something from the library,) I donate $5.

Again, I’m not saying this is the “right” answer and I try to avoid snap judgments of people’s choices here, because I know this is a complex topic to navigate. However, I’ve been doing this for a few months now, and I like how it’s working for me. It takes some of the pressure off of me to always make the most considerate choice while still giving me some accountability in what I do or don’t watch.