Woody Allen: “Cancel Culture is the Stupidity of Our Generation”

Woody Allen is currently shooting his first French-language film in Paris with Valérie Lemercier, Melvil Poupaud, Niels Schneider, Elsa Zylberstein, Lou de Laâge, Guillaume de Tonquédec and Grégory Gadebois. Vittorio Storaro is the director of photography.

An interview with Allen [via ABC Spain] deserves to be translated into English.

During the fascinating conversation, the writer-director tackles Mia Farrow, the decline of New York City, his urge to retire, his new film in Paris, and the sad state of American cinema (“There are always good movies, there are always some wonderful ones, but much less than before”.) .

Allen also tackles cancel culture, and the absurdity of it all. He draws succinct parallels with the venomous McCarthyism that snuck into American society in the 1950s:

Well, you know, the human race has consistently behaved stupidly throughout history. Cancel culture is the stupidity of our generation. Time will pass, we will look back and it will happen to us as with the McCarthy era. We will be ashamed of it. And we'll say to ourselves, “My God, did people really do that and accept it? That teachers be fired, university professors, that scientists be discredited, that actors be put on blacklists?

People will take time to see it. Again, the example of McCarthyism serves, which was horrible in the US. Everyone was called a communist. "If you listened to folk music, communist." It turned into something laughable. And then people started seeing it. There are already many people who see cancel culture for what it is: an embarrassment.

Let’s be clear though, Allen is still making movies, but most of the money is coming from European financing and not the American studio system. If Allen had any desire to make another theatrical movie in the US then it would surely be a difficult endeavour.

In the ABC Spain interview, Allen expresses his desire to continue working in Europe, most notably in Spain, France and Italy. He is well-loved and admired in those countries and, I suspect, many there are well-versed in the details of the allegations made against him by the Farrows.

If one took the time to read up on the history of Allen v Farrow then they would surely come out of it with broader knowledge of Allen’s innocence. The problem is that not many bother to read anymore, they’d rather blindly trust 140 character tweets than actually seek the facts of the case.

I highly recommend Robert Weide’s excellent dissections of Allen v Farrow which were published on 5.30.16, 12.13.17 and, most recently, 1.14.18. As well as Moses Farrow’s vehement defense of his dad.

As I wrote in my 03.09.20 essay titled “The Case for Woody Allen’s Innocence”:

“This is a polarizing and infuriating scandal and the noise around it is not about to quell anytime soon. And yet, in an age where information is abundant and educating yourself on just about anything is just a click away, the disinformation campaign led by the Farrows is dangerous and destructive to the #MeToo movement, whose historic significance should not be dampened and taken advantage of by opportunists.”