It may be the Age of Trump Tweets, but we can still count on the tribals of Hollywood to package hedonistic uplift as moralism. No matter how tasteless or pointless it may seem.
And from comedians? They can always pretend it is irony. Sarah Silverman, for example:
Did Ms. Silverman say that to Harvey Weinstein?
The statement was made apropos of nothing as far as I can tell.
I know, I know: take a joke. Let it go. But I do think I understand Silverman’s shtick: say things so outrageously inappropriate the better to twist discomfort into laughter. Unfortunately, when she gets earnest-and-weird we never really know, do we? Her earnest breaches of manners and good taste seem indistinguishable from her ironic breaches of same. She can always proffer plausible deniability.
She always has cover. Her support of Bernie Sanders could have been one big jest, I suppose. It makes a kind of sense, since otherwise it was so senseless.
But during the Downfall of Harvey, it is hard not to read in some bizarre contexts to goofy-but-standard Hollywood sex-positive propaganda. And, come to think of it,* her oh-so-meta rape jape in The Aristocrats now takes on an even heavier, more disturbing tone than it seemed at first (deep) blush.
twv
* No, just don’t.
Wirkman Comment 