The blindness of the public to the excesses of their idols is hardly defensible. The actor's case is the latest example
The perception that the general public has of each star is almost always what Hollywood wants it to have. That is why the tough-guy fame that turned Johnny Depp (Kentucky, 53 years old) into an erotic myth was perceived as harmless: it fell within the canons of the traditional American rebel without a cause. Until he got out of those canons.
Johnny Depp was sued for physical assaults in the divorce lawsuit filed by Amber Heard. Social networks, that hemicycle so abstract and anarchic that always has opinions, sided with him. "Nothing hits him," some said. "How can such a generous man be violent?" Asked others, accompanying their reflection with photos of Depp placing the sonotone on an old woman on the same day of the complaint.
"How can Johnny Depp be violent?" is an empty question, because the simple fact of appearing in successful films does not exempt anyone from committing mistakes or crimes
It is not an isolated case. It has happened numerous times. In 1943, two teenagers accused actor Errol Flynn of sexual abuse. Flynn was one of the biggest stars of early Hollywood, thanks to his roles as a romantic heartthrob and, above all, to the movie Robin of the Woods. According to the indictment, Flynn had taken advantage of the drunken state of the two girls, both 17 years old. The social upheaval was overwhelming, mostly in favor of the star: the association ABCDEF (American Boys Club for the Defense of Errol Flynn) led a movement that came to say that how could Errol abuse anyone, if with how handsome he was could he get who you want.
Flynn was found not guilty, which did not surprise one of the complainants, Peggy Satterlee, who told the press that "the jury spent the trial looking at Errol Flynn and adoring her, as if she were her son." Despite the fact that Flynn had immortalized the phrase "I like whiskey old, but I like women young", no one took this controversy into account and he continued to accumulate successes until his career collapsed when he did not enlist in the army to fight In the Second World War. Paradoxically, the public did not forgive him for this affront, although the only reason Flynn did not go to the front was because he had not passed the medical examination. The actor died at age 50 of a heart attack, just before marrying what would have been his fourth wife, a 15-year-old girl.
Since the dawn of Hollywood, the industry has always made sure that its stars exist in a dimension other than ours. That generates fascination and mystery, and therefore millions of dollars. When this magic is broken, public opinion reacts by oscillating between disappointment and confusion: but how can he do something wrong, if he is a Hollywood star? This tendency to excuse people just because they are famous has recently been revealed in two very different cases. Clint Eastwood giving his public support to the Republican candidate Donald Trump (becoming the only star of the first order to do so) and the lurid episode of Johnny Depp being accused of mistreatment by his now ex-wife, Amber Heard.
Clint Eastwood is a true Republican, ever since he registered as such in 1952 to vote for Eisenhower. However, his sensitivity and empathy (which his films always exude) led him to criticize his party's war activities in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. He has also been in favor of the freedom of women to choose to abort and marriages between people of the same sex. This air of "affable Republican" caused many to be surprised when a couple of weeks ago Eastwood confessed that, when choosing, he prefers Trump because "Hillary Clinton will follow in Obama's footsteps, and she has earned a lot of money with politics. I am sure that Ronald Reagan gave up to profit with its policy ".
The press fueled this narrative by exposing Amber Heard's bisexual past, as if it had remotely something to do with her divorce, and claiming that those ex-girlfriends of his wife were what pushed Depp out of the papers.
Regarding Donald Trump's racist comments, Eastwood apologized, assuring that the candidate says a lot of nonsense, but the press has exaggerated them. "In my day saying those things was not racist," recalls Eastwood, who is the same age as Trump. And he added: "We live in a society of babes" (note: some Spanish media have translated pussies as "mariquitas", which is not entirely correct).
Why are we so surprised that Clint Eastwood, who has always voted for the Republican Party, supports the Republican candidate? If almost half of Americans are Trump supporters, it is a matter of probability that one of them is a Hollywood star. Even Meryl Streep, who shared the screen with Eastwood in The Bridges of Madison, was perplexed by these statements and assured that she would have to "talk to him."
Image is everything, and that's why when three classic stars like Kevin Costner, Harrison Ford and Michael Douglas got divorced, audiences only turned their back on one of them. All three had been unfaithful to their wives, but Ford and Costner enjoyed impeccable public images that Douglas, famous for his erotic thrillers, lacked.
Going back to the most recent case, that of Johnny Depp. The truth is that the actor already created a scandal in the 90s, when he destroyed a couple of hotel rooms during his relationship with the model Kate Moss. These violent outbursts weren't new, but that hotel rage was buried as an anecdote from the wacky '90s, a relic of Depp's rebellious facade and even part of his brash charm.
Since that scandal, Johnny Depp has become one of the favorite actors of the general public, whose initial instinct was to distrust the victim. The press fed this narrative by exposing Amber Heard's bisexual past, as if it had remotely something to do with her divorce, and claiming that his wife's ex-girlfriends were what pushed Depp out of the papers. The publication of a video in which Depp is aggressive against the furniture in his house and verbally assaults Heard while pouring a glass of wine first thing in the morning has accelerated the agreement, according to which Heard will receive a sum (without very high doubt) of money in exchange for his silence.
It seems that the less famous person in the conflict was required to provide much more evidence than the star. But the social repercussion of this murky episode has once again evidenced the public's blindness to the sins of their idols, perhaps because they shine too brightly. "How can Johnny Depp be violent?" It is an empty question, because the simple fact of appearing in successful films does not exempt anyone from committing mistakes or crimes. Sometimes it even makes it easier: we have let them believe that they are above good and evil and that they can do whatever they want. Not this time.
