A thought on Bollywood’s #MeToo Moment…

As these sexual harassment scandals (and worse) related to the Indian entertainment industry keep cascading, and even as I am certainly glad that so many people are being named and shamed (and really ought to face criminal prosecution in many cases), I think equally that all these stories do contribute to a pornographic spectacle, which ‘we’ (those nice people on the other side of the screen who always behave ethically in every circumstance..) are quite happy to consume on a daily basis. It would be monstrous to defend that which can only be condemned, that which ought to disgust all of us. But one doesn’t need to sympathize with such people to also accept that this is a culture. Of course many of the pieces accompanying every latest revelation accept as much. Nonetheless the sensationalism of each such story suggests the opposite logic — of the exception. Whether there are 10 stories or a 100 the illusion is created that the rest are perhaps ok as no one has shamed them. A certain luck of the draw then…

Now one could hardly insist that every ‘victim’ speak out against every harasser or attacker or rapist, these are undoubtedly personal decisions that must be respected absolutely. But there is an asymmetry at work here. On the one hand a culture (not that the entertainment industry is the only such but it is one of the very worst in this regard, anywhere in the world) where certain pressures are near universal, where certain kinds of behavior are a ‘given’, even become a norm. On the other the ‘some bad apples’ notion, which is more or less the space all these stories operate in. Even the ‘victims’ who do speak out, courageously or otherwise (for one must try and escape such platitudes..), often do so selectively. They too in many instances do not name and shame everyone with whom they’ve had terrible experiences. One of course cannot argue with people who make these difficult choices but one certainly can reflect on whether such individual decisions (justifiably) merely tease the ‘ogre’ without really disturbing its sleep.

I raise some of these questions not because I wish to interrogate the ‘victims’ (even if this word too makes me a bit uncomfortable for certain reasons that I won’t get into here). Quite the opposite. I wish to interrogate the ‘audience’, the consumers of these daily ‘shockers’, the sanctimonious, naive ‘we’ who never really expected any of this and now with each new story are constantly putting up a new celebrity on the stake (who stayed silent? who did not do anything? etc). ‘We’ who either always act responsibly and morally in our lives and who are always willing to pay a price to uphold such rectitude. The events recounted in the public testimonies speak for themselves (there are some ‘victims’ on the other side as well but the power pendulum always claims ‘innocents’ every which way it swings..) but they are also offered before a court of public opinion and it is necessary not to take the jury-and-judge at face value.

In such a culture (that of ‘Bollywood’ for example) no matter who you are you can’t survive if you have a ‘zero tolerance’ policy. It would be quite impossible to operate in a movie industry with the principle that one would never ever work with anyone who did such reprehensible things in any sense whatsoever. ‘We’ insist on such denunciations but ‘we’ never follow through on the same logic for ourselves. Most of the time we’ve not been tested. Would we resign from our positions if we felt that our bosses were doing such things? I very much doubt it. Even if we were willing to what if we felt that most bosses were that way? Would we leave that line of work altogether? Again it’s very easy to jump on one particular case and take one side or the other but it’s harder to make that larger systemic argument. Ultimately aren’t we also implicated as the audience? Do we stop watching the films of particular actors/directors or whoever when we hear about their stories? In a movie industry you have to make a 100 compromises every single day. There are people who don’t do these sorts of things personally but still work with others who do. How would they last otherwise? Let’s take a poll — how many people are willing to stop watching films if people connected with them indulge in such behavior? Think we all know the answer. And here it’s not adequate to say that we don’t know for a fact what happened in other cases. We don’t of course but unless we’re naive or worse we all know (or ought to know) that the level of sexual exploitation (not just of women) is always at stunningly high levels. And it’s also quite often of the most degrading kind. It’s simply institutionalized in many ways, a fact of life. And things are complicated. The worst kinds of human beings sometimes produce the best artistic works. It’s a paradox of life. But if one is going to feel that strongly about this one should minimally start boycotting the films! This might be a good place to start before we start putting other celebrities on the stake for having remained silent. Or we might want to dust up all the mirrors in our house where evidently we did not see the faces of those who kept showing up for stars who for instance run over people on the sidewalk and are treated as conquering heroes when they pay no real legal price.

It is easy to keep pretending, to keep getting upset at each new sordid episode. One certainly should be. But what of the rest? How would people in the film media survive if they refused to engage with movie industry figures on a daily basis? But they too express shock and sadness later. When the story breaks. One’s heart goes out even moreso to those actors who’ve just discovered some of these awful truths after years spent in the industry. We are all part of this malaise. Those who act monstrously in positions of power.. the record speaks for itself. They don’t deserve the slightest sympathy. And again it is ‘good’ that they are identified. But who really has the right to condemn those who keep operating in such an environment? From the film media to the audience everyone seems compromised. Don’t even many of the ‘victims’ operate in the same ether with many others who do similar things to other people? Don’t the ‘victims’ too remain silent? Even after they’ve attained positions of relative influence where they are less vulnerable?

There is perhaps nothing ‘to do’ here. Those who are identified in certain ways and end up with their careers destroyed, who might even face legal action, undoubtedly deserve it. It is also impossible to police an entire system where such behavior is all too acceptable and even expected. Wherever power is distributed so asymmetrically massive exploitation follows as a matter of course (though we would do well to remember this in other areas of national life as well.. and not only on gender-related issues). And the exploitation has at its service various mutations. When people are powerless before you or at least far less so you can take advantage of them in different ways. You have very many options. Very often you have the complete cooperation of the victim. All of this bears thinking about even if one cannot effectively legislate against it.

I never really buy the innocence of the audience. Much as I don’t subscribe to the innocence of the voter. There are always other people watching bad films, there are always other people choosing bad leaders (or good leaders ‘disappoint’ us after getting elected). ‘We’ remain innocent, naive, unknowing. But we are always very spirited when it comes to enjoying the sordid details of each new harassment story, we are always happy to drag people to the stake, we insist on the most comprehensive denunciations, we refuse to tolerate silence as a response, we too exploit our power (the public figure depends on us one way or the other and can scarcely respond in kind). But we never judge ourselves to be responsible for anything. Why are we watching the films? Why are we supporting the same people in all sorts of ways? Why do our livelihoods depend on writing about them, interviewing them, socializing with them? These are not ‘other’ standards we have to live up to. These are our own. This is not simply a tale of cinema. What of our silence everywhere else in life? We see so much every day, live with it every day, make our peace with it every day, without saying anything… without even registering it beyond a point…