It’s been a year to remember. Starting with #MeToo campaign and the fall of Harvey Weinstein, followed by the demise of Kevin Spacey and so many others, the tables have truly turned in the film business. Women have stepped up, even some men, who have clearly spoken out about the dark side of the film business, in a manner we haven’t heard or seen before. It started in USA, and has been popping out in many Western countries. Unfortunately, the East is still to be conquered by the movement, let’s hope it reaches there, too.
Here in Nordic countries, Sweden practically collapsed because of the whole #MeToo campaign. Many entities were dragged into the light and revealed to the public for the creeps they are, and not just in film. Nearly every industry was affected.
On the flipside, some of it went too far, to some, the whole #MeToo became a hobby with nothing to do with actually outing the perverts but more just a thing to do to make yourself be part of some movement. We all want to belong, to some it means even if it’s belonging to a group of abuse victims.
In Finland, the discourse has been, as it typically is, quite a bit more muted, but just recently, three things happened: a director (Heidi Lindén) spoke out about a handful of names in the business who constantly harass women (she didn’t release the list of these names, though, so we were all left wondering); an ex-professor in the most prominent film school (Lauri Törhönen) in the country turned out having been highly inappropriate and abusive towards rather helpless students; one of the most well-known director in the country (Aku Louhimies) turned out having used questionable directing methods, which are borderline sexual, emotional and physical abuse.
There is, and will be, also cries out for the wolf in Finland, too. Even though we are this dark, Nordic isloation-enjoying people, there are always those longing for attention, and failing to get it any other way, they will become desperate.
Big problem is also, there’s a lot of victim-blaming going on, which seems to be the case every time especially a female falls a victim of abuse of any kind. We humans are disgusting in that way.
So, let’s try to keep our eyes on the ball: the business is offering a roof for creeps and those getting their kicks from power games of all sorts, and those we don’t need in the business. Let’s oust them. This is supposed to be a working environment which is first and foremost, safe, artistically fulfilling to ourselves, preferably slightly profitable in exchange for the time we spend doing it, and last but not least, sometimes fun. And never, ever dangerous or abusive.
Simultaneously, let’s remember we are humans, we interact with other humans, sometimes successfully, sometimes not so. Also, we are artists, sometimes our “arts” fail to connect. Not every time situations like this are “abuse” or deserve a #MeToo hashtag, or any equivalent of it.
One thing is for sure, though; times *have* changed, and that’s a *good* thing. It means, now there is a direct way to communicate, the problem has an easily-identifiable name and there are loads of brave people who acted out and told their stories. And some creepy stories they are. Those actions we need to commend. Witness.
Truth is, guys, we can do this better. It’s not hard, even. Refuse to abuse, and refuse to accept any abuse from people around you. This doesn’t require any special codex to decipher, you know when things are wrong if you are an approximately mentally healthy human being. And by “approximately” I mean you are not a sociopath.
We shouldn’t feel too bad we haven’t interfered every time we’ve seen some shit go down, however we try to avoid it, some of it has been “silently accepted part of the business” – you know, “we all know him, he’s always like that”…. but from now on, if we still decide to not to behave like humans when we see an abuse happening around us, then it’s on us. What we’re doing is a fucking illusion, a suspension of disbelief, a charade, and no amount of “it’s great art” -crap can fill the emotional gap an abuse-approving environment leaves in the business.
The film business is shedding its’ skin. Let’s show the next iteration is better.
Vuorensola.com 