Is John Suda entitled to a fair hearing before a court of law? Yes he is. Is he innocent until judgment is reached? Definitely. Does the prosecution have to prove that the charges made in his regard are beyond all reasonable doubt? Of course. And if there are any doubts, will they benefit the accused, as in other criminal cases? Yes.
Should any of this prevent us from reaching our own conclusions about his actions? Of course not!
We have every right to weigh the facts that come to light with a healthy dose of disdain for the ridiculous justifications being brought up by Suda supporters to defend his actions.
Chief of these is their echoing his claim that it is “standard practice” to hold one-on-one drama workshops where coach and student strip naked in a locked room and where the student is blindfolded and then has to feel off the drama coach’s trouser-snake.
According to Suda, this is the way to go if you’re an aspiring actress and you want to shed your inhibitions. Because you know all local drama and television series demand totally uninhibited actors and actresses who feel very comfortable squelching around in their birthday suit with a similarly unclad sexagenarian.
When I read the account of the bail hearing and this reference to what passes for “standard practices” in the John Suda handbook of inhibition-shedding, I couldn’t help cringing at the awfully clichéd aspect of it. Clichéd because blindfolds and nudity seem to be an essential combo in every single steamy film since the dawn of time.
We saw the obligatory blindfold featured in the publicity poster for Fifty Shades of Grey but it was nothing new. Kim Basinger was blindfolded in 9 and a Half Weeks in the 1980s when she was fed ice cubes and raw vegetables by Mickey Rourke playing the role of a sex-obsessed man called John. So clichéd, so repetitive.
The other “familiar” aspect of the scenario described during the court hearing is that it’s the old casting couch/audition/ rehearsal routine where you have a man [it’s usually a man] in a position of power somehow ending up persuading a far more attractive younger woman to strip off.
There are the criminal courts and the courts of common sense and human decency
By “power” I mean someone in a superior position by dint of his status, experience or ability to give parts or training. It’s so commonplace, it’s become another cliché.
It’s precisely the same scenario as that described by Jenny McCarthy when she attended an “audition” held by Steven Segal.
The actress described the scene as follows: “When I said, ‘Well, I’m ready to read,’ he said, ‘Stand up, you have to be kind of sexy in the movie and in that dress, I can’t tell.’ I stand up and he goes, ‘Take off your dress.’ I said, ‘What?’ and he said, ‘There’s nudity.’ I said, ‘No, there’s not, or I wouldn’t be here right now.’ He said again, ‘There’s nudity,’ and I said, ‘The pages are right in front of me. There’s no nudity.’ He goes, ‘Take off your dress.’ I just started crying and ran out to the car.” Sounds familiar?
What about Thandie Newton’s experience when a director asked her to sit with her legs apart with the camera positioned to see up her skirt?
The justification for this stance was that of getting into her role and imagining how it felt to be made love to. Newton later found out that the video of that audition was being shown to the director’s friends.
The rehearsal ruse is such a useful one for men in these scenarios because it provides plausible denial.
“I only asked the girl who could be my granddaughter to take her kit off while I removed my summer long johns and waved my willy around because we have to rehearse the roles of the young girl and the naked willy-waving oldie for the TV series showing this season. It’s purely for teaching purposes and of course my intentions are as pure as the driven snow. It only just so happens that I’ve never had the opportunity to rehearse similar burrito-brandishing roles in the raw with a fellow wrinkly because our local playwrights haven’t yet written such roles…”
Who do these people think they’re kidding?
There are the criminal courts and the courts of common sense and human decency. I would hope that when people pluck up the courage to report sexual harassment and abuse, we hear their pleas in the latter for and we stand by them in solidarity.
The alleged perpetrator’s celebrity should be irrelevant. Well-known and successful people have been known to be sexual abusers too – just look at Rolf Harris and Bill Cosby. Let’s not have a repeat here.
cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt