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I don't know that I realized the full extent of the allegations. This is disheartening and makes me sick to think about.

I am no fan of woody Allen, but did read the following article in response to the recent firestorm:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/27/the-woody-allen-allegations-not-so-fast.html

It provides an interesting "other" perspective. I'm currently in the field of forensic psychology as part of my work where a lot of what i do is determine whether or not accusations of abuse and neglect are true, and I have to say I found some of the points to rather compelling, if they are in fact accurate. Ultimately, I hope Dylan finds the healing that she needs.

http://www.google.com/search?q=woody+allen+soon+yi+daughters&safe=active&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=WADxUvqWEZOLkAeImoEo&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=904#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=FaSL-2v46hAetM%253A%3BcE6W50c0Rh7mgM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.babyrazzi.com%252Ffiles%252F2011%252F07%252FFP_7634687_UNO_Allen_Woody_00_10.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.babyrazzi.com%252Ftag%252Fwoody-allen-soon-yi-previn%252F%3B500%3B687

I've always considered him a skeevy old man considering that he married his step daughter.

I can't get her letter out of my head. Sickening.

@yerpie110: This article makes me so mad. The author doesn't prove much to me except that technically he and his "ex-wife" were never married and they didn't live together. That still doesn't eliminate the creepiness of him going after her 19 year old daughter. Which...fine, totally legal, but just creepy to me.

I very much feel for his non step-daughter (according to that other article). I think that he did do something to her whether Mia coached her on the video or not. The PTSD isn't made up and I very much tend to side with her over Woody Allen.

I've never seen a Woody Allen movie. At the time of the whole Soon-Yi thing I decided that he was a skeevy old man and wanted nothing to do with him. I hadn't heard about Dylan. I read her op-ed and I side with her. But it doesn't really matter whether or not I believe her. The Soon-Yi stuff, in my opinion, was enough for me to write him off. There's too much good art in this world, it won't hurt me to miss Woody's.

@yerpie110: I read that article, too. It bothered me. I don't think it's really a good defense of Woody Allen. If I was Woody, I'd tell my friend to just stay out of it!

Woody Allen skeeves me out. He made (and was successfully sued for defamation) some very nasty comments regarding his ex-wife's sexual assault. Soon-Yi also isn't the first teenager he had a relationship with as an adult. His comments on equality not being a necessary part of a relationship, coupled with his (what seems obvious) preference for younger women equals skeevy in my book.

I don't know if the allegations by Dylan are true; and I think she's had a rough go of it either way.

I side with Dylan. At 12-13 years old, I remember the original scandal and being skeeved out. The Vanity Fair article was enough for me to believe that he's a predator. Woody Allen's aggressively attacked Mia and her other children in the press even before the open letter. During the original investigation, he hired doctors and investigators to gaslight his adopted daughter. That's some messed up behavior. Mia halted the investigation because of the emotional turmoil to Dylan.

Unfortunately, Woody Allen's response and other celebrities that support him continue the rape culture and blame Dylan.

The Soon-Yi stuff always skeeved me out.

I don't know what happened, of course. I should give Allen the benefit of the doubt (innocent until proven guilty, and he was never charged) but I'm prone to believe a child, even one who's mother was furious with Allen and could have been manipulated. And I'm definitely prone to believe that child as a grown woman, alleging the same things. She's made herself anonymous for all of these years, and I can't believe she has much to gain from coming out again now. I can't imagine she needs the money--her mother is Mia Farrow and her brother is a famous photographer.

But though I believe her...I dunno. Good men do bad things (Ghandi beat his wife, for example) and bad men can make great things. I'm not going to boycott Woody Allen movies because I think he could be a scumbag pedophile. As often, the Onion sums up the moral quandary:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/boy-ive-really-put-you-in-a-tough-spot-havent-i,34949/

I haven't read it yet but I think it is important to remember. .. there is the artist and then there is the art... not to confuse the two. Woody Allen is a brilliant artist and movie maker.

@lovehoneybee: Yah he will probably continue to get financing, especially from Europe:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-31/woody-allens-blue-jasmine-banks-its-laughs-in-euros

But I do think more actors and actresses will worry about making movies with him. Roman has definitely had a hard time getting great actors and actresses to star in his films. Either way though, I think this kills any Oscar ambitions for Blue Jasmine... Oscar balloting starts next week!

@yerpie110: I'm sorry...I definitely didn't mean to imply that you were siding with him. I moreso was commenting on that guy and the article about the other side and how it didn't really sway me. I think the guy who wrote that article was way to dismissive of Dylan. But certainly didn't mean to imply anything!!

@yerpie110 i found that article very interesting, thanks for sharing. I've never cared for woody Allen's movies just because he seems fairly pretentious, but I glad to have a more rounded perspective on the issue.

@2peasinapod I don't really see how the author was dismissive of Dylan at all. He reiterates a few times that he believes she and her brother think the events happened so no matter what their pain is real and he hopes they find piece. I do think the author is more critical of Mia farrow than anything else, and honestly knowing about her friendship with Roman Polanski given what her daughters situation makes me angrier than anything I've read.

I don't want people to think I'm on woody Allen's "side" with this, because I really don't think this is the publics business at all- I've been a victim of sexual abuse and would never have been able to handle this much media coverage about what happened, so i can't help but feel completely invasive even though the victim here chose to address the matter publicly.
Mostly it's just interesting to hear the other side, and it's helped at me to remember that it isn't anyone but this family's place to decide what happened when it comes down to it.

@lauraeabel: Mia Farrow's stated on Twitter that she longer associates with Polanski.

@yerpie110: Also, although I "side" with Dylan--there are plenty of people believe Woody Allen completely and that's okay, too. We all have our reasons and none of us were there!

@scg00387: ugh. You are right, that quote is nauseating.

@scg00387: What a sick, sick man to even think that and put it out there!

I thought this was a really interesting article about the implications for watching his movies after this has all come out: http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2014/02/03/3239511/woody-allen/

I've been mixed before on my opinions of his movies--like of his recent ones, I LOVED "Midnight in Paris" but absolutely hated "Matchpoint." I hadn't seen "Blue Jasmine" yet but based on the points this article makes, I don't think I'm going to!

Also, this was a quote in the article above from a different writer, but I thought it was really compelling:
“If you are saying things like ‘We can’t really know what happened’ and extra-specially pleading on behalf of the extra-special Woody Allen, then you are saying that his innocence is more presumptive than hers. You are saying that he is on trial, not her: he deserves judicial safeguards in the court of public opinion, but she does not."