![Oliver Stone [image via Gage Skidmore wikimedia commons]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2017/10/13/660x290/b_502x220x82/oliver-stone-image-courtesy-of-gage-skidmore-wikimedia-commons_1629677.jpg "Oliver Stone [image via Gage Skidmore wikimedia commons]")
It looks like the famed director Oliver Stone is the latest Hollywood player to be caught up in the Sexual Harassment scandal that has rocked the entertainment industry to its foundations. Stone had come to the defense of Harvey Weinstein, according to Hot Air, stating that it was too soon to condemn him. Stone later revised and extended his remarks on Facebook, announcing how “appalled” he was and commending the courage of the women who had come forward. Now a former Playboy model named Carrie Stevens has come forward and accused Stone of grabbing her breast at a party about 25 years ago.
Oliver Stone’s body of work
Stone is well known as a Hollywood lefty whose politics tends to permeate his movies “Platoon” and “Born on the Fourth of July” are particularly nuanced views of the Vietnam War, for example. His “JFK” is a classic of conspiracy mongering and history revisionism. He has also done biopics of Richard Nixon and George W. Bush.
A couple of Stone’s nonpolitical movies are of more significant interest. “Alexander” is purported to tell the story of Alexander the Great and is a portrait of a bisexual megalomaniac that, like his other historical films, take liberties with the truth. “World Trade Center,” however, was a straight-up story about the courage of a group of firefighters who find themselves trapped in the rubble of the twin towers during the 9/11 attacks and may be his most exceptional work.
How wide will the scandal spread?
One could dismiss Stone’s groping a Playboy model as an instance of drunken boorishness rather than the systematic pattern of abuse exhibited by Harvey Weinstein. However, the story that seems to be emerging in the wake of Weinstein’s epic fall is a culture of powerful men using beautiful women for their pleasure, whether they want it or not, and getting away with it.
If the “rape culture” of Hollywood is not a case of power corrupting, then nothing could be the case.
The casting couch has been around since the movie business has existed. However, we have also seen that with great talent (and both Weinstein and Stone have that in abundance) can go an even greater lack of couth. Where it comes to sex, people will misbehave and will make bad choices.
However, societal norms and sometimes the law can put a check on that sort of behavior. Hollywood had no such checks and balances. Harvey Weinstein and who knows how many others were allowed to do as they pleased and in return got winks and nods. That era may now be at an end as it has long been in the outside world.
