Entertainment

So, J. Law "Worships" Woody Allen

by Kadeen Griffiths

After the empowering statement that Jennifer Lawrence gave about the nude picture leak in the upcoming issue of Vanity Fair, it truly seemed to me as confirmation that she can do no wrong. Of course, Lawrence is no angel. She's a person, just like you or me, but she remains one of the most relatable and beloved celebrities out there. When Lawrence's nudes were leaked without her consent, that seemed to mark a turning point in the dialogue of nude picture scandals, a change that allowed celebrities like her to get the law, and the fans, on their side instead of the usual universal victim blaming. However, the latest excerpt from her Vanity Fair interview is mildly concerning. In it, Lawrence admits she worships Woody Allen and that's pretty problematic.

To be fair, there's no real context for what Lawrence meant when she said that. She was talking about the qualities that she looks for in a man and apparently she wanted a guy like Larry David, because of Curb Your Enthusiasm. She then went on to say, "I worship Woody Allen, but I don’t feel it below the belt the way I do for Larry David." Since David both created and starred in Curb Your Enthusiasm, it's unclear whether Lawrence meant she loves him as an actor, as a creator, or as a person. Which makes it equally unclear under what context to take her declaration of love for Allen.

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Lawrence has admitted that Allen's Midnight in Paris is one of her favorite movies before, in a 2012 interview with Rotten Tomatoes, but there's a drastic difference between loving someone's work and loving someone as a person. As a person, Allen is a controversial figure. In February 2014, Dylan Farrow accused Allen of sexually abusing her when she was a child in a powerful New York Times article, a scandal that had a bizarrely positive effect on the ticket sales of his next movie. Then there was the time that Allen said he wouldn't hire black actors "unless he wrote a story that requires it" — which was his defense against the "stupid" accusation that he purposefully avoids hiring any. And those scandals were just from this year alone.

It's all right to be a fan of Woody Allen's films. That's absolutely no crime. After the violation of her privacy by the hacker who released her intimate photos, it's quite likely that Lawrence in particular would feel more than anyone that a scandal has nothing to do with an objective evaluation of someone's work. I've heard Allen's movies are great, even though I side-eye any celebrity who has appeared in one after the sexual abuse scandal. (Yes, I'm looking at you, Emma Stone. Why do you break my heart so?) However, right now Lawrence's words don't seem to be describing an appreciation for Allen's work as much as they seem to be describing a love for Allen himself. And that's really disappointing.

There were many celebrities who spoke out in support of or in defense of Allen after the sex abuse scandal, and many negative comments that were made in Farrow's direction for speaking out, but Lawrence's "worship" of him shouldn't be taken as any implication that she supports any or all of that. Until the Vanity Fair interview comes out and clears this up for sure, I'm going to assume she meant that she's just a huge fan of his movies. Because to think that someone like Lawrence wouldn't worship the man behind the movies a lot less after the Farrow scandal is too sad for me, especially after she spoke so powerfully on behalf of herself and other victims of the "sex crime" that was the nude picture scandal.

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