I had a situation where my high school band director was removed for some alleged misconduct, so this movie really spoke to me. I've heard so many other stories like it since then, but this was the first one from my experience. And I remember even as a high schooler hearing the rumors of his innocence and the duplicity of his accuser and…
I had a situation where my high school band director was removed for some alleged misconduct, so this movie really spoke to me. I've heard so many other stories like it since then, but this was the first one from my experience. And I remember even as a high schooler hearing the rumors of his innocence and the duplicity of his accuser and trying to balance those with the unnerving possibility of his guilt. But it was always a matter of integrity to support this person who I knew so well even given the uncertainty. After he was cleared and retired anyway, he showed up at one of our concerts as a spectator and I made a point of going up to him to show support.
And that's what stuck out for me in this movie. Not the Cate Blanchett character, but the supporting cast, who I think are so realistic in their mendacity. All of them are gunning for glory. Most of them are happy to support the main character until they are happy to dispose of her, showing little or no loyalty or integrity. The truth of the accusations are irrelevant to them, they just go whichever way the wind is blowing, and despite ostensibly being individual human beings, they act almost in perfect harmony. It's incredibly creepy, but not unrealistic.
My question is why are people like this? I don't get it. I don't get why they don't care about the truth. I don't why loyalty is so unimportant to them. I don't get why "cancellation" is considered a just outcome even for the guilty. None of it computes to me. It's self-apparent to me that even if you take Cate Blanchett character as being totally guilty (which the movie is somewhat ambiguous about), she's still the least despicable human being in the film (aside from her daughter). I assume there is some mechanism by which others disagree, but I struggle to understand it.
I had a situation where my high school band director was removed for some alleged misconduct, so this movie really spoke to me. I've heard so many other stories like it since then, but this was the first one from my experience. And I remember even as a high schooler hearing the rumors of his innocence and the duplicity of his accuser and trying to balance those with the unnerving possibility of his guilt. But it was always a matter of integrity to support this person who I knew so well even given the uncertainty. After he was cleared and retired anyway, he showed up at one of our concerts as a spectator and I made a point of going up to him to show support.
And that's what stuck out for me in this movie. Not the Cate Blanchett character, but the supporting cast, who I think are so realistic in their mendacity. All of them are gunning for glory. Most of them are happy to support the main character until they are happy to dispose of her, showing little or no loyalty or integrity. The truth of the accusations are irrelevant to them, they just go whichever way the wind is blowing, and despite ostensibly being individual human beings, they act almost in perfect harmony. It's incredibly creepy, but not unrealistic.
My question is why are people like this? I don't get it. I don't get why they don't care about the truth. I don't why loyalty is so unimportant to them. I don't get why "cancellation" is considered a just outcome even for the guilty. None of it computes to me. It's self-apparent to me that even if you take Cate Blanchett character as being totally guilty (which the movie is somewhat ambiguous about), she's still the least despicable human being in the film (aside from her daughter). I assume there is some mechanism by which others disagree, but I struggle to understand it.