As I read the list of the top ten misconceptions about Woody, I was up to #8 feeling kinda cocky that the author wasn't going to change my mind- I already knew these things but still had a bad feeling about him. I admit I was ready to write the author off as some guy in Woody's "pocket" like Vanity Fair (articles by Maureen Orth) and Mia herself would have me believe. However, #9 surprised me - I had always had the impression that Soon-Yi was a bit...slow. Maybe because of her husband choice, but most likely because...well the word Mongoloid does have two meanings. I decided I wanted to dig into her background further, however the only information I could glean on her came from Spanish Wikipedia that Google was so kind to translate for me. It informed me that Soon-Yi did in fact graduate college:
Soon-Yi graduated from Art at Drew University in 1995, and later, in 1998, graduated in special education from the University of Columbia
Maybe not as impressive as the author would have you believe, and she only has to speak her native language and English to speak more languages than me. But my eyebrow arched at this pointed reminder of Mia's past:
... The adventure was confusing and shocking not only for the girlfriend of Woody Allen with whom he shared many years of his life, but by the age difference of 35 years between Soon Yi and Allen, although Mia Farrow married Frank Sinatra in 1966, 30 years younger than the singer.
When Mia was 19, same age as Soon-Yi when she started her relationship with Woody! It started to click with me that I had been lured in by the salaciousness, because c'mon, and the facts had never really added up. And I grew more incensed as the epiphanies kept coming to me: they didnt live in the same dwelling and probably most likely spent most nights apart. I can't imagine he was much of a father figure to most of her kids. Mia was herself admittedly living a polyamourous life, Ronan/Satchel is CLEARLY a Sinatra, and indeed the Soon-Yi was absolutely of age - no laws broken there.
It was Mia who had lashed out at Soon-Yi like one would attack a mistress, and not like a mother who's child was being preyed on.
It was Mia who was the suspicious acting one who edited the video of her daughter and refused to take a lie detector test.
It was Mia who in court "conceded that the girl would not tell a doctor of the abuse, and that a medical examination a few days later showed no sign of it."
It was Mia who participated in the Golden Globe tribute by allowing clips of her to be shown, she had in fact ALREADY viewed the tribute in it's entirety and signed off on it.
It was Mia who testified on behalf of the ADMITTED child rapist Roman Polanski (against allegations that he had fondled yet another young girl).
It is Mia who never mentions that her own brother is a convicted sex offender, nor does she stand up for his victims. Her other brother committed suicide. Is there something in their childhood that has gone unmentioned?
A drop from the as yet unheard from 3rd child:
Moses Farrow, now 36, and an accomplished photographer, has been estranged from Mia for several years. During a recent conversation, he spoke of “finally seeing the reality” of Frog Hollow and used the term “brainwashing” without hesitation. He recently reestablished contact with Allen and is currently enjoying a renewed relationship with him and Soon-Yi.
Then there is the nanny's account of Mia's behavior to add to this new portrait I have of her.
When Mia tweeted that a 7 year old girl was on record naming Woody as
her molester, there weren't enough characters to include that the
child's accounts often varied, that she liked to...embellish, and that the doctors stated "We had two hypotheses: one, that these were statements that were made by an emotionally disturbed child and then became fixed in her mind. And the other hypothesis was that she was coached or influenced by her mother. We did not come to a firm conclusion. We think that it was probably a combination." Albeit, it was added that "We don't have firm evidence that Miss Farrow coached or directed Dylan to say this.""
Just because a woman does good things does not mean she is always a good person. In this case, she may have just been extremely... DISGRUNTLED.
I just jumped on the bandwagon. I think I will jump off. I will feel free to go back to watching Blue Jasmine. Which I did not pay for.
"Dylan’s story is as riveting as it is disturbing, but the fact is we’ll never know whether the events she recalls as searing memories really happened in the way she describes. This isn’t a case of “attacking the victim,” and to argue in good faith doesn’t make someone a monster or a child sex abuse apologist; it makes him or her a realist who accepts that the family politics at play in the Woody/Mia custody battle which was ripping their family apart in 1992 were so brutal and ugly that unless there’s evidence to back up that claim, every claim deserves to be questioned."
"Again, I'm not an expert but I don't think Woody Allen is a child molester.
I also don't think Dylan Farrow believes she's telling a lie."
"...I also think that for a person to be accused of a crime is not the same as him being guilty of committing it. And there’s no certainty, there’s no satisfaction, in there. There’s just the uneasy space outside of it. The space where so many of these kinds of stories of alleged abuse resides. Not in obvious villains and victims. In the dreadful, gnawing place of doubt."
The terms of the article would have been negotiated beforehand. Mia Farrow is, at this point in her career, not a Vanity Fair worthy subject. Hence, in return for laudatory press coverage of her charitable work, and near sycophantic treatment of her yet-to-be-employed son, she would have had to agree to revisit her legendary scandal. That, and then some. The price of publicity for her and Ronan was, in effect, Allen.
Update: 2/5/2014
Make of it what you will
