Jodie Foster is a two-time Academy Award winner and one of the most respected and well-liked movie stars of our time. She minds her own business, does her job better than most and exhibits nothing but old school class in her personal life. If anyone’s ever had an unkind word to say about her, I haven’t read it and I most certainly haven’t written it. Like many, I was disappointed when she signed on for Roman Polanski’s new film but wasn’t about to judge someone I’ve respected for decades over a single misstep. There’s just too much goodwill there and you can add to that the points she earns for consistency in her willingness to publicly stand by her longtime friend and colleague Mel Gibson, when almost no one else will — including many vigorous and outspoken supporters of a fugitive child-raping director.
The raving left-wingers at Salon, however, have decided that Foster’s loyalty to the embattled Gibson not only warrants criticism (fair enough) but an entire Orwellian “rethink” (their chilling word, not mine) of her as a human being and as an actress. In a piece subtitled, The movie icon continues to go to bat for her embattled friend. Maybe it’s time to rethink the acclaimed actress, Salon writer, Mary Elizabeth Williams, unsheathes the long knives of the New Blacklist:
The time has come to admit it — Jodie Foster is not all that. …
Yet even when she’s not aligning herself with rageaholics and fugitives, Foster’s cinematic track record is something of a head scratcher. Her powerhouse glory days of movies like “The Accused” and “Silence of the Lambs” are now two decades in the past. She did a neat turn in “Inside Man,” but “Flight Plan,” “Panic Room” and “Nim’s Island” doesn’t exactly amount to a stunning body of recent work. (And if you want to blame it on her age, note that Laura Linney, Joan Allen, Hope Davis, Patricia Clarkson, Mary Louise Parker and a slew of other actresses of Foster’s generation seem able to find challenging, award baiting roles in quality films.) Foster can pick and choose. And often, she chooses dreck. …
She’s made a string of forgettable to downright offensive movies. And she thinks Mel Gibson is “incredibly loved.” So why are organizations like Elle handing her accolades? Why are fans, especially women, especially women who fell in love with her sometime around “Bugsy Malone” not coming out and saying, she is no longer our role model?
We shouldn’t be surprised by this. After all, this is the same publication that was so freaked out over “Secretariat” being openly marketed to we churchy types that one of the nicest things they screamed at it was “master race!”
THIS is how the new blacklist works. It’s not enough to criticize Foster for standing by a Hollywood pariah, but through the use of an article posted on their widely read website (especially in Hollywood) that “rethinks” who she is as a human being and attempts to memory-hole — “rethink” — her entire legacy as an artist, Salon has set out to punish and make an example of Foster’s apostasy regarding Gibson to others. The message is clear: stay on the Artistic Thought-Plantation or this will happen to you.
The mistake the writer makes is in admitting that her “rethink” was prompted solely by Foster’s defense of Gibson. In other words, Foster would still rank as “all that” if not for her unfortunate act of independent thought. There’s certainly nothing wrong with making a case that a particular artist has earned a place in the Hall of the Overrated (Meryl Streep, anyone?), but to base that theory on an act of politically incorrectery is not only the height of intellectual dishonesty, it’s downright cruel.
Finally, and most unforgivably, Ms. Williams bullies Jodie Foster because she’s a lesbian who prefers to keep her private life private:
Perhaps the oddest thing about Foster, however, is how she continues to be lauded as an icon. Aside from publicly thanking “my beautiful Cydney who sticks with me through all the rotten and the bliss” three years ago, she’s steadfastly never acknowledged her personal life or relationships, which, frankly, for somebody of her power and influence, is pretty cowardly.
If Foster were a straight woman living a quiet life instead of a gay woman living a quiet life, Ms. Williams would’ve said none of this. But based solely on Foster’s personal sexuality, Ms. Williams bullies her as “odd” and “cowardly” into living her life the way Salon writers think she should.
There’s more than one way to bully a homosexual and questioning their bravery and hard-earned status as an icon because they choose to live a quiet, dignified life, sure counts in my book.
Gee, isn’t that what the Left always accuses Christian Fundamentalists of doing; questioning the humanity of others and shaming those (specifically homosexuals) who don’t live their lives in a particular way?
The Left is losing on every front and since they can’t beat us they’re purging within their own ranks in order to regain some sense of power and control. First they came for Juan Williams, then they came for Jodie Foster… And let the record show that it’s we “intolerant” right-wingers who are standing up and fighting for both.