The entertainment industry holds the distinction of originating the #MeToo movement while also being responsible for producing many of its worst transgressors. So has it dawned on people in that industry that the sex-laden TV shows and movies that flow from Netflix or HBO may be indicative of an unhealthy and often immoral preoccupation?
Nope. Huffington Post’s Cole Delbyck reported on Oct. 26 that HBO, studio of the massively popular “Game of Thrones” series, permanently hired Alicia Rodis as “intimacy coordinator” to supervise the direction of sex or other intimate scenes. While Rodis will be working primarily with the cast and crew of “The Deuce,” a drama about the 1970s porn industry, HBO has stated that an intimacy coordinator will be utilized in the rest of its media from now on.
The organization Rodis hails from, Intimacy Directors International, bills itself as “a nonprofit that wants to normalize a ‘high standard for directing intimacy and sexual violence to prevent abuse and harassment.’” HBO certainly needs a “high standard” for some of its horrific rape scenes, such as one in a 2015 episode of “Game of Thrones” which rightly drew strong criticism.
Rodis frames her interventions as ways to instill a culture of safety in the entertainment industry. In an interview with Rolling Stone she said:
“I am here to give a voice to actors, especially actors who feel like they don’t have one...Here we are a year after #MeToo and Brett Kavanaugh sits on the Supreme Court. Donald Trump is our president. Now, tell me we don’t need this — that we don’t have a culture that needs to still be changed.”
TV shows come and go, but it’s always fashionable to blame conservatives (including the target of three completely unverified sex abuse allegations) for a toxic culture. Has it ever occurred to HBO, Rodis, or any of the leftist media legion that they are soaking our screens in fare that objectifies women and regularizes sexual violence? Wanting to protect actors is fine, but hiring Rodis is HBO self-sanctioning their continued production of regressive material.
