Harvey Weinstein – too powerful to offend

 

 

Movie super-mogul Harvey Weinstein – Pulp Fiction, Sex, Lies and Videotape, The Crying Game, Good Will Hunting, Shakespeare in Love – apologised for inexcusable behaviour with colleagues in the past which had caused a lot of pain and promptly said he was suing the New York Times for printing allegations of sexual harassment and abuse. Actress Ashley Judd contributed with an experience of her own and he raised questions about her mental stability.

‘Too influential to offend and too powerful to be dethroned’ appeared to have been Hollywood’s attitude though cracks are beginning to appear. Robbie Collin, the Telegraph film critic wrote today about ‘the rumours of bullying and brow-beating that seemed to circulate every awards season. Weinstein was known to twist arms, crack skulls and leave a trail of butchered and unreleased films in his wake, but his results were supposed to excuse it.’ Miramax, the company he founded with his brother Bob garnered 75 Academy Awards and was nominated for 228 more.

Born 19 March 1952 in New York, (four days before Rex Tillerson) he has an unaspected Sun in last degree of filmic Pisces; with six planets in Cardinal signs giving him an overdose of initiative, and talent for dreaming up new projects. Her Mercury Jupiter in upfront Aries opposes Neptune Saturn in Libra; with Saturn in an autocratic square to Uranus perhaps tied into a T square by a Capricorn Moon.

Plus a bulldozer Mars in Scorpio square Pluto, which would enrage him when opposed. Tillerson has the same though his Aries Sun opposes Saturn which is a more understated combination and it’ll depend very much on houses how it acts out.

An unaspected Sun tends to act as an island unto itself, is self-centred usually with high self-regard.

If his Moon does oppose Uranus and square Saturn, he’ll be emotionally cold and erratic.

He has tr Pluto opposing his Jupiter/Saturn midpoint at the moment which is often when a job is lost – he’s stepping back from his company with several executives resigning. So not a career high. He also has tr Pluto square his Saturn/Neptune which suggests a degree of turmoil, not obvious from his bullish statements. 2018 could be a mess with tr Pluto square his Jupiter opposition Neptune, a bubble-bursting, devastating time.

His business the Weinstein Company, founded 10 March 2005, now run by his brother Bob, certainly looks to be running into a brick wall in 2018/19 with tr Pluto opposition Saturn and moving to conjunct the Mars in 2019.

His brother Bob, with whom he evidently has a tricky relationship was born 18 October 1954. Like HarveyW he has a heavily Cardinal chart with Jupiter Uranus Moon in Cancer opposition Mars in Capricorn square Sun Neptune in Libra. He’s certainly moving into a very up and down phase across into 2020 with tr Uranus opposing his Sun Neptune and then square his Mars; before tr Pluto moves to square his Sun Neptune in 2020.

24 thoughts on “Harvey Weinstein – too powerful to offend

    • Nonsense. Mars in Scorpio square Pluto is power-packed and potentially bullying, no matter where it falls in a chart. Sure a birth time helps in giving the planetary positions an additional context. But it isn’t always available. And isn’t always accurate. It’s usually recorded several days if not weeks after birth. Birth times don’t usually come from hospital record which would be the only truly sound ones. You can get 70 to 80% of all info without it.

      • It’s not only just an “additional context.” It’s necessary. Having a birth time, even if off by a few minutes, can be exceptionally helpful. That’s standard astrological practice and knowledge. You don’t get 70 to 80% of knowledge just from the aspects. And I don’t know what country you live in, but birth time is recorded the moment of birth in the vast majority of cases.

  1. He has to own it, the news reports just get worse and worse. I am not sure it is any gender’s responsibility to call out sick behaviour like this. I am more concerned he has consequences for what he has done.

  2. The experience of whistle blowers in the past and even present isn’t one which would make it remotely tempting. There was that social worker who tried to alert authorities to the child abuse in Rotherham (I think) and was fired! Years back a Hollywood actor, Cliff Robertson, was blackballed for years after outing a film executive for financial fraud. The executive was re-hired and Robertson was unemployed. Power corrupts and institutions tend to close ranks – look at the Vatican, other churches and public schools facing abuse allegations. Straight under the carpet for decades with pay-offs and/or intimidation.
    One person speaking out had/has virtually no chance against the general culture of hostile disbelief that always comes out in these cases. Where it makes a difference is if there are multiple allegations – like Cosby – and then it tends to be unassailable, but he’s still walking about in freedom.
    Plus in Weinstein’s case he was not only hugely influential also hugely talented. Does art trump morals? Look at Polanski. Indeed look at Ted Kennedy – when he died he was practically sanctified.

    • Isn’t that tragic though that a person can be hugely talented and yet corrupted at such an ugly level? He has a God-given talent and yet that male culture has been his undoing. He could have been an unbelievable force of good in his industry not just for women but as a role model for other men. I don’t think Weinstein is inherently evil yet I do think he is a typical product of our patriarchal culture. It’s not Middle-East patriarchy but it is male values for the most part that design our society, our laws, our programming, even decide which films should be made (with age-old stereotypes still thriving), etc. On the other side of the coin, you have Trump who is exceedingly privileged and yet if it were not for his big boy club connections he would be an abject failure because he lacks talent by the truckload. Everything has been handed to him on a plate, even his presidency, and yet he is always failing at his craft. If it were not for our flawed culture (which worked for a purpose many moons ago to get us where we are today) he would never have risen through the ranks. It’s because of these dirty powerful men in those ranks it can be like taken on a Goliath. Because they stick so close to each other in order to protect their environment and power. When women stand up to them they are labeled ‘deranged, mentally unstable feminazis’. When the few men who oppose them they are ripped to pieces and publicly ‘de-emasculated’ using vile overtones of homophobia and misogyny.

    • Well said, Jo.

      And behind it all is a massive amount of money and influence and ego.

      It does feel to me that we are collectively undergoing an apocalypse which is the whole point… and on the other side of the rainbow is a new world that is virtuous and kind. That is my belief and prayer.

      On the political end my approach is not very partisan. Plenty for all sides to answer for. The whole of the governmental world has been crying out for revision for a very long time. With the tumult now, it feels as though countries are very aware and connected to each other and there is not much room for error.

      As for Hollywood, Bollywood, and all the rest… it is fair and reasonable that the filmmakers and producers and actors and actresses pause and consider exactly what they are filling the airwaves with and ask if it is bringing us to a better improved world.

      To your original statement, it does require $ for the industry to move on. Celebrity is expensive and many just chose not to risk rocking the boat or else their own career could stall and star would fall.

      Peace.

      We can do much much better and we shall.

  3. Could this be a Regulus passing to Virgo effect? Female stars are now becoming producers on their own right in Hollywood. It isn’t predominant yet, but we’re starting to see effects.

    • Brilliant result! This should be standard for anyone with corrupted, arrogant and immoral sensibilities and an example should be made of them. But I’m not stupid to know they have only done this because it has come out in the open and embarrassed the company. They knew all along what this grease stain of a man was up to. Everybody did. Still, I hope this is the regular outcome for people like Weinstein.

      • He begged like a dog in front of the board. Could not believe this was going to happen to him, in his own company, and his own Board. Ha!

  4. Jo, realistically what would you want for anyone “to do” about Harvey Weinstein? I read about his combative and aggressive physical and verbal abuse in public at awards ceremonies and nothing was done by those in the entertainment industry even when it was in full view and filmed. Everyone looked the other way as did his wife. Same with Bill Cosby.

    • In a realistic world and considering the men run the machine at the apex of Hollywood it would be nice for a number of these rich powerful men to ostracize men like Weinstein out of Hollywood and expose his disgusting behavior, thus also drawing a line in the stand that they are not like that and they will not stand for such conduct. But, that is asking too much.

      There have been a number of whisperings about Cosby over the years on the internet and of Jimmy Saville for that matter of which got reported and nothing was done. They were protected by those who are supposed to protect the public. I personally know a woman who was a victim of the vile rapist, Max Clifford. She reported him and was categorically told by the police years back they wouldn’t do anything about it because ‘he was too powerful.’ Hope the guy dies in prison. It’s a man’s world with men’s rules and judgments and we have to lump it as part of our culture. For now. I didn’t know that Weinstein subjected folk in such a public way and nobody did anything about it. I think that alludes less to people having no backbone or power and highlighting the fact that kind of behaviour is normal and justified and it is a deeply embedded culture which is next to impossible to change. I don’t doubt for a second there are some women who also abuse their positions but, I’m half-confident in the fact that when a number of people as much as get a sniff about their corrupted powers, they would be thrown under a bus a lot sooner than their criminal male counterparts. I mean, I personally class Hilary Clinton as much a criminal as Trump. But, only the man and a sexual predator and racist at that could make it into the highest office in the world and become President of the United States of America. Neither deserved it. And that’s the tragedy. It’s part of OUR CULTURAL programming. That being a certain gender with criminal intentions can still be awarded which creates a subversive culture that just keeps going on. Yes, these men hold women back but they also hold a number of other men back to a lesser degree from evolving. This desperately needs to change. But how? Childhood? School?
      Sterner laws? It’s all easier said than done, isn’t it?

  5. Hollywood always was pretty much a meat trade in women and to some degree television wasn’t much different at a senior level, viz Roger Ailes. But the pressure is on and the public shaming of major female film stars is going to start to hurt careers, if they don’t come out with condemnations. Surprised at the late night comedy shows. They can’t be selective about their targets on partisan lines. Bad behaviour is bad behaviour. I’m always a touch slow to comment on these kinds of allegations since UK libel laws are different from the USA. In the US you can say pretty much what you like if you have no ‘malicious intent’. But in the UK you have to know it’s true before you start spouting off. –

    • I agree with you Marjorie. Your posting reminded me of the abuse that Marilyn Monroe endured in Hollywood and also by the Kennedy brothers. This is not new. What was unusual about Weinstein is that he was observed in public being very bad and people turned blind eyes away from him and his actions. Let us be optimistic and pray that this flushing out will be the end of it not to continue in the future.

      What I was referring to in my posting was about women in powerful positions who use and abuse men and women in relationships. It happens. I suggest that we will see more of that outed.

    • Roger Ailes and Bill O’Reilly were remarked on right away, because they lack had no power in the late night hosts industry(entertainment). HW could have come down hard on the networks or late night hosts personally (their families,etc.). He’d started campaigns of harassment against the reporters trying to break these stories. So I don’t blame them for waiting comment on him, until he was neutered by termination from his company.

  6. Waiting for Bill Clinton to make a statement and also his wife who accepted sums of money from Weinstein. They were friends. CNN is quiet. So are the late night comedy programs. A host of people in the world are silent on this one with Harvey Weinstein.

    It may not be long before powerful women are outed for similar behavior.

    Worldwide sexual abuse. Perhaps it is time that individuals stop pointing the finger at others and clean up their own backyard. It is something to improve and put behind us. Does not have to continue.

    • Not one soul demanded public statements or accountability from President Bush sr. or jr., denouncing Roger Ailes or Bill O’Reilly.

      The Clinton are no more responsible for HW’s actions than the Bush men are for Ailes actions.

      There’s a name for holding women to higher standards than men, and it’s a big part of why we can’t call Secretary Clinton, “Madame President” today.

  7. I see Trump has declared that he ‘isn’t surprised’ by Weinstein’s sexual behaviour, as if the mere admittance of it makes him out to be a hero. By admitting he basically knew about Weinstein he has yet again exposed himself as the vile sexual misogynist predator he is who is part of an in club of powerful men. Trump, as much as many don’t like him, was at the time of knowing about Harvey’s behaviour, a powerful male in the world of the rich sorts. And yet, HE DID NOTHING ABOUT IT. These kind of men in positions of almost absolute power just turn my blood to raging acid!

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