Gibson’s Legacy
Mel Gibson has been having a lot of troubles recently. His ex-girlfriend, and mother of his youngest child, recorded phone conversations in which he verbally abused her and said she dressed like a slut and “if you get raped by a pack of niggers it will be your own fault.” That single sentence should be enough to ruin his career. It goes way beyond his drunken anti Jewish rants.
Sexism, racism, dehumanization, violent misogyny and blaming the victim. All of it said in a nasty, angry tone of voice.
I don’t think it will ruin his career, though.
Mel Gibson is no longer a young man. He has produced a tremendous body of work. The Mad Max films are cult classics. He was in a couple of great Australian films before he was internationally famous, such as Tim, where he plays a retarded boy. He wasn’t afraid to take chances. He played Hamlet. He acted on stage. He directed.
Braveheart was a brilliant film, and not just because of his acting. I never did see Passion of the Christ, I’m not a Christian and don’t get off on torture, but I really admired him for making it. The studios didn’t want to do it, mostly because he wanted to do it in Aramaic, for realism. So, he made it himself. He became filthy rich and I applauded him for it. I did see Apocalypto and it is awesome.
Of course, we can’t forget the Lethal Weapons films, either.
All of these films still exist. They will be rented and downloaded forever.D.W. Griffith, Leni Riefenstahl and Elia Kazan are all remembered today as geniuses of cinema, despite their objectionable viewpoints, and the same is true of Mel Gibson.
Of course, his reputation is tarnished and he may never make another film. That’s O.K. He’s made enough.
www.gurukalehuru.com 