Lena's Complex Thoughts On Woody Allen

Ever since Woody Allen's alleged sexual abuse of Dylan Farrow resurfaced when she wrote a open letter in the New York Times, many celebrities have been outspoken about their feelings on the situation and this doesn't seem to be slowing down. Not that talk of Allen's supposed abuse should — a huge problem with situations like these is the incident being ignored. On Monday's "WTF with Marc Maron" podcast, Lena Dunham spoke about the Woody Allen allegations and made some points that fans of Allen's films are likely to agree with.

Dunham believes that Allen's art shouldn't be used as a way to look into the claims of molestation. Dunham says, "In the latest Woody Allen debate I'm decidedly pro-Dylan Farrow and decidedly disgusted with Woody Allen's behavior. But for me, when people go through his work and comb through it for references to child molestation, that's not the fucking point.” Dunham agrees that it makes sense to stop supporting the work of a person who's been accused of something so horrible, but doesn't think it makes sense to look try to find answers in his work rather than using real world evidence which she says "strongly suggests that Woody Allen is in the wrong." She sums it up saying, "I'm not comfortable living in a world where art is part of how we convict people of crimes."

Even if you disagree with Dunham on this point, many fans of Woody Allen's films — or fans of the work of anyone who has been a questionably or definitively immoral person, hey, it happens, especially in literature — will probably relate to her idea that it is possible to like the films without liking the man behind him. When Maron offered, "Bad people have done amazing things," Dunham responded,

It's totally true. People who really believe Woody Allen is guilty have not felt comfortable saying that. Because they're so afraid to lose their connection to his work. And the thing is, I feel like people need to understand that you can hold two positions in your mind. You can know that someone's made work that's meaningful to you and also know that they have most likely molested their daughter... I was so unimpressed by people's inability to think in less binary ways and to just experience the ambiguity that life is constantly offering up.

Even with Dunham recognizing that these dichotomies exists, it is still unsettling to hear her say that you can like someone's work while knowing that they "most likely molested their daughter." It's definitely not a concept that will work for everyone because it is so disconcerting, but that feeling is exactly what Dunham is talking about and exactly what fans of Allen's work have been feeling for a while now.

As for her personal views on Allen's movies, Dunham says that she hasn't seen any them in a long time partially because of who he is and partially because she thinks they "got really bad."