By: Ana L. Noriega Olazábal
While positions on the Depp v. Heard trial are quickly shifting, core motivations are not.
Photo: wallpaperswide.com
On June 16th, the article "On Depp v. Heard and its Implications for the Feminist Movement," authored by yours truly, was published through the Spare Rib online section. The article was written in response to the titular trial, which had reached its end a few weeks prior, on June 1st. Its verdict, both in the courtroom and in the arena of public opinion, was unified in a single, resounding choral cry: "HEARD IS GUILTY!" Today, almost two months and a half later, this same choir has begun to succumb to dissonance, as some of its most prominent soloists are now apologetically, if begrudgingly, out-of-key.
The same warning made at the beginning of our original article must be remarked here: Spare Rib is not an opportunistic, tabloid operation. We do not concern ourselves with voyeuristically investigating the private lives of celebrities. This is entirely a matter of principles, for the tabloid industry is one of the greatest idiotization tools of the American bourgeoisie. It directs the eyes of millions towards the newest scandal of the week, and away from the very real dealings of the state, the oligarchies, and the dominant classes. It is a bee-smoker, regularly pumped into each American home, acting as a screen, cover, and sedative for the real situation at hand — that is, the exploitation of the masses.
In covering the continuing development of public opinion surrounding the Depp v. Heard trial, it is not our goal — nor interest — to explore the personal dealings of the individuals in question. Rather, as in our first article, the goal is to expose the concrete, material social relations at play under the surface: violent misogyny, sprouting from the soil of class society, fertilized by our reactionary political era.
Let us examine this closer: in a recent op-ed for The Guardian, Arwa Mahdawi comments on the recent, if somewhat reluctant, change of public opinion towards Depp, Heard, and the trial as a whole. She notes how, for example, many notable female celebrities, such as Bella Hadid, Halle Bailey, and Amanda Knox, have quietly unliked Depp's Instagram celebration post since the trial's end. For Mahdawi, the likely reason behind this lies in the "more than 6,000 [incriminating] pages of court documents were recently unsealed," ironically, at the bequest of Depp fans themselves. The content of these documents is as expected as it is disturbing.
For example, as Jezebel reports, "Depp submitted nude photographs of his ex-wife, information about his ex-wife’s and former sister-in-law’s romantic history, and Heard’s past job as an “exotic dancer” and “escort” prior to acting as evidence" — in short, a blatant attempt to cast Heard in a bad light through slut-shaming. Furthermore, it was revealed that "Depp’s previous lawyer, Adam Waldman, was… accused of coercing a witness, allegedly threatening her with “negative consequences” and perjury, until she signed a pre-written declaration that she never saw any injuries on Heard." This is all but the tip of the iceberg.
Among other discoveries buried within the sealed documents, were, for instance, Depp's team’s opposition to an expert psychiatric testimony, as Depp was "not alleging harm based on a specific physical or mental injury." Additionally, texts between Johnny Depp and Marilyn Manson (who now faces a similar defamation trial) calling Heard a "cunt," discussing how to escape the police if discovered, talking about having their "own Salò,"¹ and introducing each other to barely legal-aged fans, were found.
Nevertheless, it must be remarked that all of this is merely additional evidence thrown upon the gigantic, already-existing mountain thereof. It is somewhat hard to believe that, only in light of these recent discoveries — all of which pale in comparison to the atrocities discussed in the original trial — has public opinion begun to shift. In other words, it is far more likely that these turning tides have more to do with the end of the massive social-media disinformation campaign pushed forth by Depp and his supporters, than they do with any new surfacing information. No longer are videos mocking Heard nor content casting Johnny Depp as the abused rather than the abuser racking up millions upon millions of views. The Daily Wire has shifted its thousand-dollar investments from pro-Depp propaganda to Matt Walsh's "theocratic fascist" projects. Now, the relevant content on social media comes from people — academics, journalists, and feminists — who continue to denounce what they, and those who followed the trial rather than relying on biased YouTube videos, have known from the start.
These changing perceptions, thus, are not the result of investigation — they are the result of empty social pressure. As such, they are not genuine, and do not represent a true transformation in consciousness. Though the public at large may be shifting its positions, it has not changed the fundamental core belief that led them to their original positions in the first place; that is, violent misogyny. There is no mea culpa on the part of those who, hoping to draw attention away from themselves, have quietly "become critical" of Depp. As sad as this is, it is expected.
Changes in consciousness can only arise from profound, correct investigation, coupled with simultaneous, symbiotic social practice. This maxim may be resumed as such: correct ideas² do not drop from the sky, nor do they arise in-abstract within the mind. Rather, correct ideas come from the experiences of oppressed populations, correctly analyzed and studied through rigorous, scientific dialectical materialism.³ A man, born and raised in our present era, would have no frame of reference from which to understand, all-alone, on his own, the mechanisms of misogyny at play during the trial — after all, though he can be berated through misogynistic ridicule, he has never directly experienced it. At best, he has seen his female loved ones affected by things of a similar nature. At worst, he has been on the opposite end, dishing it out to women in his life. Most can and will experience both, but whatever the balance, all men benefit in some way from misogyny. It is for this reason, once more, that this trial was so politically advantageous for reaction — it was a victory of chauvinism, male supremacy, and female subjugation.
The trial's verdict was celebrated across the country by men who feel, even subconsciously, that women have demanded too much and lost too little. Just as Depp became the victim of an evil, sadistic Heard in their minds, they too picture themselves as victims of the world's gendered relations. They harbor profound resentment towards the female sex for the victories we have conquered. These men resent the privileges they have lost, and continue to lose, as a result of decades of feminist advocacy and conscientization in imperialist countries — efforts which have, at best, merely been partial and reformist. Nevertheless, these men's intense fear of female emancipation is all-too real. As muttered by a shaking, terrified Al Monroe, held at knife-point in Fennell's Promising Young Woman, "It’s every guy’s worst nightmare, getting accused [of sexual assault] like that." Cassandra, wounded Sorelian vigilante of the female sex-class, coldly replies: "Can you guess what every girl’s worst nightmare is?"
This is not to say that men are not victimized — though in wildly different ways than women — by patriarchal social relations. The bourgeois too, suffer from their own host of issues arising from bourgeois society; the human propensity to suffering is not exclusive to one class, though it is disproportionately dished out. It is to say, however, that there is one sex-class that, generally, benefits from the trial's tragic, unjust verdict.⁴
Just as it is up to the proletariat and oppressed nations to analyze, investigate, and act upon their own experience of exploitation in order to transform it, it is up to the female sex-class to do the same. It is women of our times, such as Moira Donegan, great journalist, polemicist, and thinker of our sex-class, who have begun to do the intellectual side of this work. As feminists, and as women, it is our responsibility to continue it.
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Notes:
1. Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, is a 1975 film directed by famed Italian director Pier Paolo Passolini. Intended as a scathing condemnation of the titular fascist government that ruled northern Italy during the last days of the Mussolini regime, it is most known for its graphic depictions of the sexual assault, torture, and murder of youths at the hands of wealthy fascist oligarchs.
2. See Selected Works of Mao Tse-Tung, Volume IX, "Where Do Correct Ideas Come From?", Foreign Language Press, Paris, 2021.
3. Generally, on a social level, it is people's social being, their relations to the means of production — i.e, their class position — that determines their consciousness. To become politically useful, this social being — these experiences — must first be investigated. Political practice with a class-stamp is also part of this 'social being,' and as such, it must also be analyzed, deeply grasped, and improved upon.
4. We must not fall into the error of placing sex-class struggle as the principal, central struggle propelling human history. It is a sub-class struggle adjacent to, and dependent on, economic class struggles — which are the motor of history.