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On social media, Johnny Depp is winning public sympathy over Amber Heard

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On social media, Johnny Depp is winning public sympathy over Amber Heard

Actor Johnny Depp waves to the gallery as he leaves for a break Monday throughout his defamation trial in Fairfax, Va. towards his ex-wife, Amber Heard.

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Actor Johnny Depp waves to the gallery as he leaves for a break Monday throughout his defamation trial in Fairfax, Va. towards his ex-wife, Amber Heard.

Steve Helber/Pool/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

On Monday, actor Johnny Depp is scheduled to return to the stand within the defamation trial between him and his former spouse, Amber Heard, that’s happening in Fairfax County, Va. Depp sued Heard over an op-ed she wrote in The Washington Submit in 2018 about being a survivor of home violence. Heard didn’t identify Depp within the Submit essay, however Depp says his skilled repute was harm nonetheless. Closing arguments within the case are anticipated to start this Friday.

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On Weekend Version Sunday, sociologist Nicole Bedera, who focuses on sexual violence, spoke to NPR concerning the trial and its implications for discussions about intimate companion violence — and why social media appears to have way more sympathy for the previous Pirates of the Caribbean star than for his ex-wife.

Public opinion seems to be weighing way more closely in favor of Depp than Heard. On TikTok, as of Monday morning, #IStandWithAmberHeard has garnered about 8.2 million views, whereas #JusticeForJohnnyDepp has earned about 15 billion views. Why is there such a disparity?

“I believe there are a number of causes for that,” Bedera stated. “Certainly one of them that is actually easy, and that we can’t overlook is, in a defamation case, Johnny Depp will get to go first. And so his facet of the story has been instructed in full. And lots of people made up their minds after week one of many case or day three of the case. However the different purpose is that in on-line areas, we frequently see that males’s rights teams and different anti-feminist teams are higher organized. We all know that males’s rights activist boards, for instance, have been following the Heard case fairly rigorously.”

Might it’s doable additionally that the general public is likely to be extra sympathetic towards Depp as a result of he’s such an enormous film star, and so well-liked on display screen for many years?

Sure, Bedera responded. “That is one thing I say lots,” she continued. “All of us assume that sexual violence is unsuitable and say that we are going to consider and assist survivors, up till the perpetrator is somebody we all know and like. You do not wish to really feel such as you’re a foul individual when you proceed to love Pirates Of The Caribbean.”

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Throughout the trial, Depp has additionally accused Heard of assaulting him, and claimed that he’s a sufferer of home violence as properly. It has been one thing of a catalyst for males’s rights teams to rally round Depp.

“In our society,” Bedera stated, “we anticipate that victims match a selected mildew. We name it the proper sufferer trope. And infrequently we confuse victims’ self-defense as a type of aggression. And that is actually widespread in instances like this, the place perpetrators will declare that they’re the true victims. They do one thing that psychologists name ‘DARVO.’ ‘DARVO’ is an acronym that stands for deny, assault and reverse sufferer and offender. And we’re seeing it on show actually clearly on this case, the place Johnny Depp is denying — not that he was violent, he really remains to be admitting that there was violence coming from him on this relationship. However he is denying that Amber Heard’s story of it’s reliable, and as an alternative saying that she drove him to violence.” (In a sequence of 2016 texts, Depp and fellow actor Paul Bettany mentioned the concept of killing Heard, which he stated on the stand was “summary humor.” He additionally claimed on the stand that it was Heard who turned their fights bodily.)

Bedera additionally says that she is anxious concerning the affect this trial might have on victims of intimate companion violence and their willingness to come back ahead.

“That is my greatest concern about this case, and I believe it is one thing that is actually gotten misplaced within the sensationalism across the trial,” she added. “Proper now, [Depp’s] workforce is alleging that if a girl comes ahead and identifies as a survivor in public, that that would rely as defamation.”

That might pose dangers to accusers who will not be as high-profile as Depp and Heard.

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“Completely, it is already taking place,” stated Bedera. “In line with a Know Your IX report from 2021, they discovered that of the survivors that report back to their universities, 23% are threatened with defamation lawsuits by their perpetrators, and 10% face some form of a retaliatory criticism on campus.”

Depp’s repute in Hollywood has already taken successful. Final Thursday, Depp’s former agent testified that studios have been much less keen to work with him due to his “unprofessional habits” and rumored substance abuse.

“One query I’ve proper now, in our kind of post-#MeToo second,” Bedera commented, “we’re making an attempt to resolve what the implications needs to be for intimate companion violence. And the truth is that Johnny Depp is dealing with a number of penalties for committing acts of violence, not simply to Amber Heard but in addition for unstable habits on set. And individuals who work alongside him have a bit clearer of an image than any person who’s watching it on TikTok and does not know any of the individuals concerned on this case. Each Johnny Depp and Amber Heard admit that there was violence on this relationship. The query is whether or not or not there needs to be penalties for that violence. And that is the combat we’re having in public proper now.”

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A Beijing restaurant critic arrives at a crossroads in this absorbing family drama

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A Beijing restaurant critic arrives at a crossroads in this absorbing family drama

Gu (Xin Baiqing) struggles with his own sense of impermanence in The Shadowless Tower.

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Gu (Xin Baiqing) struggles with his own sense of impermanence in The Shadowless Tower.

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The title of The Shadowless Tower refers to an enormous 13th-century Buddhist temple that looms over the Xicheng district of Beijing. It’s called the White Pagoda, and it was designed in such a way that its shadow can be hard to see.

That makes it a poignant metaphor for the movie’s middle-aged protagonist, Gu, who’s struggling with his own sense of impermanence. As he quietly drifts through a life riven by loss and disappointment, he wonders, as time slips away, if he himself will leave a meaningful impression.

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The viewer, however, will not forget him anytime soon. Gu is played by the actor Xin Baiqing, whose movingly understated performance holds you through every step of this leisurely but absorbing drama.

We first meet Gu as he and his family are visiting the grave of his recently deceased mom. It takes a few moments to figure out how everyone’s related. The 6-year-old girl we see is Gu’s daughter, and she’s as happy and upbeat as her name, Smiley, would lead you to believe.

But we soon learn that Smiley lives with Gu’s older sister and brother-in-law, who have effectively adopted her. While Gu is very much a part of their lives, he’s an unreliable father at best, prone to showing up late — and sometimes drunk — for regular visits.

Whatever Gu’s failings as a parent, they seem to faintly echo those of his own father, whom he hasn’t seen since he was a young boy for reasons that are not immediately clear. Now, decades later, his long-absent father has been quietly reaching out to the family, and Gu is considering letting him back in.

You can imagine how this all might play out in a different movie, with stormy flashbacks, anguished recriminations and a tear-jerking happy ending. But the writer-director Zhang Lu is after something subtler and more realistic. He knows how hard it can be, in life, for even two willing parties to connect.

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The movie’s other key relationship proves similarly elusive. Gu, who once dreamed of being a poet, now works as a restaurant critic. One of his colleagues is a mischievous young photographer named Ouyang, played by Huang Yao, who takes pictures of the dishes he writes about.

But while the two have a flirtatious chemistry, their romance never really gets off the ground. That may be because of their age difference, which Ouyang pokes fun at by playfully introducing Gu as her father or her boyfriend, depending on the situation. But it may also have something to do with Gu’s passivity. As another character puts it, “Too much politeness builds a wall between people.”

In its own unassuming way, The Shadowless Tower means to knock down some of those walls. Most of us realize, sooner or later, that we’re more like our parents or other family members than we care to admit. But the movie articulates that truth with a gentleness that can take your breath away, like the eerie moment when Gu realizes how much Smiley resembles the grandfather she’s never met.

And if this is a story of intergenerational conflict, we see some of that tension reflected in Beijing itself. The camera follows Gu around the city, where sleek modern surfaces coexist with ancient traditional buildings — like that White Pagoda, often seen in the background.

There’s another inspired touch that resonates powerfully if you know to look for it. Gu’s father is well played by the filmmaker Tian Zhuangzhuang, who, like many Chinese directors of his generation, experienced government censorship and persecution earlier in his career. His 1993 drama, The Blue Kite, set during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, was banned in mainland China, and Tian himself was restricted from filmmaking for 10 years.

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I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Tian’s character in The Shadowless Tower is seen flying a kite, or that he’s shown to be emerging from exile. There’s sadness in that parallel, but also a sense of hope — a reminder that while none of us can change the past, the future remains beautifully unwritten.

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Oprah Says She Starved Herself for 5 Months in Past Diet

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92NY, a historic cultural center, turns 150 — grappling with today's Israel-Hamas war

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92NY, a historic cultural center, turns 150 — grappling with today's Israel-Hamas war

The 92nd Street Y, New York is celebrating its 150th anniversary. As a Jewish cultural institution, it’s also facing criticism related to the Israel-Hamas war.

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The 92nd Street Y, New York is celebrating its 150th anniversary. As a Jewish cultural institution, it’s also facing criticism related to the Israel-Hamas war.

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Nonprofits often struggle to adhere to their original mission statements, especially as they develop new programs and serve new audiences. For Jewish institutions, the Israel-Hamas war has been an inflection point.

That’s been especially true of The 92nd Street Y, New York, which turns 150 this month.

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92NY was founded by a group of German Jewish New Yorkers as one of the earliest branches of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association, which were modeled on the Young Men’s Christian Associations, better known as the YMCA.

It had a simple goal — help immigrants assimilate, said Seth Pinsky, CEO of 92NY.

“They saw a growing wave of Eastern European Jews and felt that these new immigrants would need a place where they could learn how to become Americans, become educated, gain skills, and adjust to a new life in a new country,” Pinsky said.

Swimming at New York’s Young Men’s Hebrew Association (YMHA) in 1911. The YMHA eventually became The 92nd Street Y, New York, a cultural force that hasn’t lost its community center vibe.

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Over time, The 92nd Street Y, New York became much more: a nondenominational, cultural powerhouse open to all. “Even though it was founded as a Jewish institution, has always been a Jewish institution, it is also an institution that has always served the wider world,” said Pinsky.

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‘Category buster’

Look through the archives and it seems like anybody who’s anybody in culture, science, politics and the like has appeared at 92NY: writers such as Dylan Thomas and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, entertainers like Paul Robeson and Carol Burnett, and scientists like Dr. Jane Goodall. Modern dance pioneers Martha Graham and José Limón taught at 92NY before founding their own companies. Alvin Ailey debuted his best known work, Revelations at 92NY in 1960.

Martha Graham was among the modern dance pioneers who taught at 92NY before founding her own company.

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The 92nd Street Y, New York

Every day, thousands of people still use The 92nd Street Y, New York as their local community center. They come for its swimming pool, daycare, gym and numerous classes, from tap dancing to jewelry making.

They also come for events and lectures. Recent speakers include actor Emily Blunt and actor/singer Audra McDonald, former U.S. Rep Liz Cheney, and Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. Special Envoy to Combat and Monitor Antisemitism. During the pandemic, 92NY started streaming virtual presentations online, reaching millions of people around the world.

“It’s a category buster and there’s really nothing else like it anywhere,” said Pinsky.

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Pinsky said 92NY was built on Jewish and American values including “debate and a robust exchange of ideas.” From Israeli prime ministers to civil rights activists, for decades it has thrived as a place for diverse programs and points of view.

Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, spoke with Rabbi David Ingber, senior director at 92NY’s Bronfman Center for Jewish Life on Jan. 24, 2024.

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Vladimir Kolesnikov/Michael Priest Photography/The 92nd Street Y, New York

But that identity was shaken after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Afterward, 92NY postponed an event by one of its divisions, the well-regarded Unterberg Poetry Center.

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Viet Thanh Nguyen was scheduled to talk at 92NY two weeks after the attacks. But he was also one of hundreds of writers who’d signed an open letter in the London Review of Books condemning Israel’s occupation and calling for a ceasefire. The Israeli government says that a ceasefire could lead to further attacks.

Nguyen’s novels are about surviving war and trauma, but Pinsky said it was not the right time for him to appear at 92NY.

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“It was during the traditional Jewish period of mourning, and it was about a week after the so-called Day of Rage, when Hamas called for the targeting not just of Israelis, but of Jews and Jewish institutions,” Pinsky said. “And so what we said was not that he couldn’t hold those opinions and not that he could never appear on our stage. But maybe that moment wasn’t the right moment.”

The Poetry Center’s director, Bernard Schwartz, refused to postpone and quickly arranged for the event to take place at a local bookstore instead.

Nguyen told the audience he believed he was canceled.

“Art is supposed to keep our minds and hearts open. So the greatest irony of all of this is that what could save us — or one of the things that could save us — art — has been silenced,” Nguyen said.

Writers, including playwright Tony Kushner, signed an open letter angry at 92NY’s decision. Some of those scheduled to speak last fall withdrew. Schwartz and the two other members of the Poetry Center’s staff resigned, effectively suspending the program.

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“It sends a terrible message, because writers have to be able to express themselves,” said James Shapiro, an author and English professor at Columbia University. He’s been actively involved with 92NY for years, including teaching a class on Shakespeare. He said he’s so furious, he doesn’t plan to return.

“I’m a Zionist. I’m a supporter of the Y. I’m a defender of my community,” said Shapiro, “And when a group within that community is effectively making it worse by aligning it with a view that Jews censor writers who don’t line up with their beliefs, it sets a terrible example.”

Shapiro praised the work of the Poetry Center’s small staff and “the brave stand that they took in defense of free speech.”

Pinsky said he’s well aware there are people in the literary world “who are not happy with the decision we made.” He vowed to rebuild the Poetry Center. “We’re ready to do the work and we think our poetry program and literature program is an important one, and it’s one that we want to get back on its feet.”

Cultural institutions need to ‘reconsider everything we do’

92NY is just one of many cultural institutions getting heat for whatever they do — or don’t do — related to the Israel-Hamas war. The decisions they make could affect their funding, audiences and staff morale.

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“The 92nd Street Y, like all Jewish institutions, but I think all institutions with conscience, have to think ‘How do we respond?’ ” said Susannah Heschel, chair of the Jewish Studies Program at Dartmouth College. “I think it means we have to reconsider everything we do. As a professor of Jewish Studies, what do I hope to achieve? And I’m not sure.”

CEO Pinsky said 92NY’s commitment to a “robust exchange of ideas” hasn’t changed. Since Oct. 7, it has featured conversations that have been both critical and supportive of the Israeli government.

Trying to make sense of difficult topics is one of the many reasons people go to 92NY. But they also come for concerts or to take a class or go for a swim. Pinsky said its mission to enrich individuals and create community is needed now “more than any time” in its 150-year history.

“The fabric of society is being pulled apart in so many different ways,” he said. “And bringing people together and making them feel connected is incredibly important. And that’s who we’ve always been and that’s who we continue to be.”

This story was edited for audio and digital platforms by Jennifer Vanasco.

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