The following Facebook discussion excerpts, launched by Paul Schrader‘s description of an erotic dream, were actually posted this morning:
Schrader: “Last night I had a dream straight from the #MeToo times. I was filming a scene in which I was sexually humiliating a beautiful actress Before each take I described what I was going to do and received her permission on film to do so. And then did it. By the way, I have never filmed such a scene. But I did just finish a new (mildly erotic) script in six days straight, so perhaps that explains by overheated dream.”
“What I found interesting about the dream is that the ID will always emerge even if it has to wear a #MeToo dress.”
HE to Schrader: “No matter how you phrase it, how you shot it, what kind of assurances you received from the dream actress…none of that matters. What matters is that you dreamt about ‘sexually humiliating a beautiful actress,’ and by that admission alone you are GUILTY in the eyes of the mob…period.
“You know, of course, that there are Twitter jackals out there, drooling and licking their chops and ready to pounce upon the slightest not-woke-enough provocation. Why even mention this kind of dream? You know what the fanatics will do with it. We are living in 1794 Paris. If you want to live, you can’t even imagine yourself to be an ally of Georges Danton, who in real life was known for certain ravenous sexual appetites. ”
Schrader to HE: “So dictates Jeffrey Freud Wells. Off to the Gallows — and take your dreams with you!” More: “Gee, Jeffrey, we’re all dying to hear your PG dreams. Maybe the one about how you lost the keys to your car?”
HE to Schrader: “I’ve been losing keys and even wallets all my life. Last year I absentmindedly dropped my wallet into a dumpster so don’t tell me.” Later: Here’s a dream posted on 3.21.20.”
Facebook friendo #1: “Paul, how dare you, as a serious artist, attempt to decipher a dream you had while engaging people in an adult conversation? Apparently policing thoughts isn’t enough, dreams need to be included as well.”
Slow-on-the-pickup Facebook friendo: “Seriously, Jeffrey?”
Dean Michael Kuehn: “Well, I guess many of us are one step away from the Future Crime Unit locking us up then.”
Nic Valle: “Seriously, guy. Art can no longer be art when feelings can light it on fire out of existence.”
HE to Valle: “Are you guys really this clueless? Are you living in sealed-off chambers?
Alan Ormsby: “The #MeToo dream police will hear about this!”
Michael Brakemeyer: “Danton was on the right side of history, so I would have probably sided with him.”
I later explained to the Schrader community that I was “attempting to satirically channel the spirit of today’s Maximilien Robespierre virus. As in ‘hello?…anybody home or sniffing the air?'”
Los Angeles-residing Facebook friendo: “Your comment has clearly been misunderstood.”
HE to LA friendo: “And that’s on me? I can’t be responsible for the failure of Facebook people to comprehend the current political atmosphere, and what has been clearly stated by yours truly. If they want to walk around oblivious to the prevailing climate of terror, that’s their decision.”
