Madam, - Unlike Senator David Norris, I intend to see Fairytale of Kathmandu(check) during the Dublin International Film Festival. It seems better to me to read a book or watch a film before condemning it.
Senator Norris writes (February 8th) that "the first thing that caught my eye on opening it [ the festival programme] was a sultry poster of a muscular, half-naked youth in what a friend subsequently described to me as 'a classic St Sebastian pose'."
I too received the same programme and reopened it to find this "poster", because I could not recall it. The senator seems to be referring to a small frame from the film, one of over a hundred such frames advertising more than a hundred films. The youth is not particularly muscular and is simply wearing shorts, being about to jump into water. He is considerably less naked than are some people in other frames in the programme. As regards a pose, if one wants to be fanciful, it reminds me more of Jesus crucified than of St Sebastian bound.
Senator Norris says that, because of this single image, he does not wish to attend the film and "swell the profits" of those who made it. He need not worry. Swollen profits are not generally associated with one-off documentary commissions from Irish broadcasters. Besides, people can watch the film for nothing on RTÉ in the near future.
The profits that David Norris makes from representing a university that enjoys the discriminatory privilege of electing three senators are likely to be far greater than any income that the producers of this film will make from their hard work. In any event, it would have been quite unprofessional for the producers to deliver a flattering homage once they glimpsed other realities.
It is lamentable when people's judgment fails them in the heat of collective self-interest. We have seen churchmen unwilling to root out institutional abuse for fear of damaging religion. We watched Irish people and liberals avert their gaze from Bill Clinton's abuse of an employee because he was a "friend of Ireland" and a Democrat. Now we have the spectacle of gay rights activists and artists slighting critics of one of their own. They confuse the admirable trait of privately standing by a personal friend, no matter what he has done, with publicly defending the indefensible.
Senator Norris says that, as regards Cathal Ó Searcaigh's behaviour in Nepal, "there may indeed be some questions to be clarified". "May"? "Clarified"? Like Senator Norris, I too was perturbed by certain media coverage of this matter. However, I am also concerned about the impact of Mr Ó Searcaigh's behaviour on fund-raising by reputable charities which are supporting projects in Nepal. As a friend of some Tibetan refugees, I know that the needs of people in the region are considerable. Such needs are not best met by the sexual favours of a member of Aosdána. - Yours, etc,
COLUM KENNY, School of Communications, Dublin City University, Dublin 9.