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On the second day of jury deliberation in the trial of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, a pirate ship docked before the Fairfax County courthouse. It was shipped in a flatbed truck, painted brown and featured a female pirate on the bow, her breasts partially exposed. Depp’s face is on the side of the boat, in the character of Captain Jack Sparrow.
But a pirate ship is hardly the strangest thing in this spectacle of a defamation trial – which resulted in the jury concluding that Depp was slandered by Heardand awarded him substantial monetary damages, and discovered that Heard had been lied to by Depp’s attorney in one case.
Happy Palace alpacas. Fans travel from all over the world. Memes act on Heard’s abuse allegations. Conspiracy theories for every trend. And the fact that everyone seems to think surname are experts on what happened behind closed doors between the two, each of whom has accused the other of reputational damage and domestic abuse (accusations they both deny) .
It’s safe to say that not since the OJ Simpson case, when more than half of America keep an eye on the sentencing, or the trial of Phil Spector, or even Casey Anthony, ever aired on TV, the trial has become such a circus. And not since Lorena Bobbitt – when hot dogs and other snacks in the shape of a filling are sold outside of court – there is a case involving domestic violence allegations being treated as such a spectator sport.
Depp may be the bigger winner in this case, being awarded $10.35 million, compared to $2 million for Heard.
But the truth is, there are no real winners here.
The trial explored Depp’s history of substance abuse and outbreaks of violence. His text about his ex-wife, read aloud, is too crude to be printed here. Heard admitted hitting Depp, which she said was in self-defense. And she was forced to recount the graphic details of the alleged sexual and physical assault. She has also received death threats.
Meanwhile, the victims of domestic violence watched this case unfold with horror.
It seems we are no wiser about the complicated and sometimes messy reality of intimate partner abuse. If anything we tried in every last time.
Testing doesn’t have anything new understanding of the #metoo . movement.
Even after all our claims of being better now, As we learn from the way we treat women like Monica Lewinsky or Britney Spears, we’re no longer close to becoming the kind of culture that doesn’t televise such events, doesn’t take advantage of celebrity misfortune, doesn’t divulge details. thrifty watching a woman be demeaned. As Lewinsky put it in an essay this week for Vanity Fair: We are all guilty.
Earlier in the trial, I wrote about how the courtroom drama seems to have exposed most profound misconceptions. Heard, whether you choose to believe her or not, has endured what is essentially a nice, old-fashioned public looting – only memes can replace the stones.
And at the end of the day, this is more than Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. This is about us.
