Half a Decade Later: 'Paterno' and Institutionalized Abuse

The first newspaper article I ever wrote was about Joe Paterno in 2011 for Academy Road. I was a junior in high school at the time, and frankly, the article partially served as an allegory and warning to my high school for covering up allegations of abuse by sports coaches for decades (not to be confused with my profile and Q&A with Sports Coach, who is a wonderful musician and all around nice guy).

Over half a decade later, HBO has released Paterno, a film dramatizing the fall of the legendary coach played by Al Pacino. A solid swath of what presently ails American society can be found in the film: men abusing their power, sexual abuse being swept under the rug because of a cult of personality, profitable exploitation of student athletes, the misplaced priorities of higher education. Paterno has just as much to say about the Me Too movement as it does about the insight into an emperor falling from the throne. It’s the kind of movie that makes a critic want to rush home to write about it.

Perhaps the saddest thing about watching the film is being reminded of how little has changed in certain respects, and while Paterno and many other public figures since him have been held accountable for their complicity in sexual violence, notable outliers remain.

Yet Paterno also highlights the power of the free press, following local reporter Sarah Gamin, played by Riley Keough, who ended up winning a Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of the college and Jerry Sandusky, who was convicted on over 40 counts of sexual abuse. Paterno is more nuanced than just promoting hope or the free press—it very much dwells on the psychology of Paterno and his blindspots, as well as the institutional binds many ensnared in the scandal faced—but it is nonetheless an important cultural artifact in what is becoming more than just a flashpoint in our culture: the courage to step forward and hold those in power accountable for the abuse of their positions and those beneath them. Films like this and the activism of scores of newly emboldened citizens slowly but surely work to ensure that there will be less and less of a need for allegory, and instead swift action.