While much of the circus surrounding the Depp-Heard trial feels entirely of this moment (a livestream that regularly draws half a million viewers, the rhetoric around “believing women,” and the sheer power of Mr. Depp’s fans to shape the narrative) in many ways what we are witnessing is a story as old as time. “We no longer have what Hester Prynne had, but we have a version of it,” (referencing the 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter, whose subject is shamed for her adultery) said Gillian Silverman, Professor of English.
Why We Love to Watch a Woman Brought Low
The New York Times, May 20