El síndrome Woody Allen

Why, after more than twenty years with the case closed, has the debate about Woody Allen's monstrousness flared up again?

In 2017, Woody Allen was found guilty by a segment of public opinion. With the rise of the #MeToo movement, his daughter Dylan's testimony about the alleged sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her father rekindled with virulence the old accusation made by her mother, Mia Farrow, in the early nineties. The girl's confession then triggered a series of police and social services investigations that, without even reaching court, ended up exonerating the filmmaker. Why, after more than twenty years with the case closed, has the debate about Allen's monstrousness flared up again?

The Woody Allen Syndrome explores the symptoms that explain this issue: omnipresent sentimentalism and victimhood; new forms of activism; social taboos; the irruption of the internet and its communicative and psychological consequences; false memory; the intricate relationship between fiction and reality; the tyranny of the subject-client in our era; or the current relevance of causocracy, where it seems justifiable to eliminate people's rights in pursuit of a greater cause. The critic Edu Galán, one of the creators of the satirical magazine Mongolia, also puts himself in the crosshairs: could he again hold the university courses he organized in 2008 and 2009 on Allen's work without them being boycotted? What has changed in the university in such a short time?

Alternating with the analysis of the issue, this essay also includes a journalistic account of what happened in the Farrow-Allen family during that turbulent period of separation, accusations, and trials, and its return to the headlines during the past decade.

Reviews:
"A book of extraordinary depth, intelligence, and courage."
Arturo Pérez-Reverte

"A devastating essay that lays bare a culture unhinged by sentimentalism and victimhood."
Sergio del Molino

"An impressive story and a very complete and uncomfortable essay that reads without pause. Chronicle and reflection. Of all the Edu Galáns I know, this is the best one."
Manuel Jabois

"Sharp and provocative. On how, wanting to be good people, we have become witch hunters on Twitter."
Santiago Roncagliolo

"A brilliant analysis of the moment we are living in. Essential, whether you are interested in the case or not. On top of that, it's funny and engaging. The only fault I can find is that the author is Edu Galán, but that's just me looking for a negative angle."
Berto Romero

"A devastating essay."
Raúl del Pozo, El Mundo

"A provocative essay."
Manuel Rodríguez Rivero, Babelia

"A slap in the face to priests and zombies of sentimentalism. The brilliant part of the book is the analysis of these terrible do-gooders and, alas, the confirmation of the definitive failure of the new left, closer to Bezos than to Marx."
Jesús Úbeda

"A great book."
Carles Mesa