Friday essay: fame, male privilege and a media circus – revisiting Errol Flynn's rape trial 80 years on

Errol Flynn pictured in 1939 along with headlines surrounding his rape trial AP and Author Provided

Warning: this article contains descriptions of sexual and colonial violence.

Eighty years ago, the Pacific War felt close to Los Angeles. In October 1942, America was still reeling from the attacks ten months before on Pearl Harbor. Across the Pacific, Americans and Australians were locked in titanic battles against the Japanese on air, land and sea, especially in the Solomon Islands.