Chaplin a PEDOPHILE?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Chaplin
lovepotion19 — 15 years ago(May 23, 2010 02:25 AM)
Would you say based on Charlie Chaplin's appetite for much younger women - teenage girls actually - some of which he marriedthat you would consider him to be a pedophile? Was his relationships with some of these girls even legal (especially his first wife (played by Milla Jovavich) back then? It would seem as though Hollywood and the rest of America and the world was very accepting of - and well respected - him even knowing about his controversial sex life. Could it have been the times? Would Americans be as accepting of his well-publicized sex life in our times now? I would highly doubt it. I think he'd end up like Roman Polanski - a fugitive of this country.
This was taken from his mini-bio on IMDb:
He was 29 years old when he wed Mildred Harris; she was 17.
He was 35 years old when he wed Lita Grey; Lita was 16.
He was 47 years old when he wed Paulette Goddard; Paulette was 26.
He was 54 years old when he wed Oona O'Neill (Oona Chaplin); Oona was 17.
Just wondering if others were thinking the same thing while watching the movie.
Your thoughts? -
lovepotion19 — 15 years ago(May 28, 2010 07:37 PM)
It's amazing how times have changed so much in the last 70-80 years (since the early 1900's).
If Charlie Chaplin or any adult male over 20 years of age would have had sex or married a teenage girl between 15-18 years of age NOW, in these times, even if it was consensualthey would be quickly sent to Prison to rot for years and would be called a Pedophile, a Predator, and a Sex Offenderforever looked at as an animal and branded these names for the rest of their lives. It would be on their legal record for life making it nearly impossible to find employment, a place to live, etc. They would also be considered sick and mentally ill by society as a whole. I'm not trying to say these actions (that being consensual sex with minors) are necessarily normal but back then in the early 1900's and even before then going way back in historyit sure seemed to be.
It really is amazing how society, it's laws and the justice system altogether have changed so much, especially when looking at this particular controversial and sensitive area. -
lastmidnite2 — 15 years ago(May 28, 2010 07:41 PM)
Yup, and my grandparents were married for 50 years and as far as I know, never cheated on each other. My grandfather was perfectly normal. The two of them would have gotten a good laugh if someone had suggested my grandfather was a pedophile!
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lovepotion19 — 15 years ago(May 28, 2010 08:08 PM)
Charlie Chaplin lived to be 88 years oldgo figure!
and he died peacefully in his sleep on Christmas Daylucky guy!!
you should read his mini bio on IMDbthere are some fun/interesting facts & quotes by him.
http://www.imdb.com/board/20000122/bio -
lastmidnite2 — 15 years ago(May 28, 2010 08:12 PM)
right, that was unusual for a man of his generation, to live so long. My great aunt was born the same year as Chaplin. When she died in 1966 at the age of 77, I remember people being astonished that she had lived to such a ripe old age. Nobody today thinks of 77 as being ancient.
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jejozi — 13 years ago(December 30, 2012 01:04 AM)
Yes, he died at 88. He lived a better life than most. Also, back then, the infant mortality rate was much higher, bringing down the average.
This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here. -
Z_cm — 14 years ago(December 01, 2011 04:27 PM)
also let's not forget that the average life expectancy back then was about 58. Another reason people married early; they died sooner!
Also, because there really wasn't much for women to do other than get married and produce offspring.
When you consider how the majority of his marriages failed, you can't help but think that he shouldn't have married teenagers (who were obviously starstruck or trying to take advantage of his money and station). And marrying them doesn't make it any better. -
wargames83 — 14 years ago(August 07, 2011 04:03 AM)
"or any adult male over 20 years of age would have had sex or married a teenage girl between 15-18 years of age NOW, in these times, even if it was consensualthey would be quickly sent to Prison to rot for years and would be called a Pedophile,"
Wrong, the age of consent in many states is 16. -
Mattfinbell — 12 years ago(September 28, 2013 04:19 PM)
jtf1986
"or any adult male over 20 years of age would have had sex or married a teenage girl between 15-18 years of age NOW, in these times, even if it was consensualthey would be quickly sent to Prison to rot for years and would be called a Pedophile,"
Wrong, the age of consent in many states is 16.
well what is the age of consent for gay males? -
Planikta — 11 years ago(April 22, 2014 08:51 AM)
"If Charlie Chaplin or any adult male over 20 years of age would have had sex or married a teenage girl between 15-18 years of age NOW, in these times, even if it was consensualthey would be quickly sent to Prison to rot for years and would be called a Pedophile, a Predator, and a Sex Offender."
Wait, what?
Where do you live, that a 20 year old can't be with an 18 year old?! Wow. Where I live, people can give consent from 16, so nothing he did in the movie seemed unlawful to me, although that doesn't make it "right" either. Heck, Ren Angelil has been around Cline Dion since she was 12 and he's not rotting in jail or labeled a pedo/predator?! -
KrazeeforKittiez — 12 years ago(January 23, 2014 04:59 PM)
My grandmother was 13/14 when she married in the 20's and my mom was 16 when she married the first time.
Chaplin always carried a torch for his first love who was very young and I think that is why he always preferred much younger women.
I don't think he was a pedophile. The first wife lied about being pregnant so he would marry her and the second (with the aid of her mother) put herself in his space as much as possible. Then when they divorced; she took him for every penny she could. Joan Barry claimed he was father to her daughter even though blood tests proved that was not possible.he paid child support for 21 years.
None of them were innocent young girlsthey knew what was going on and they took advantage of the situation also.
BradWhatcha gonna do? What are you gonna do? -
horsenbuggy — 11 years ago(March 29, 2015 03:51 PM)
You're missing there point, though. In order for him to be tricked with either if those pregnancies, there had to have been intimacy first. It's that act with such young girls that makes it seem creepy too us, not that he married them or they ended up pregnant. Some would say that he "fixed" the situation by marrying them. But if they'd never gotten pregnant (or claimed to have been), he was still sleeping with them and probably wouldn't have married them.
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dancinlukey — 15 years ago(May 30, 2010 09:53 PM)
Got to agree any 54 years old who marries a 17 year old is a dirty old man who obviously doesn't have the intelligence or maturity to find love with someone his own age.
Lets not make excuses like "It was more common back then" back then women couldn't vote and blacks were second class citizens doesn't make it ok. Chaplin was a paedophile plain and simple. -
nellybly-3 — 15 years ago(August 15, 2010 07:18 PM)
My grandfather was 52 when he married my 18 year old grandmother. She was his first, last, and only wife. They had five children between 1905 and 1918. My dad was the middle child born in 1912 and the only boy.
She was actually already a widow when they married, and went on to marry twice more. One time she said to my mom "Just because there's snow on the roof doesn't mean there's no fire in the basement." She was in her 70s by then.
BTW my dad was 36 when he married my 21 year old mother. He'd been married twice before, the first ending in divorce (that wife was close to him in age) and the second in the death of his 16 year old wife in childbirth. Mama was one month older than Daddy's second wife. Both were born in 1927.
My parents' marriage lasted until Daddy's death in 1975. They were married 26 years, a few more months it would have 27 years.
Imitation is the sincerest form of television.
Fred Allen -
KTope — 13 years ago(November 25, 2012 03:10 PM)
You have got to be kidding.
He wasn't running around molesting little girls in their sleep, he was courting girls who had the careers and looks of full grown women. Being attracted to youth is not to be confused with being attracted to little kids.
I am Jack's IMDb post. -
jejozi — 13 years ago(December 30, 2012 01:21 AM)
He was NOT a pedophile. If you're going to brand him using 21st century mores, use the proper terminology, ephebophilia. And judging him by our times is unbelievable unfair. Things WERE different back then.
This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.