Very uncomfortable watching this
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Lolita
demonlight — 16 years ago(January 18, 2010 11:17 AM)
I have a great taste for art movies, but I'm afraid this is waters Hollywood should never tread. I'm almost left sad just thinking of an incredible talented group of people getting together to make a great movie, and then making a movie like 'this'. Watching Dolores tease and cajole throughout the movie felt unnatural, foreign and just plain uncomfortable. It's an interesting story I'm very glad I saw, but just as sad that I actually saw it. I appreciate it, but never want to think of it again. Confusing explanation, but this is what the movie left me with. My girlfriend felt the same way in the end.
Did any else feel the same way while watching this? -
dichotomymom — 16 years ago(February 19, 2010 07:21 AM)
The fact that she's actually 17 is what made it not disturbing for me to watch. Had she actually been 14 (or 12 as per the book)I'd have felt differently. The fact that the end of the movie shows what his desperation does to him, makes it watchable. It's not a happy outcome and doesn't suggest that adult/child relationships are meant to work.
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xenophile2002 — 15 years ago(April 15, 2010 12:04 PM)
Actually, she was fifteen and sixeen. The movie wasn't released for several year, and this is why so many people think she was seventeen when she made it. But she wasn't seventeen. She was fifteen and sixteen.
The Earth is degenerating these days. Bribery and corruption abound. Children no longer mind their parents, every man wants to write a book, and it is evident that the end of the world is fast approaching.
- Assyrian Stone Tablet, 2800BCE
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pogostiks — 14 years ago(July 21, 2011 01:43 PM)
"doesn't suggest that adult/child relationships are meant to work."
And yet some adult-"child" relationships DO work!
THAT is the elephant in the room that no-one wants to see or admit to.
It is SO unacceptable in our modern-day "conventional wisdom" that if anyone dare say the opposite, beware of the lynch mob.
Nevertheless recently on French TV they aired a remake of Mourir d'Aimer (To Die of Love") about the true-life story of a teenage boy who fell for his teacher, pursued her and got her; how she was eventually hounded into suicide by society's reaction to their love.
IN the TV studio after showing the film, tehy actually had ex-teachers and ex-students (now adult) who had lived similar relatoinships. A1lso some real-life courtroom judges.
The teachers almost invariably said that it had been too stressful because of the way society looked on them. The "children" almost invariably were the instigators. They were NOT "victims" which is of course the usual term used, even if they were willing and often the ones to make the first advances.
The most extraordinary story was of a guy, now in his late 30's, who had fallen for his teacher at 16. When their love affair was discovered, they were separated. 2O years later, married with children, through Google it was possible to find the teacher, and to meet; The teacher was also married with children. Within minutes of meeting, after 20 years of separation, it was obvious that the passion and the LOVE they had previously felt for each other was just as strong as ever; they ended up divorcing their respective spouses in order to FINALLY, after 20 years of separation - live the love story they were destined for from the beginning!!!
But of course, 98% of the people on this board have been well-tutored to REFUSE the idea completely, simply because of a difference in ages to begin with, and secondly, because of the student/teacher issue added on.
The problem is, that love and passion do NOT know limits and ALL permutations are possible; Is it "right"? "Wrong?" The only people who can really answer that are the people involved.
The rest of us should keep our minds open.
Last point: in today's world, we have such a knee-jerk reaction to everything sexual that it is bordering on hysteria. Case in point. a friend showed his 15 year-old class the amazing, passionate and sensual Romeo and Juliet by Franco Zeffirelli. (MUCH better than the Romeo& Juliet with Leo and Claire Danes ).
At the end of it, the class basically said that they hated it! Why? "Because Romeo is a stalker"! !!!!!
And there you have it: the world's GREATEST English-language love story reduced to a perversion.
THAT is the tenor of the times. If the people reading this don't see the horror in that, then it is time they woke up! -
tired_of_the_net — 12 years ago(May 19, 2013 10:20 AM)
There he is, the one guy who is always in the room trying to justify why anyone with an IQ and intellect can logically fall in love with a child. There is no justification; there is only a deep need to see a therapist. When you have evolved into an actually grown adult, there is no reason to be attracted to a child. You should have wants and needs that match your intellect. Usually the people who delude themselves to think it is OK to fall in love with a child have the mind of children themselves. This is not normal, and it a serious matter that needs the help of physicians. Love does know a limit. You are not supposed to look at a child and see an adult capable of adult sexuality and needs. It IS wrong. Only men too weak to admit it try to justify it. And IF Romeo and Juliet is the world's greatest love story, then people would still think so. I found it trite at 13, and still pathetic now. Because I don't think love is childish. It makes me happy to know that kids today are still too smart to think love is killing yourself because you are too weak to tell you parents about it. You are a loser, and you should SERIOUSLY seek help. Grown men and women should not find themselves finding an equal in a child.
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illbeoneasystreet — 12 years ago(March 04, 2014 05:13 PM)
Romeo and Juliet is one of the most misunderstood of the Shakespeare stories. It wasn't a love story it was a tragedy. Romeo starts the play off in love with someone else. They weren't in love they had only know each other for a couple days. They were foolish children who got caught up in their hormones mistaking lust for love. If anything it more or less proves your point but, society has turned it into a love story. A teenager is a child plain and simple people can talk about the past as much as they want but the fact of the matter is human evolution has changed the way our brains develop. In the not so distant past puberty meant adulthood but as we started lengthening childhood our brains started changing. Pivotal connections have been delayed and as adults it is our duty to protect that innocence not take advantage of it.
Its something you'll get used to a mental mind beep can be nice! -
ridge-m-1 — 10 years ago(March 31, 2016 05:12 PM)
Oh yes, behold the repressed, ignorant and typical follower of one of the Western organized religions of the species known as Homo Sapien Americanus. Notice the babblings of the propaganda this member of this reviled around the world species regurgitates in the form of what he intends to be factual and insightful information. He is nothing more than one of the many sheeple wandering through life without a clue as well as without an original thought.
The more sophisticated relative of the aforementioned poor wayfaring stranger is Homo Sapien Europenis. This species attitudes toward sexuality are much more in line with how the trunk of the species, Homo Sapiens, evolved. These individuals are aware that human sexuality is not something that can be controlled from the pulpit. They realize that especially the female of the species becomes aware of her own sexuality at sometimes quite an early age and in some instances is not shy about having these sexual cravings satisfied by either a girlfriend of her approximate age or an older man that has obviously already passed through the stage of puberty. It can be a most satisfying relationship for the both of them.
One must acknowledge that the act of making love by a couple that deeply care for one another is the greatest pleasure Homo Sapiens can enjoy. Life is short, too sort. The sooner one is inclined to engage in sexual activity, the longer period of time this ultimate pleasure can be enjoyed.
Do not be led astray by false prophets such as those that tired-of-the-net attempts, pitifully so, to emulate. On a side note, what is an individual with that screen name even doing on this site? It seems paradoxical that he would rear his befogged head in an online discussion group. -
Lester_Burnham_Risen — 12 years ago(March 05, 2014 12:14 AM)
Last point: in today's world, we have such a knee-jerk reaction to everything sexual that it is bordering on hysteria. Case in point. a friend showed his 15 year-old class the amazing, passionate and sensual Romeo and Juliet by Franco Zeffirelli. (MUCH better than the Romeo& Juliet with Leo and Claire Danes ).
At the end of it, the class basically said that they hated it! Why? "Because Romeo is a stalker"! !!!!!
And there you have it: the world's GREATEST English-language love story reduced to a perversion.
THAT is the tenor of the times. If the people reading this don't see the horror in that, then it is time they woke up!
correct, AND that is the exact same reason [the small f feminists that took over the american "education system" [read indoctrination] in 1970] that caused Lolita 1997 to be the biggest ever Hollywood financial flop.
ie it was the "pedophile" perversion that has been drummed into the american kiddies "before he is 6 or 7 or 8", also called stalking [as you say] "stranger danger", "upskirting" or whatever flavor-of-the-month the feminists come up with
it was reason Mendes set up his "Lolita" [as Angela] with Lester in American Beauty to stand back and watch the feminists perform.
what IS perverted is that the LEADER of the small f feminists Germaine Greer has long since done a 180 degree flip and as an 70 year old hag has taken up REAL pedophilia, masturbating 13 year old boys
but she is safe from the law as she says because "society" does not permit itself to accept females can be pedophiles.
yes indeed THAT is the HORROR, the HORROR
http://www.kindleflippages.com/ablog/ -
callawright — 11 years ago(June 26, 2014 02:46 AM)
Romeo and Juliet is NOT one of the greatest English language love stories and the fact that you think it is disturbs me.
A great play, certainly. A great love story - absolutely not. It's a cautionary tale about feuding families and the results thereof. -
machocabrio — 9 years ago(January 27, 2017 07:36 PM)
I like that you wrote this. It's a great debate. Personally I think of adults lusting for kids to be sick. I mean, biochemically sick. I was 14 when I tried to seduce my 25 year old aunt (might I say, step-aunt). It worked and she was my first sexual encounter. I recall it was a fantastic time, she was really beautiful and I'm glad it happened that way and not with a prostitute or something like that. Anyways, I've never felt it was a bad call, but she regretted it years later. So whenever I talk about this subject I think it's important to take every view and speak openly about it. I'll give some thought to what you just wrote.