Every time I read something about the latest Lolita scandal in Hollywood I wonder: "What the heck are they thinking?" No, not the Vanessa Hudgenses and Miley Cyruses of this world -- I mean the adults who run their lives.
I know how Miley feels. I too was a little embarrassed by my recent topless "scandal" and the subsequent parodies, but I am an adult woman.
The Obama daughters have already generated an outstanding amount of media interest through their desire for a puppy and their Huxtable-like cuteness.
Whether influential, intriguing or simply offensive, these celebrities, politicians and pop culture icons have caught my eye for helping the planet, saving money on gas and looking sweet atop the seat.
Last week a mix of water and sanitation experts gathered for World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden to mull over the world's biggest public health crisis. The problem is that not enough people paid attention.
There's no way Miley's parents didn't know that Vanity Fair had taken semi-nude photos of their 15-year-old!
As a natural nudist, who comes from a family of natural nudists, the Miley Cyrus flap astounds me. What is this nonsense? Well, it's an occasion for another apology.
Teen Choice Award nominees relished the idea of a recyclable "blue" carpet; they'd specifically requested to rent a recyclable blue carpet rather than purchasing it outright and throwing it away after the event.
This is a major wake-up call to American parents. I have to ask, where are Miley's parents in all this? Have they not seen what happened to Britney Spears?
As a child, I loved the month of August--not for the waning weeks of summer vacation--but because it meant the start of a new school year was just aro...
The naked woman was on her back, cupping a breast in each hand, with her legs crossed and bent at the knees. Next to her was an iced bucket of twinkling long neck beers grazing her thigh.
What the news media is selling is dangerous: Wright, Obama and Clinton, Iraq and health insurance and Hannah Montana all get stirred into the same idiotic, phony pot.
Sadly, with the advent of antidepressants and the rise of Disney on the Billboard charts, Kid Rock and Tommy Lee's slap fight last year may have provided the show's last unscripted punch.
I'm always fascinated when "Parade" magazine publishes its annual "what people earn" report, and this week's issue was very interesting. Business mag...
Cyrusgate could just be a massive publicity stunt. There's nothing like a controversy to drive sales. But, I don't think anyone in marketing at Vanity Fair is that smart. So what is this really about?
Miley's recently released album, "Breakout," breaks the sugar mold with the synthesized call to environmental action, "Wake up America." The song is an eco-anthem ode to mother earth.
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
I haven't seen the movie but, as always, love hearing what you think about it. Am glad that you are questioning the erotic portrayal.
Sounds like a perfect brooding role for Ralph.
I hate to point this out, but it's apparent that the movie does indeed show that the relationship while pretty and glamourous in the abstract is abusive and damaging in the long run. Your own review shows it as an apt metaphor for hidden damage passed from one generation to another.
If it were less subtle with the effects of the dominant relationship affecting the grown man, it would no longer be a metaphor for hidden damage, it would be a completely different film about how difficult it is to be sexually involved with older women when you are a teenager and why it's damaging, I'm assuming that's not the subject of the film.
As to the Miley Cirus comparsion - Miley is currently 16. David Kross is currently 18 playing a role as a 15 year old. It is not child pornography if everyone is an adult.
Miley is an american female being marketed to 12 year olds that was taking pictures, not a working actor in Europe in an Oscar weight movie. She would be being exploited and underage. David Cross is neither.
There are better arguments to hang "abuse" on then a film where it seems that "damaged and corrupt while still beautiful" is the theme, according to this article's read of the movie.
David Cross is not a child, this movie does not seem to be treating the relationship as 100% positive.I think you were on slightly stronger ground about the Lebovitz pics.
See Thelma Adams's Profile
You've raised a number of issues. Allow me to clarify on this one point. While the actor David Kross is 18, the character he plays is clearly underage. I'm addressing the depiction of characters -- one an adult female, the other an underage male -- within the story, not any abuse in the making of the movie. That's the crux. How would we feel about this, how do we feel about the scenario if the genders were reversed, how does our culture feel about it, how do women and men vary in their responses, how do those who have been abused respond? And, also, how does the law treat the behavior. Clearly, in that case, the laws within the film are those of post-War Germany, not contemporary America.
Also, you're definition of adult may be different from mine and the law's. Fifteen and sixteen are minors, and therefore under the age of consent, and incapable of a consensual relationship under the law.
I am open to different interpretations of the movie, and to wide-ranging reactions to the coupling of older women/younger men, but I find that the filmmakers definitely eroticize the abusive relationship in a way that is not morally ambigous, and I find disturbing.
You are exactly right in your article. The movie, like "Birth" with Nicole Kidman and the old French film "Murmur of the Heart," make female predation on a young male into an OK act. This is NOT OK. Rape is rape. Molestation is molestation. Pedo[hilia is pedophilia. The gender of the victim and victimizer does not matter one bit.
Can you imagine these directors and writers and producers reversing the genders? Of course not! They would never remotely consider it.
same thing for you and it detracts from the overall movie.
(sorry cut off the the tag end of the last post)