Movie controversy and outrage.

[Moonbiter]

I find this interesting:

Dakota Fanning: 'It's called acting' - CNN.com

12 year old Hollywood super-moppet Dakota Fanning is playing a rape victim in a new movie, and the guardians of "law, morale and decency" are crawling out of the woodwork in huge numbers:

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) -- At a festival that features several films with sexual content, including full male nudity and a documentary about bestiality, a Southern Gothic tale that includes the rape of a young girl is causing the biggest stir.

"Hounddog" is the story of Lewellen, a girl played by 12-year-old Dakota Fanning, who is growing up in the 1960s South. She is a free-spirit obsessed with Elvis Presley and has little supervision by her abusive father and alcoholic grandmother.

Even before the first screening of "Hounddog" at the Sundance Film Festival this week, a Christian film critic, citing Fanning's age, decried the movie as child abuse, and Roman Catholic activist Bill Donohue called for a federal investigation.

Fanning is defending her work as well as the movie, and so is the head of Sundance, who said it was courageous for director Deborah Kampmeier to tackle "challenging material." "Hounddog" is entered in the festival's dramatic category. (Blog: Read the reaction of CNN's Brooke Anderson.)

"It's not a rape movie," Fanning said Tuesday. "That's not even the point of the film." (Watch Fanning's dance with a lamp pole 'microphone' and her take on the role )

The disturbing scene lasts a few minutes but is not graphic. There is no nudity, the scene is very darkly lit and only Fanning's face and hand are shown.

Kampmeier said it took her a decade to get the film made, largely because of the rape scene, but cutting it was a compromise she was unwilling to make.

"This issue is so silenced in our society. There are a lot of women who are alone with this story," she said.

"When you're shooting a film, it's the images you line up next to each other that create a story," Kampmeier said. "If you have a hand hitting the ground, Dakota screaming 'stop' and you see a zipper unzip -- that creates a rape."

Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission and publisher of the Web site movieguide.org, claims "Hounddog" breaks federal child-pornography law. He said the law covers material that "appears" to show minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

"Even if they're not actually performing the explicit act, we are dealing with a legal issue here," he said.

Baehr said Fanning is being exploited in the film, and that it should be considered an outrage.

"Children at 12 do not have the ability to make the types of decisions that we're talking about here," he said. "If we're offended by some comedian's racial slur, why aren't we offended by somebody taking advantage of a 12-year-old child?"

Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, said he has asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate whether anti-pornography laws have been broken.

Two other children perform in the film. Cody Hanford plays Buddy, and Isabelle Fuhrman plays a girl nicknamed "Grasshopper."

Kampmeier said she talked with the children and their parents but didn't go into great detail with the young actors about the content.

"I didn't have to articulate to Cody and Isabelle the psychological elements that were going on in this film," she said. "I used images to tell the story. I didn't manipulate these children or explain to these children what was going on."

Fanning said she and Kampmeier talked for months before the film was shot and spent a day painting pottery together and discussing the story.

"It's not really happening," Fanning said of a rape. "It's a movie, and it's called acting. I'm not going through anything. Cody and Isabelle aren't going through anything, their characters are.

"And for me, when it's done it's done," she said. "I don't even think about it anymore."

Sundance director Geoffrey Gilmore said independent filmmakers should pursue sensitive subject matter. (EW: Sundance 2007)

"I feel the mission and very nature of what Sundance is about is to provide a platform for that," he said.

[VonDondu]

Originally Posted by Moonbiter

Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission and publisher of the Web site movieguide.org, claims "Hounddog" breaks federal child-pornography law. He said the law covers material that "appears" to show minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

"Even if they're not actually performing the explicit act, we are dealing with a legal issue here," he said.

Baehr said Fanning is being exploited in the film, and that it should be considered an outrage.

"Children at 12 do not have the ability to make the types of decisions that we're talking about here," he said. "If we're offended by some comedian's racial slur, why aren't we offended by somebody taking advantage of a 12-year-old child?"

What a moron. This guy is missing the whole point of what rape is. Besides, does he really think that Dakota Fanning engaged in sex when her performance was filmed?

God, what a moron.

It is obvious that child rape is something that people like Ted Baehr want to keep in the closest and never talk about. What does that tell you about his agenda?

[fable]

Every decade or so some new nymphet comes along and makes a film that outrages a few loud moralists who scream about child labor laws. Let them scream; it's their choice. Let her act; it's hers. Let people decide to see it, or not. Whoop.

[dragon wench]

I've been following this story for a while. From what I've seen, Dakota Fanning seems to be an intelligent, mature, together and willful girl.
Nobody is forcing her to do this, she is not being exploited, she is taking on the role because *she* wants to do it.

Moreover, the said scene is apparently very discretely done. Many of the people griping about this movie have not even seen it, they are simply being driven by their "moral" agendas.
Twelve-year-old girls get raped, I think it is important to bring subject matter like this to the big screen.

I really wish the moral minority who wants to pretend that rape doesn't happen would just return to the fossilised scatological pile they belong in!

[Siberys]

"Children at 12 do not have the ability to make the types of decisions that we're talking about here," he said. "If we're offended by some comedian's racial slur, why aren't we offended by somebody taking advantage of a 12-year-old child?"

To me that's just the coup de grace of any actor, when you're told on national news that you don't have the capability of making a decision, I would expect infuriation almost immediately.

[Moonbiter]

VonDondu wrote.

It is obvious that child rape is something that people like Ted Baehr want to keep in the closest and never talk about. What does that tell you about his agenda?

That was the first thing that hit me about this case. I'm wondering if they'll get anywhere by using the law, though. The movie will probably be banned in several states and cinemas, and you'll probably have the usual wackos picketing outside theatres, but I don't think the culture-nazis will be able to stop it in court. The media hoopla will probably give it an additional boost and make more people aware of it. Funny how people like Bill Donohue and his ilk are almost always balding, slightly overweight choleric men, speaking in a high-pitched, whiny voice and acting outraged to try to get their point across. Sort of like a cross between Dick Cheney and Jimmy Swaggart/Jerry Falwell. The archetype TV preacher.

[kathycf]

I don't recall controversy about similiar content in the 1996 film "Bastard out of Carolina". There is a rape and other violent abuse commited against a young girl in that movie as well. Has Ted Baehr not seen this film?

Obviously, a director is not going to use the subject of child rape in a prurient manner, no fillm company hoping to stay in business and make profits would allow it. (of course in dealing with such a subject, one would hope compassion and decency would be the motivating factor, not profit---I sometimes view Hollywood with a cynical eye.)

[dragon wench]

Originally Posted by kathycf

I don't recall controversy about similiar content in the 1996 film "Bastard out of Carolina". There is a rape and other violent abuse commited against a young girl in that movie as well. Has Ted Baehr not seen this film?

Yes indeed. Something similar occurred to me a little earlier. The TV series, Law and Order SVU (special victims unit), deals with subject matter like this all the time, yet we don't see parallel cries of outrage here.
Perhaps because TV series don't generally receive the same attention as the big screen? Or maybe because the kids who become victims in SVU are more anonymous?

Regardless though, it's curious why Ted Baehr and his cronies would single out this particular film.

I do recall, though, that the 1997 remake of Lolita(and here) raised a similar uproar, I seem to remember it ended up not being shown in the US. Though, I'm foggy on the details, so somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.

Here's another article on the subject:
Fanning Controversy -- Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2007 -- Page 1 -- TIME

[kathycf]

Interesting point about Lolita. I live in the US and saw the movie on HBO, but you are correct in stating that there was no theatrical release:

Lyne's film, first screened in Europe two years ago and shown in 19 countries since, has been denounced by Christian fundamentalists and other rightwing elements internationally. In 1997, Britain's tabloid press attacked Lolita in lurid tones and American studios refused to distribute the film. Its first US showings were on the Showtime cable channel in August 1998.

The television program does of course have it's detractors but I don't think it strikes quite so many nerves as it does not deal exclusively with child victims, but focuses largely on adult victims of sexual crimes.

From reading about the Fanning film, it strikes me odd that more attention is paid by protestors to a violent but not explicit encounter and less to the fact that Fanning apparently dances in her underwear. That is creepy...

In the disturbing but not graphic scene that inspired the controversy, the camera fixes on a closeup of Fanning's terrified face while a neighbor boy unzips his pants. Despite the lack of nudity, and cutaways to falling rain, it's clear the boy rapes Fanning's character, Lewellen. More uncomfortable to watch than that short scene, in which the trauma is implied, are the lingering shots throughout the film in which Lewellen gyrates to Elvis music in her underwear while older men and boys watch hungrily.

[BlueSky]

Interesting to note that in the "Kill Bill" movies, a characters backstory included being used as a prostitute...while a child.....but not as big an uproar over that, was it because it was handled as animation and not a "real actress"?

"Taxi Driver" was another film, in which an underage child was in sexual situations. I don't remember an outrage with that one either.

[Moonbiter]

There was plenty of problems regarding "Taxi Driver." Thing is, they were more concerned with young Jodie Foster witnessing the violence, than her being a child prostitute. Fable is right, this is a thing that pops up every decade or so. I remember all the hoopla (in the US) over the movie "Léon" where Natalie Portman plays an underage sex pot who becomes the apprentice of the titular hitman.

Wenchie wrote:

Regardless though, it's curious why Ted Baehr and his cronies would single out this particular film.

I think the problem here is Dakota Fanning herself. America has always had a possessive relationship with child stars, and has never been able to deal with the fact that the little darlings eventually grow up. It's the Shirley Temple Syndrome. Fanning has been "America's Sweetheart" for so long, they can't deal with the fact that her image is getting tarnished. What it will do for her career is another matter.

On a lighter note I always found Fanning quite creepy. I remember an interview with her when she was about 9 years old and I was thinking "OhMyGawd, SHE'S POD PEOPLE!" Honestly, I was expecting her eyes to start to glow and her speaking in this really ancient voice, going "Weeeeee're Heeeeeere!" It was like some mad scientist had put the brain of a 50 year old into the body of a 9 year old.

[VonDondu]

Is Dakota Fanning "America's sweetheart"? I had no idea. I must be very out of touch with American pop culture.

She vaguely reminds me of Akiane, a child prodigy whom we discussed in a previous message thread. Talk about putting the brain of a 50 year old into the body of a 9 year old.