12 yr old Dakota Fanning in controversial new film role

[smartarse]

What I mean is Halle and Jodie were mature women taking on such a powerful script and scenes whereas, Dakota, I believe will be the first minor in the movie industry (american made) that will take on a commanding and graphic role. So for that, I don't know how the Academy will perceive this. Will they have a conservative mind and look at it as too much for the mainstream audience or will they take it as an important cause that needs to be addressed in the mainstream cinema?

I'm sure the Academy will at least consider it......I mean....Halle Berry won Best Actress for Monster's Ball....I think it should at least be considered.

 

[SiennaInLondon]

^ Good point (with reference to Mellowdrama's post). Does this work aesthetically? Having people engage in intercourse on celluloid does not the best sex scene make. Using a girl who is ACTUALLY a child does not a better paedophile movie make. What a cheap cheap gimmick.

 

[mellowdrama]

Dakota, I believe will be the first minor in the movie industry (american made) that will take on a commanding and graphic role.

Nope, Jena Malone gets "First Commanding and Graphic Kiddie r*pe Role Below the Mason Dixon Line" honors for Bastard Out of Carolina.

 

[VainJane]

Why, after Streisand's The Prince of Tides, Scorsese's remake of Cape Fear, Anjelica Huston's Bastard Out of Carolina, Kampmeier's previous film Virgin, do we need more child/adolescent/adult graphic r*pe in a rural Southern setting? It's trite, don't you think?

I agree. Apparently it's all the rage to create a movie involving the South and r*pe

 

[SiennaInLondon]

I believe that if this is a story that needs to be told....Dakota is a wonderful actress (even though she is still a pre-teen)....but this movie....a r*pe scene maybe this will give those who were raped as kids strength to deal and get over their past and move on....maybe it will cause those that have raped to examine themselves and get help...maybe it will spark discussion within our homes and at our dinner tables that will cause parents and children to open up and share things and have good communication on subjects like this. But if we continue to "push things under the rug" and "pretend" that everything is okay....more people will be raped and pediphiles will continue to reek havoc.

With all due respect Happiness, I think you have entirely missed the point of this debate. What has Dakota playing the part have anything to do with the film being made and how good it is? Not having a 12 year old in a r*pe scene somehow doesn't equate to pushing things under the rugs (just out of linguistic interest (not being sarcastic!) why did you use inverted commas there?) And the only discussion this will spark, believe you me, is that Hollywood is becoming more and more money hungry and that we, the Western world, are full of some sick sh*t.

And furthermore I dont want studio executives to determine the morality of a nation or how we view laws. I want the legal system to do that for me. If we had mawkish films about paedophiles having Titanic-proportioned success, we'd have lynchings in the streets. And that would be ridiculous. It is up to the police to make the system of reporting rapes, functional. People are already ridiculous about the paedophile anyway. It is such as exaggerated urban fear.

I commend Dakota for having the fortitude to stand up and take a demanding role and be a voice for those who are silent and don't know how to speak up.

Yes because at 12 years old, she is making all her career decisions for herself?! Can you imagine what the sort of psychotic-bimbo-hillbilly mothers who push their kids into showbusiness instead of hope they will become doctors are like? Yeah Dakota, play in a r*pe scene and sew my arm back on whilst you are at it. Oh and Timmy is stuck down a well

 

[VainJane]

Will they have a conservative mind and look at it as too much for the mainstream audience or will they take it as an important cause that needs to be addressed in the mainstream cinema?

Ehh....I don't think this is a new 'cause' in Hollywood. There seems to be an ample amount of movies made that center around some sort of r*pe or child abuse. It's overdone, in my opinion. I can almost bet money that one out of every three 'family dramas' will have some sort of sexual abuse involved as part of the plot.

And, truth be told, I don't know about everyone else but when I was a kid/teen I didn't sit around the ol' dinner table with the family chatting about the r*pe scene in the latest movie. And I don't know a single person who would willingly pay money to see a movie like this. I think this movie is all about trying to get that Oscar, not about trying to 'bring awareness'.

 

[SiennaInLondon]

I agree. Apparently it's all the rage to create a movie involving the South and r*pe

Ah the Virginia girl, standing for her team!

 

[smartarse]

I haven't seen 'Bastard out of Carolina' but from what I understand Dakota Fanning's 'Houndog' is explicit, graphic and a creepy role for such a 12 yr old to take. Wow this movie already making a buzz, huh?


But I too don't understand why it has to always center around the South when it comes to r*pe, murder of a child. Remember the movie where Sean Penn won his Oscar? It was in the South too!

Nope, Jena Malone gets "First Commanding and Graphic Kiddie r*pe Role Below the Mason Dixon Line" honors for Bastard Out of Carolina.

 

[copper]

she is 12

no matter how 'grown up' she acts, she is 12.

this film could be psychologically damaging to her. i think that showing a 12 year old getting raped is SICK and totally unnecessary.

how disturbing...

 

[electricladyland]

Nope, Jena Malone gets "First Commanding and Graphic Kiddie r*pe Role Below the Mason Dixon Line" honors for Bastard Out of Carolina.

i saw that scene in Bastard Out of Carolina and was so disturbed by it that i couldn't watch the rest of the movie. i will definitely not sit through a movie where a child is graphically depicted in a r*pe scene. The scenes with Jodie Foster in The Accused and Angela Bassett in What's Love Got to Do With It were troubling enough...and those are grown women. I am disappointed in Cindy Osbrink for reducing the conversation into one about acting chops. I don't care how mature Dakota is, and i have seen her person and know that she is incredibly mature, r*pe is disturbing for grown women and she is still 12. Furthermore, studies show that depictions of acts of violence desensitize the public to real violence...I don't think that these issues should be swept under the rug, but i do worry about depictions of child sexual abuse especially when a real child is involved in the production.

oh and by the way, Hollywood does not shy away from rewarding movies where women are demeaned, abused, or murdered.

 

[Erin]

Does David Morse play the man who rapes her...? I've liked David Morse ever since he was in the Indian Runner.

Also, Robin Wright Penn is involved.

I am interested in this film...it sound pretty intense.

 

[mellowdrama]

Remember the movie where Sean Penn won his Oscar? It was in the South too!

Blissfully, no, I do not.

But if you want to see an especially frightening movie involving children & good-n-evil, and that graceful ability of discerning truth from lies, all in a rural, Southern setting, see The Night of the Hunter. It isn't gratuitous, it's especially terrifying, and it makes you think about the topic without r*ping your eyeballs. Lillian Gish will forever be my hero for the line, "No, and he ain't no preacher, neither!"

 

[sakina]

How graphic can this scene actually be? I have never seen an expetionally graphic r*pe scene personally. I'm not going to say it's inappropriate until I have personally seen it.

I'm sure if anybody could pull it off, it would be Dakota Fanning.

 

[electricladyland]

for me it's not a question of whether or not she can "pull it off." It's more about the necessity of depicting child r*pe. i don't think it is necessary and in fact i think it's irresponsible and a bit disgusting.

 

[smartarse]

(I'm supposed to be doing work but you people are pulling me back here )

Anyhoo...anyone see The Lover? How controversial it was? Not only that Jane March actually was just 14 not 17 when she filmed it? Well the uncut version was explicit. Although, it was just a quick shot ... but it was rather explicit nonetheless. Well, it could be just that with Hounddog. From what has been talked about Dakota's scene calls for a graphic r*pe. If you can visualized a grown up in its place, I believe that is the controversial part. Dakota for such a young girl she does take direction well. Which makes her mature beyond her years. And the r*pe scene as well as the subject of the script is the her mark for the sake of art.

This is done for the sake of art. But it still disturbs me to see such a scene involving a minor . I love Dakota and I'm sure she took the direction well and it was done in such a way that didn't make her uncomfortable even though 50 crew member were in the same room. Perhaps the scenes were cut in pieces and edited to make it a 5 mins shoot, per se.

 

[electricladyland]

I saw the lover but i barely remember it. how old was dominique swain when she appeared in Lolita? These movies are actually a bit more controversial because the young girls seem complicit in their exploitation which is another dangerous thing to depict. It seems less violent and therefore somehow more tolerable to some people. I still find it problematic. I wonder what level of violence this fanning scene contains. although it would still be disturbing even if there were no overt violence. Just as some scenes are still disturbing even if they are not "graphic." It's the situation that is disturbing. i wonder if people can think of examples where these issues are handled well without being overly disturbing for sensationalism's sake.

 

[VainJane]

Ah the Virginia girl, standing for her team!

 

[Miss Dalloway]

(I'm supposed to be doing work but you people are pulling me back here )

Anyhoo...anyone see The Lover? How controversial it was? Not only that Jane March actually was just 14 not 17 when she filmed it? Well the uncut version was explicit. Although, it was just a quick shot ... but it was rather explicit nonetheless. Well, it could be just that with Hounddog. From what has been talked about Dakota's scene calls for a graphic r*pe. If you can visualized a grown up in its place, I believe that is the controversial part. Dakota for such a young girl she does take direction well. Which makes her mature beyond her years. And the r*pe scene as well as the subject of the script is the her mark for the sake of art.

This is done for the sake of art. But it still disturbs me to see such a scene involving a minor . I love Dakota and I'm sure she took the direction well and it was done in such a way that didn't make her uncomfortable even though 50 crew member were in the same room. Perhaps the scenes were cut in pieces and edited to make it a 5 mins shoot, per se.

I saw the lover and didnt find it disturbing or overly graphic and by the way it didnt do the book justice!!

 

[Miss Dalloway]

I saw the lover but i barely remember it. how old was dominique swain when she appeared in Lolita? These movies are actually a bit more controversial because the young girls seem complicit in their exploitation which is another dangerous thing to depict. It seems less violent and therefore somehow more tolerable to some people. I still find it problematic. I wonder what level of violence this fanning scene contains. although it would still be disturbing even if there were no overt violence. Just as some scenes are still disturbing even if they are not "graphic." It's the situation that is disturbing. i wonder if people can think of examples where these issues are handled well without being overly disturbing for sensationalism's sake.

I think i read that Dominique was about 17/18 i remember reading that she was too old for the role and that they needed to go with a younger actress.I think Swain was amazing in Lolita her performance was a tour de force!

 

[SiennaInLondon]

oh and by the way, Hollywood does not shy away from rewarding movies where women are demeaned, abused, or murdered.

Absolutely. Karma.