The Movie...Let the Right One In

[Donna Loves Movies]

SPOILERS GALORE….Only Continue Reading if You’ve Already Enjoyed the Film!! The movie’s great and if you’re a fan of foreign, horror, coming of age, or vampires, I suggest you check it out.

But what bothered me was the unstated, though very present, undercurrents of sexuality related to a 12-year-old vampire. There is a shot in the film that shows a close up of Eli’s frontal, unpantied body. NUDITY IN A 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL? REALLY? Is that ever appropriate, except if we’re catering to degenerates? Though I didn’t recognize it as such, one of my NFriends thought the shot shows a scar. Twice during the film, Eli says that she is not a girl and her comments might be referring to the fact that she’s dead. But is that true?

We know Eli is old, surely too old to have gone through any type of surgery while she was alive for a sex change or intersexual condition. But if it is indeed a scar, that’s where the package would have been. ALSO THERE’S THE ISSUE OF HER “FATHER,” who can’t possibly be, because he isn’t old enough. So, was he selected when he too was 11 years old? As a grown man, are we to assume that their relationship is platonic or paternal? If Oskar is the chosen “father” replacement, will she become his girlfriend as he grows older? Though her body is 12, this girl has been around for a while and I think there is another aspect to this story that is only hinted at.

Ok, the sexual parts of this speculation are icky, but as many people have already mentioned, this is a dark story and I’m interested in what the filmmakers were striving for…because I don’t believe a story of this nature (12-year-old-vicious-monster-when-she-needs-to-be) would not dare to tread on such slippery, possibly tabooed, slopes. Or maybe I’m the degenerate, seeing sexual situations where none exist. Even if it’s to tell me I’m full of crap, what do YOU think?

[Mark Zajac]

In my post, I tried to distinguish between the character and the actress who played the part. I am not offended by whatever happened in the book since that only involves fictinal characters. My chief concern was that a young girl had been asked to surrender her dignity by removing her clothes, as I explain in my reply to "thatboy" below.

Until my post, nobody had mentioned that the shot was a fake. This makes an enormous difference, as I wrote in my reply to "Headcheese" below.

[:-)] Mark

[Mark Zajac]

It makes an enormous difference that the shot was a fake. Nobody mentioned that fact until after my post. I am still somewhat leery of even simulated nudity of children, on the grounds that it might be a trigger for pedophiles. However, I will grant that vigilance can protect children from predators without recourse to the slippery slope of censorship. My chief concern was that the dignity of a young girl had been needlessly compromised.

Exactly how old was Miley Cyrus in the photographs that you mention? A few years can make a crucial difference. A baby on a bear-skin rug has no concept of modesty. An adolescent girl can be painfully self-conscious in a middle-school locker-room. Once a child has developed a sense of modesty, any distribution of nude photographs is an assault on the dignity of that child and should be condemned.

I have expanded on this point about dignity in my responce to "thatboy" above.

[:-)] Mark

[Headcheese]

I believe Miley was what people? Help me out fifteen when she took these photos? She was pictured with her father who was fully clothed while she was wearing a comforter/blanket type thing that was off her shoulders. So here we have a father and daughter who are purported to love each other and have a good relationship and somehow, society deemed these photos to be sick as she was close to her daddy and to revealing even though nothing was shown? That, imo, is going to far. These were very tasteful pictures imo. I don't know how or why society misconstrued these photos and turned them into something bad. I agree Mark that we need to protect children from predators but when you take something lovely and turn it into something bad, are we not going to far?

[Mark Zajac]

Ignorant that it was fake, I was responding to the full frontal nudity of a little girl. What you describe is significantly different. In particular, nothing was actually exposed.

[:-)] Mark

[Mark Zajac]

In a wider context than a film discussion forum, you make a valid point. It is an incontrovertible fact that children have bodies. I mean this without sarcasm. I am not offended by pictures of naked children in textbooks on pediatric medicine, for example. Admittedly, there are circumstances under which pictures of naked children might facilitate essential medical treatment or serve some other useful purpose. I do, however, object to a child removing her clothes for nothing more than the entertainment and financial gain of adults (the audience and the producers, respectively). To me, the best interests of the child are not served, in this case.

[Pihk]

Please...

[Mark Zajac]

You are also correct that children are sometimes naked. Of course, we are all born naked, which might suggest that nudity is our natural state. However, at some point, society programs humans with modesty, which makes people more comfortable with clothes on. A boy of three or less might frolic naked in a lawn sprinkler, without shame, but a boy of fifteen would most likely howl if his mother entered the bathroom while he showered, even if the shower curtain was perfectly opaque.

[Pihk]

...stop...

[Mark Zajac]

It may well be that modesty is ridiculous, but there is evidence to support my claim that modesty is the societal norm. Any report of strip-searching, at an airport, for example, is invariably met with widespread indignation, even in the face of grave security concerns. Involuntary nudity was universally recognized as one of the abuses against prisoners at Abu Ghraib Prison. Asking a child to go naked for a film is asking that child to relinquish a basic human right and for a frivolous reason, no less.

[Pihk]

...talking...

[Mark Zajac]

Crazy or not, clothing is an essential component of human dignity. I seriously doubt that a girl of twelve would be happy about going naked in front of a film crew. The image of a fully clothed, adult director cajoling a child to get undressed is repugnant to me. You might claim that there is no harm if the girl was truly willing but there is no way to be sure. Children are highly susceptible to coercion by adults. A strict moratorium on child nudity is the only safe course.

[Pihk]

...to...