L.I.E. and Compassionate Portrayals
Submitted by J on 2003-03-6 02:51:16, Thursday
In reply to Re: Have you ever seen L.I.E.? submitted by Michael Mejido on 2003-03-6 01:22:36, Thursday
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Yes, I’ve seen L.I.E. Be that as it may, you don’t seem to have a firm grasp on some of its major concepts. …it’s not the story I want to tell. I want to tell the story of an abusive man that society most recognizes as a ‘pedophile’, and then show that he is not a monster, but rather a person with his own weaknesses and needs the proper treatment. You have just described L.I.E. Big John is an abusive and opportunistic individual – he maneuvers Howie into a position where he can blackmail him into having sex, Howie discovers Big John’s sexualized photographs of Gary and Scott, and Big John’s treatment of his previous boyfriend Scott is deplorable. While Big John is more accurately an ephebophile (attracted to teenage boys), society in general does not differentiate so he is what society would most recognize as a pedophile. The movie also goes to great lengths to demonstrate he is not a monster. When the opportunity to have sex with Howie arrives, he chooses not to and instead gives the boy comfort and support in dealing with his dad’s incarceration. It also portrays Big John’s weaknesses. For example, immediately after he drops Howie off at the prison, he is back cruising the L.I.E. for a boy to ‘blow’. The splice back and forth between Howie’s father in prison and the man who presumably would have become Howie’s surrogate father trapped in his own prison of cruising the L.I.E. for boys is brilliant filmwork. You sum up L.I.E. as a ‘compassionate portrayal’. Well my main character isn’t compassionate. He is weak and selfish… You missed what I meant and one of the main thrusts of L.I.E.. The movie was intended to arouse compassion in the viewer for the character of Big John – that is what is meant by a compassionate portrayal of a pedophile. I stand by my original post, which summarized is that L.I.E. has already done what you say you intend to convey and in far better form. Perhaps you might want to try something more groundbreaking, like a man who is a pedophile by sexual orientation but nowhere in the script (past or present) has molested a boy. J Come away, O human child, to the waters of the wild, with a fairy hand in hand, for the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand. |
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