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| Latest Cast Event |
9th Annual Young Hollywood Awards
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| Picture of the Moment |
Cody and Dakota on the set of Hounddog
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| Santa Barbara FF Review |
I attended the festival’s most controversial film, Hounddog. It has been getting a lot of attention and outrage from right wing radio because child actress Dakota Fanning’s character Lewellen is raped in the film. She plays a twelve-year-old girl growing up on the South in the ‘50s, who is obsessed with Elvis. Her strict grandmother raises her because her mother has died and her father is struck dumb by a bolt of lighting. She has a young friend named Buddy. Early on in the movie, she kisses him and wants him to take off his pants, but it’s unclear if this is just childish curiosity or if it speaks to something larger about her character’s history.
Later, she catches the eye of an older boy, maybe sixteen to eighteen. He uses Buddy to trick Lewellen into meeting them with a promise of Elvis tickets, the deal for which starts with her having to sing and dance. She loves doing that, so it’s easy. Then she has to take off her clothes. Since she made Buddy do it, she seems okay with the idea. Then the older boy pushes her down and rapes her. We don’t see the act on screen, but we can see its after effects on her. The story continues from there with the possibility of Lewellen getting away from this life.
At the discussion afterwards, the rape scene understandably stood out and troubled some people. There was even a man who had yelled out, “Child Porn!” when the scene played. The producers explained they wanted to bring the issue of rape to light. There are many women and girls who are raped every day and have to live with. While uncomfortable, the film was fictional.
If Hounddog can shed awareness to the issue in the long run it might be okay if it offends some sensibilities. Unfortunately the film isn’t as good as it should be to handle the backlash it is going to receive if it ever gets released in the U.S. The story is melodramatic and some characters are clichéd. The older boy is only seen as bad. If he had other facets, it would have more impact to the story. Charles is a stereotypical “magical Negro,” saving people’s lives throughout and always offering sage advice. There was nothing else to his character other than filling the archetype’s role.
The film is also filled with false suspense because the pivotal event has been so well publicized. Every man becomes a suspect and the scenes have an extra tension that the film doesn’t install. The anticipation doesn’t work to the benefit of the piece because it creates a dynamic in the relationships that isn’t present.
www.filmschoolrejects.com
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