"Hounddog:" Controversial Oscar Bait For Dakota Fannning?

[JER Soaps Fan]

Like I said, let the people come.

With their placards.

And protest the HELL out of the film.

And call Daytona several unflattering names.

THEN she'll learn.

(Hopefully).

[Roman]

I do not think a 12-year0old girl should be called names because her parents either allowed her or pushed her into doing this film. If that's what you want, fine. But, I'm not going to condemn her.

[JER Soaps Fan]

But how else will she learn if we don't shame her?

[bellcurve]

Maybe the nude scenes are totally uncalled for. But, as with anything controversial, how can you judge the movie if you've never seen it?

It's fine if you don't want to waste your money to see it. But it's not fair to really judge the movie's content if you've never seen the movie. Right?

[JER Soaps Fan]

I don't know if I agree, bellcurve. Even some of the liberals seem to have sided with me on this one. Bottom line: she's 12. And getting naked. On camera. Acting out rape.

Is there really any way to defend that?

(All this discussion about an open/shut case and to think, right now we could be designing the slogans on those placards...)

[bellcurve]

JSF, I am not defending it. But we can't JUDGE what these scenes are unless we've seen them, right? For all we know, Dakota has to be naked for an innocent bubble bath scene or something else tame. Maybe the "simulated rape" involves no nudity at all.

I'm gonna reserve judgement for the film until I actually see it.

[dc11786]

Wasn't there controversy about Brooke Shields appearing semi-nude in a film when she was in her early teens?

[Bree]

She did two movies, Pretty Baby, and The Blue Lagoon, and both of them were controversial, especially the first one, because she was 12 when she made the movie, and and in the film she married a thirty-something guy. Her mother got a lot of flak for allowing her to appear in these movies, and for a time Brooke and her mom grew apart because of it. But unlike this upcoming movie, Brooke wasn't forcibly raped. The sex was consentual in both films, and in the first movie, not shown, only implied. But still, to involve a child in that kind of stuff is yucky.

[Jackie]

I wish Dakota Fanning would simply GO AWAY. I'm sick of one child actor arriving at the scene and Hollywood making that actor the go-to one for everything. Freddie Highmore is becoming the male version of her and it's ridiculous. Dakota winning an Oscar right now would be the worst thing for her career. Give her some time off, live life as a teenager, and dabble in a bit of film work and when you hit adulthood, then start concentrating on landing the Oscar. It's difficult to maintain any momentum whatsoever when a child transform into an adult, because the public starts seeing them as a completely different person. It would be cool if Dakota vanished for a bit, and then stormed back on the scene when she was twentysomething. Everyone would be like "WOW? That's Dakota Fanning? Cool! That perf. kicked ass."

But not to be, I suppose.

In general, I am not a big fan of children being actors. For one, most of the parents become more concerned with being an agent to their child rather than an actual parent, and being an actor robs them of their childhood, which usually [!@#$%^&*] them up big time later in life.

I can probably count the number of child actors who grew up to be "normal" on one hand. Anna Paquin, Jodie Foster, The Batemans. Anyone else?

Sidebar - I find the soap "stage moms" tend to be the worst, especially the ones that loan their infants to appear on-camera. I've met some of them and they are bat-ass crazy stagemoms to the extreme. Yowzers.

[sugarland]

This has nothing to do with politics, or liberal or conservative agendas. I don't think any of these so-called "liberals" would adovcate showing the rape of a 12 year old girl on a 50 foot movie screen. There will be protests against this film across the board.

I agree with you on the movies from the past thing, the best films ever were from the 40s, 50s and 60s, when you couldn't even swear on film. People have lost sight of the art of filmmaking and its partly due to the never ending quest for scandal and celebrity over talent or substance. Back in the day, people were blacklisted for scandals that would seem tame to most today (divorce, etc..)

[Roman]

So, in your opinion, we should rip and chastice a twelve-year-old girl because her parents let her appear in an R-rated movie. That means that it's the child's fault if they do something they shouldn't, not the parents.

Ok.

I understand now.

[JER Soaps Fan]

I would give into your sarcasm if Dakota Fanning were a normal 12-year-old girl. Notice I said "if." It's no secret that Dakota pretty much sees herself as a 'young adult.' A couple of sitcoms and dramedies have even referred to the 'Dakota Fanning' syndrome in their dialogue so it's not something I made up. So. Yes, her parents are letting her appear in the film, but Ms. Thang -- who, in her mind, feels she's all grown up, is the one who realizes what she's portraying and still doing it. She's a shrewd business woman in a 12-year-old's body. She's doing anything for shock and awe--and the almighty Oscar. I say if she wants to act like an adult, then yes, let's TREAT HER like an adult.

Now again, what should those placards say?

[dc11786]

Thanks. I couldn't remember all the details, just remember something of this nature from one of those E! or VH1 presentations about controversial things in movies.

[Roman]

One, I wans't being sarcastic. I meant every single word. And two, I don't know this girl personally and have never read any interviews of her where she came off like Ms Thang, so if that's how you feel, like I said, cool. I'm not condemning this girl for doing this. And besides, how much stupid [!@#$%^&*] did any of us do when we were 12 years old?

That's how I feel, and I'm not changing my mind. Do your thing.

[JER Soaps Fan]

Roman, 'Miss Thang' is perhaps a misnomer or an improper way to say what she is. I don't mean she has attitude. she just DOESN'T act like a child. She pulls this 'all grown up' act and expects it to fly.

To answer your question, yes, a lot of us did stupid "[!@#$%^&*]" when we were 12...but I'd hazard a guess that none of us here stripped down to our birthday suits, simulated rape with an adult and filmed it. That's crossing the line.

(On a personal note, the stupidest thing I did when I was 12 was throw a ball on the playground that hit a window and disrupted a kindergarten class. Let's weigh that shall we? Throwing a ball at a window accidentally versus stripping to our birthday suits and simulating rape...hmmm...hmmm...HMMMM>...)