The Movie...Let the Right One In
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?
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?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mark Zajac on -
I meant no disrespect to the victims of torture at Abu Ghraib Prison. I regret any remark that seemed insensitive or cavalier.
[:-)] Mark
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Permalink Reply by thatboy on -
"Let the Right One In movie good!"
"No! Vampire child briefly shown naked! Movie bad!"
But alas, the warnings came too late, and pedophilosauruses ruled the earth.
The end.
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Permalink Reply by Pihk on -
I can't believe this thread has gone for 6 pages without a single Pedobear post:
There...now all is well.
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Permalink Reply by Firewater on -
All this over a naked vampire child? They're not human. They're like ticks or something.
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Permalink Reply by Lester on -
I fail to understand this conversation completely. The law is clear, a minor cannot appear naked in a movie or photo for protection of that minor. A movie or photo that uses other devices to make someone appear like a minor is legal: having an 18-year old can dress up like a little girl is an old device; now CGI can be used.
No reputable film maker would ever use a real minor, so you can always assume that it has been altered in some respect, as it should be
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Permalink Reply by thatboy on
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While it's true the U.S. is very strict about child/adolescent nudity in films, I have no idea what the laws of other countries are.
The laws on photography are apparently not so clear, because as has been mentioned here Jock Sturges, Sally Mann, and Robert Mapplethorpe have all taken and exhibited photographs of child nudes. All faced legal challenges and/or questioning, all prevailed, and all are highly regarded critically. The photos are exhibited and distributed in print to this day, and you can find many of them online at such sites as that purveyor of child pornography, the Guggenheim.
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Permalink Reply by Lester on
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Ok, good point. I didn't mean to say that all photograhy of nudity of minors is illegal, it could be legal in certain contexts, as you show. But it's true, as I'm sure you agree, that no reputable film maker would ever use a real minor in a film.
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Permalink Reply by Pihk on
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But it's true, as I'm sure you agree, that no reputable film maker would ever use a real minor in a film.
1) Stanley Kubrick's Lolita? Sue Lyons was 14 at the time of production.
Kubrick:
“because of all the pressure over the Production Code and the Catholic Legion of Decency at the time, I believe I didn't sufficiently dramatize the erotic aspect of Humbert's relationship with Lolita. If I could do the film over again, I would have stressed the erotic component of their relationship with the same weight Nabokov did.”
2) Todd Solondz
I'm sure there are more. THose are the two that sprang immediately to mind
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Permalink Reply by e manderthal on -
I loved Let the Right One In, with all of its sweet adolescent longing.
It brought to mind another Swedish film that I enjoyed years ago that included a glimpse or two of teenage/pre-teen nudity, My Life as a Dog, which, by the way, was nominated for Academy Awards in both writing and directing.
So there.
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