“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock.” –Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita
This is one of the most well-known quotes from Nabokov’s famous (to some infamous) 1955 novel about a middle-aged European having an affair with a 12-year-old American girl. Some say romancing someone so young is every man’s fantasy. I am thinking of this because of the controversy over the new movie Cuties (in English), a French film that seems to be about 11-year-old girls who “twerk” (meaning showing off their rear ends) on camera as a sort of dance routine to entertain adults.
I don’t want to watch this film based on what has been written about it. I know some say that it is unfair for me to comment without seeing it, but we all talk about people we have never met, and I think that is analogous.
A few thoughts:
- Children do sexualize early, but I think the best adult response is to tell them to stop and not publicize or usually put into art that it happened.
- There is a difference between doing what Nabokov did, writing a novel about exploiting a child sexually, and making a movie about it. In my graduate studies, it was noted that novelists could deal with difficult and risqué topics in ways that playwrights (the precursors of today’s screenwriters and film-makers) could not because theater audiences would be outraged and leave, demanding their money back.
- The movies based on Nabokov’s book used actresses who physically might seem to be adult; Cuties does not. To me, that is an important distinction. The fact that teenagers have adult bodies but immature minds is one of the things that makes adolescence so difficult.
- From what I have read of the plot, the new movie seems to be insulting to minorities and Muslims.
- The way to treat children is controversial. I have read that the modern notion of childhood only really emerged in the 19th century. Before that, children were considered physically small adults. I suppose that is why some industrialists and farmers during the Industrial Revolution thought it acceptable to put children to work that was too onerous.