Hounddog
This controversy has been brewing for a while (RC of Strange Culture mentioned it on his blog a while back), and it’s finally exploded at the Sundance Film Festival. You see, in Dakota Fanning’s bid to grow into the next Jodie Foster (and not Lindsay Lohan), she’s beginning to dip into some wrenching, uncomfortable material. In her next film, Hounddog, set in the poverty stricken American Deep South of the 1950s, her 12 year old character is raped. This scene is depicted in the movie… well… suggested with close-ups on Fanning’s arms, trembling legs and terrified face.
And conservative America just can’t handle it. The film has yet to be picked up for distribution, no doubt out of fear that many cinemas will refuse to show it. Many religious groups have (without seeing the film!) called on it to be banned on child pornography grounds.
I honestly can’t think what the problem is. Of course, child rape is a horrific topic. You are meant to feel discomfort to complete outrage when it is depicted onscreen. It is not a taboo to be erased from a nation’s cultural production as if it doesn’t happen.
Here’s the USAToday article on Hounddog.
Thank God, Americans don’t have to deal with the rape atrocities that occur in South Africa every day, where something like 1 in 3 women will be raped in the course of their lives. 12 year old girls and much younger children are raped all the time - for the record we also have 12 year old rapists. This is a nation where days-old, not even months-old, babies are violated.
Sorry, I’m in a cynical mood about South Africa at the moment. If and when I leave this country it will be for one reason alone: Crime. It is through the roof at the moment, and I don’t see it getting any better.
Apparently our criminals are their own unique breed. They feel no remorse. They don’t fear punishment. They stab and shoot first. They degrade their helpless victims through rape and torture. Clearly life – their own and others – means nothing to them.
Current soft targets are tourists and local holiday-makers visiting some of South Africa’s favourite destinations and attractions, like Kirstenbosch Gardens, Table Mountain, Kosi Bay and the Natal South Coast (this last article is an absolute horror story). We’re not even safe sitting at a restaurant eating dinner – attacks on popular spots packed with patrons are ever increasing.
Last night at 1:30 or so there was someone, or maybe someones, on our driveway. Hopefully they were just opportunistic criminals hoping our garage was unlocked, and not a serious gang casing our home for a future armed robbery.
I want to live in a country where I can actually walk the streets without being stabbed for my mobile phone. I want to live in a house that doesn’t resemble a prison with security doors and thick burglar bars. I want to relax at a holiday resort without fear of being tied up and raped.
South Africa is a beautiful country. Now if we could just get rid of its scumbag inhabitants in one wholesale purge.
And conservative America just can’t handle it. The film has yet to be picked up for distribution, no doubt out of fear that many cinemas will refuse to show it. Many religious groups have (without seeing the film!) called on it to be banned on child pornography grounds.
I honestly can’t think what the problem is. Of course, child rape is a horrific topic. You are meant to feel discomfort to complete outrage when it is depicted onscreen. It is not a taboo to be erased from a nation’s cultural production as if it doesn’t happen.
Here’s the USAToday article on Hounddog.
Thank God, Americans don’t have to deal with the rape atrocities that occur in South Africa every day, where something like 1 in 3 women will be raped in the course of their lives. 12 year old girls and much younger children are raped all the time - for the record we also have 12 year old rapists. This is a nation where days-old, not even months-old, babies are violated.
Sorry, I’m in a cynical mood about South Africa at the moment. If and when I leave this country it will be for one reason alone: Crime. It is through the roof at the moment, and I don’t see it getting any better.
Apparently our criminals are their own unique breed. They feel no remorse. They don’t fear punishment. They stab and shoot first. They degrade their helpless victims through rape and torture. Clearly life – their own and others – means nothing to them.
Current soft targets are tourists and local holiday-makers visiting some of South Africa’s favourite destinations and attractions, like Kirstenbosch Gardens, Table Mountain, Kosi Bay and the Natal South Coast (this last article is an absolute horror story). We’re not even safe sitting at a restaurant eating dinner – attacks on popular spots packed with patrons are ever increasing.
Last night at 1:30 or so there was someone, or maybe someones, on our driveway. Hopefully they were just opportunistic criminals hoping our garage was unlocked, and not a serious gang casing our home for a future armed robbery.
I want to live in a country where I can actually walk the streets without being stabbed for my mobile phone. I want to live in a house that doesn’t resemble a prison with security doors and thick burglar bars. I want to relax at a holiday resort without fear of being tied up and raped.
South Africa is a beautiful country. Now if we could just get rid of its scumbag inhabitants in one wholesale purge.
Comments
We dont realise how much freedom we are being robbed of until we go somewhere where it isnt like this. The levels of crime in this country are unacceptable to me and those in charge don't give a shit. To me, that's almost as bad as the level of crime.
I could handle the AIDS crisis, Zuma, and, believe it or not, I could even learn to put up with Telkom if violent crime in this country was taken seriously and dealt with.