Age difference unsettling - Broken Arrow Discussion

[–] wlp325 9 years ago

In the review of Broken Arrow (1950) by The MovieScene, I found the following:

"But the thing is that whilst Stewart was perfectly cast and gives the most relaxed performance out of the cast, the fact that Stewart was 25 years older than love interest Sonseeahray, played by 16 year old Debra Paget feels just a little bit too wrong."

Apparently you're not alone. Having watched and enjoyed the picture several times, I had no trouble with the on-screen relationship between Tom Jeffords and Sonseeahray, and am surprised to learn Debra Paget was only 16 during the film's production. I thought she was perhaps 20 and made-up to appear as a young Chiricahua Apache.

Rest in peace, Roger Ebert. You were the best.

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[–] jodysanchez 9 years ago

I suppose the reason I was unsettled, it was because I knew her age prior to watching the movie. Had I not; I may not have felt quite so uneasy. Still, to me she just looked way too young to be fondled by Stewart.

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[–] Captain_Augustus_McCrae 8 years ago

Stewart is playing a mid-twenties aged character, while Paget's character is supposed to be 16 or so. Is a 9-10 year age difference really that shocking?

"It ain't dying I'm talking about, it's LIVING!"
Captain Augustus McCrae

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[–] hoosier95-551-986445 8 years ago

What everybody fails to realize is the time frame the movie takes place. Get past the modern way of thinking about age and age difference and look at it from the time period the movie takes place. In the culture at that time she could have been married and had a child at 13 or 14. Age differences were also not a big deal either. It was one of 2 things, love or a matter of convenience.

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[–] bastasch8647 8 years ago

Not at all unsettling, but rather completely appropriate and fitting for the two characters as depicted. And not a hint of pedophilia, which is an attraction to pre-pubescent children, whereas Paget/Sonseearay was, at 15, fully a woman and fully functioning adult member of her tribe.

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[–] MAGolding (1240) 7 years ago

As an example, one of my great great grandmothers, Anne Francis Veronica Hurst (1801-1868) married Jacob Demuth (1779-1842) as his third wife in 1822 if I remember correctly, and had nine children including my great great grandfather. Jacob Demuth was about 22 years older than his third wife and was 2.047 times her age. Curiously, a few days before Anne Francis Veronica Hurst married Jacob Demuth, her father Henry Hurst (1771-1834) married Jacob Demuth's niece - they had children who were Ann Francis Veronica Hurst Demuth's younger half siblings and also her grand nephews and grandnieces by marriage.

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[–] MAGolding (1240) 7 years ago

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[–] Jennie_Portrait (804) 6 years ago

OMG yes! I was just watching it on TCM and found it very creepy. I do realize that for the time period depicted in the film, their relationship was entirely appropriate. But there is no way actors with that age difference would be in a film made today.

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[–] Otter (24464) 6 years ago

Well certainly people got married very young in the 19th century, and it wouldn't have been at all unusual for a girl of 16 to get married. To someone within 5 years of her own age, anyway, because men married young as well!

For a girl of 16 to marry a man of 42 (official age) would have been unusual, unless there was some financial interest or pressure, which definitely happened. Actual romances between mid-teen girls and men in their forties were slightly more common then than now, because they weren't actually illegal then, but that doesn't mean they were commonplace, or that girls wanted a man 2.5 times their age any more than they do now. So while the relationship wouldn't have been illegal then, it certainly would have been unusual.

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[–] TylerAArse (2940) 6 years ago

For the specific time period the movie takes place in, it was not as improper as it would be now. Kudos for them playing those roles. However, it was kinda unsettling to see a 16yr-old Debra Paget kissing a 42yr-old James Stewart.

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