MovieChat Forums > Pretty Baby (1978) Discussion > I wish there was more...

I wish there was more...

posted 9 years ago by iheartnormi
11 replies | jump to latest

I've always wanted to watch this movie, mostly because of the controversy but I could never get my hands on it because it rarely comes on tv. And yes, like almost everyone I was creeped out by Brooke Shields' role in the film. But I am a sucker for historical fiction movies, and am a fan of the Storyville photographs by Bollocq so it was kind of cool to see it come to life. It also makes you think about the real women and young girls that had to live that kind of life back then, not to mention STD's pre-penicillin, horrifying.

I just wonder why the director or whomever wrote this movie made Bollocq to be a pervert in this movie. Bollocq's character really reminds me of Lewis Carroll, author of 'Alice in Wonderland' who also liked to take pictures of young girls sometimes in the nude and was often speculated that he was a pedophile. The similarities vast.

But, going back to the movie I kind wished it was longer, or went into detail how her life was after she moved to St. Louis, like did she ever think about Bollocq?, etc.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] iheartnormi 9 years ago

Well to me if a grown man wants to sleep with a 12 year old, I am pretty sure that is a form of perversion. I don't care if he was in love with her she was a child.

[–] davedave11 9 years ago

he did not touch her until she was well beyond being a child, at least as experience goes --- she still had the mentality of a child

[–] iheartnormi 9 years ago

Well in my opinion if a man is sexually attracted to a 12 year old regardless of her experience it still is perverted, what is even more disturbing is that she still had a mentality of a child-it would seem as if he would come to his senses when she is doing immature things (normal for a child), but he still wanted to sleep with her.

[–] davedave11 9 years ago

but not as perverted as the women, the owner, HER MOTHER, and all of them, in the house who thought it was a great idea to sell he virginity

[–] iheartnormi 9 years ago

Yeah very true. I cringe at the very thought.

But, (not to justify it), you have to think of the time period-even though morals were very high (well higher than what they are now by many means- lol not when it came to prostitution tho 😊), for women I guess there weren't that many opportunities. Not really sure how many financially independent single mothers there were in the Victorian-era my guess not a lot. Especially if you didn't graduate from high school.

[–] CapitanHowie 9 years ago

Dave- have sex with a 12 year (or a 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 year old girl) and tell the judge "she was well beyond being a child, at least as experience goes" and see how that works out for ya.

It was illegal even back then, incidentally.

~~~
I've never met a racist person, just a scared and uneducated person.
~~~

[–] davedave11 9 years ago

I was talking about the movie not the law. BTW if it was illegal to have sex with a 17 year old girl all high schools would be in prison

[–] MsSpiderGrrl 9 years ago

We're talking about adults havung sex with minors. Stop being an idiot. And a pervert.
An adult having sex with a child is perverted and wrong and illegal. There is no argument against that.

[–] xenophile2002 9 years ago

Oh dear. Please google "age of consent" and you will see that in most of the United States* a young woman becomes legal at sixteen years of age, less than that if her partner is close to her in age. So no, it is not (in most of the country) illegal to have sex with a consenting seventeen-year-old. And in most of the world the age also hovers around sixteen.

Twelve OTOH will get you in trouble in most (but not all) of the world. At least now it will; in the past ages of consent tended to be younger.

I disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure you're not Hitler.
- Jon Stewart

* In California the AoC is indeed 18. Most American movies come out of California. Thus, many people around the world assume that in the United States the AoC is 18 years and not a minute less. Unfortunately, most Americans assume that this is true of the entire world. They not only think all the world is America, but that America (and thus all the world) is California. God bless California, but it ain't the whole frikkin WORLD!

[–] 9 years ago

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