Lolita's Candy

I first discussed pedophilia in this entry about the questionable content in work by Madonna, Drake, and Lil Wayne. Since then it has become a subject that seems to be coming up more and more. I will start with the woman I began with last time, Madonna.

Madonna's 2008 album shares it's title with a thought provoking and emotionally draining film starring Ellen Page (Juno). The film is about a sexual predator who meets a 14 year old girl online and invites her over to his house. A LOT of other things happen but I don't want to ruin the film for anyone who might plan on seeing it (and you should, it's good). What I can say is that the public's reaction to the film is even more fascinating than the film itself. Believe it or not but many people actually feel sympathy for the sexual predator (you may understand why after you see the film...two wrongs don't make a right though).

Another film Madonna's album Hard Candy has drawn comparisons to is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Johnny Depp.


According to this website the performances for the song were heavily inspired by Charlie and the Chocolate factory.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory's star, Johnny Depp, was accused of imitating Michael Jackson when this film was first released. Many also speculated that his character subliminally represented a pedophile which is interesting considering Michael Jackson's own legal battles concerning child molestation.

A Daily Dose of Deprogramming recently featured a blog entry about Johnny Depp (click here to read it) and brought up something I didn't think of, R. Kelly has an album titled Chocolate Factory. As many of you probably know R. Kelly has been accused of child molestation aswell (he's also worked with Michael Jackson).

Johnny Depp's next project is the highly anticipated (by the public, not me) Alice In Wonderland directed by Tim Burton (same director as Charlie and the chovolate Factory). Johnny Depp will be playing the Mad Hatter and many have already speculated that his inspiration for this role was Madonna.
I personally do not feel Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter looks like Madonna but the comparison is interesting considering this is the third music icon Depp has been accused of using as inspiration for a character (Keith Richards for Pirates, MJ for Chocolate Factory, Madonna for Alice).

Alice In Wonderland is based off of the book Through The Looking Glass written by Lewis Carroll. For years it was believed that Lewis was a pedophile but there was no evidence. Years ago photos were discovered with Lewis Carroll kissing a young girl on the lips. Photos were also released of nude underage girls from his personal collection. While this doesn't prove he was a pedophile it raises some questions. Alice In Wonderland is used as a trigger device in trauma based mind control.

This is not the first accused pedophile (who's book went on to become a Disney film) Johnny Depp has been connected to. In the film Finding Neverland Johnny Depp played J. M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan who has been accused of being a pedophile. So far nothing substantially has been released to prove J. M. Barrie was a pedophile.

On a side note, since Michael Jackson has died a lot of people have been feeling really bad about mourning him since no one is sure if he really molested children or not. I always bring it back to these two authors and lots of other public figures who have done inappropriate things with children. If you're going to judge Michael Jackson you might as well turn the TV off, never read, or pretty much just kill yourself. Michael Jackson (if he did it) was not the first and will not be the last. You have probably enjoyed the work of pedophiles. I'm not saying it's right to praise a pedophile but if we're going to start pointing fingers let's point fingers at everyone who has been accused.

Like Alice In Wonderland, Peter Pan has also been used in trauma based mind control. Both books and movies revolve around the theme of escapism (disassociation).

Like J. M. Barrie, Lewis Carroll will get his place in the sun, courtesy of Hollywood, when none other than Marilyn Manson plays him in Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll. Marilyn's ex-girlfriend, Evan Rachel Wood will play "Alice's alter-ego" in the film. You may remember Evan and Manson's relationship caused controversy when he started dating her when she was just 19 (legal, but still). Alice will be played by Lily Cole (check out POM's stuff on her).

Marilyn Manson's interest in Lewis Carroll, and Alice In Wonderland in general, spilled over into his album Eat Me Drink Me.
The first single from Eat Me Drink me was "Heart Shaped Glasses". The music video features Evan Rachel Ross who wears heart shaped glasses inspired by the Stanley Kubrick film Lolita.
I have covered Kubrick's films Eyes Wide Shut and A Clockwork Orange in the past. The film Lolita is an adaptation of the novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. Vladimir, like Manson, was inspired by Lewis Carroll and even went on to be the first to translate Alice In Wonderland in Russia.

The book is about the middle aged Humbert Humbert who is sexually involved with 12 year old Dolores Haze. Though Nobokov says the book does not advocate pedophilia, the reactions to the book gives an interesting glimpse on social conditioning. Novelist Robertson Davies says the theme of Lolita is "not the corruption of an innocent child by a cunning adult, but the exploitation of a weak adult by a corrupt child". For the people that have red the book and seen the film let's examine Dolores' corruption of poor Humbert Humbert.

Humbert arrives in the story when he tries to rent a room from Dolores' mother. He is not interested in the place until he goes outside to see Dolores half naked in the backyard. This section of the story is there to show you how Dolores lured him in with her sexuality. Eventually Dolores' mother sends her out of town to school. During thiss time Humbert marries Dolores' mother. One day Dolores' mother finds Humbert's diary with his explicit fantasies about her 12 year old daughter (14 in the film). She then runs frantically outside, gets hit by a car, and dies. Humbert takes it upon himself to take Dolores out of school and starts a new life with him. He keeps her locked in the house and she's forbidden most outside relationship until she one day escapes during a hospital visit. I don't know about you but that sounds like a young girl who was taken advantage of my a perverted middle aged man. Whether she was "sexy" (how a 12 year old girl is sexy is beyond me) or flirty is beyond the point. She was still 12 years old.

The impact of Lolita has been large. The term lolita has entered into pop culture mythology as a word to describe a sexually inticing underage girl. Both Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus were described as lolitas during their highly publicized scandals.

Britney Spears caused controversy when she posed for this sexually provocative photo in 1999 when she was just 17 years old. In true Lolita fashion her handlers have often told the media that the concept for her controversial "...Baby One More Time" video was all her idea. Again, why didn't anyone say no? She was 16 years old. Clearly they smelt the sweet smell of money.

They kicked it up a notch with Miley Cyrus as she was only 15 years old. Both were products of good ol Disney. The photos were 10 years apart. Miley is definitely the Britney of this generation.

So how far have we really come? Hard Candy has been marketed as a film that divides audiences between a sexual predator and a girl out for revenge. Are we still divided on the nature of pedophilia? Do you still look for reasons to blame the victim? Yes, the film Hard Candy explores negative aspect of that particular victimized character, but I still find it odd that we can't admit the crimes of sexual predators before we find flaws in the victim. If they're both wrong why not say it? Why are we still divided?

"I am every little girl you ever watched. Touched. Hurt. Screwed. Killed."