The Jailbait Dilemma

[sfalexi]

A good article, spinoff of another thread (I'll post a link to here from that thread)

The Jailbait Dilemma - Richard Roeper, May 2004 of Esquire magazine

To the surprise of nobody, Britney Spears made her film debut in her underwear. In the dreadful and inexplicable downbeat road movie Crossroads, we meet Spears's Lucy on the morning of her high school commencement. She's standing at her bedroom window in pink panties (designed to look like boys' briefs) and a tight halter top that reveals a generous portion of deeply tanned torso. As Madonna's "Open Your Heart" blares on her stereo, Lucy struts and wriggles around the room. She even puts on a cowboy hat and frolics on the bed, adding to the stripper-schoolgirl fantasy, before her daddy, played by Dan Aykroyd (!), raps on the door and enters without waiting for permission

So who's the target audience for that scene? Brtiney's 11-year-old fans or their dads?

In the last few years, I have seen at least two dozen movies starring young women who were born during the Reagan administration or even later. Some, such as What a Girl Wants and The Lizzie McGuire Movie, are light and dizzy romps starring sunny ingenues who have a built-in audience of "tweener" fans. Other teen-girl films, such as Crossroads and How to Deal, are slightly more amitious coming-of-age stories starring pop singers trying to make the jump to feature-film acting. You get the iPod-friendly soundtrack and the predictable story arc, but there are some serious elements as well, usually in the form of a parent who's dead or divorced or a best friend who's a slut and/or party girl.

Then there are the movies that are about teenage girls intended to reach an adult audience, e.g., Blue Car and Thirteen. These are serious, well-made films with literate screenplays, realistic acting, and sincere attempts to examine modern teendom.

What these films have in common is a photogenic teenage girl in the lead. Sometimes she is acute and adorable cheerleader type who loves her parents and has a pepto-bismal pink bedroom with 100 stuffed animals on the bed; sometimes she's a dangerous temptress from a broken home who can barely keep her jeansabove the top of her butt crack. Either way, she's cute. Really cute.

Check that. Not just cute. Flat-out sexy. There's usually a moment in the movie when you hear a voice bubling in your subconscious. Curiously enough, the voice comes from a National Lampoon recording from 1977 called That's Not Funny, That's Sick! One track features a male-female announcing team doing commentary on the teenage Nadia Comaneci., As the male announcer excitedly describes Nadia's floor-exercise routine, he gets so worked up that he finally blurts out what he's been thinking all along: "Boy I'd like to **** her!"

It's pretty much that way with male film critics. We generally ignore, or at least pretend to ignore, the sexual electricity of the young actresses who are bursting into womanhood. It's wrong for a middle-aged man to express impure notions about Hilary Duff as she bounces up and down while running away from the bad guys in Agent Cody Banks, or Keira Knightley as she plays soccer in a glorified sports bra in Bend It like Beckham, or Mandy Moore as she practically ripens before our eyes in Chasing Liberty. Isn't it?

Some of these girls are legal, some are barely legal, and some are disturbingly mature for their age. In Thirteen, the tongue-pierced and seriously ****ed-up duo of Evan Rachel Wood and Nikki Reed try to double-team Wood's neighbor Luke, played by Kip Pardue. Wearing whore-level makeup and provacative outfits in matching colors, they corner Luke in his house, hit the booze cabinet, and dance suggestively. "How about we make a Luke sandwich?" says Reed. Seconds later Luke's on the sofa with his shirt off as the girls take turns kissing him. Only when their hands reach his thighs does he freak out and toss them out of his house.

Okay, so we're supposed to react with shock at the lost and desperate state of these girls, but on another level, we cannot deny the that we're watching two beautifully lit young women in skimpy clothes try to fulfill the ultimate male fantasy. Is it possible for a film to be a cautionary tale about girls growing up way too fast and living much too hard without the visuals taking on a salacious quality of their own?

I'm 44 years old, comfortable in my heterosexuality, and perfectly content with my bachelor lifestyle. Like nearly every man my age on the planet, I've been known to date younger women, but I'd feel like an utter fool dating an 18- or 19-year-old. Yet because of my profession, I often find myself in a dark room with a lot of other men - and a few women - in my age group watching all these movies starring all these women of high school and college age, and rare is the story that does not position them as objects of desire. (It's different for age-equivalent male stars. Frankie Muniz is 18, just a little younger than Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johansson, but whereas Knightley and Johansson have already been cast as wives, Muniz is still playing the lovable nerd who yearns for a peck on the cheek from the object of his crush.)

This is nothing new, of course. When Bogie tangled with Bacall in To Have and Have Not, he was 44 and she was all of 19. And 26 years ago, Brooke Shields was presented as an object of pure lust in Pretty Baby. But I don't know if the studioes have ever made so many movies about pretty girls between the ages of 13 and 19.

In April 2004, some of our brightest starlets celebrated birthdays.
April 3: Amanda Bynes, 18.
April 9: Kristen Stewart, 14. (She was Jodie Foster's little girl in Panic Room, but in the 2004 release Catch That Kid, she's already the object of a fierce romantic competition between two of her junior high classmates.)
April 10 Mandy Moore, 20.
And on March 26, Kiera Knightley turned 19 - although some accounts have her a couple of years older, and a good thing, too, seeing as how she had a brief topless scene in a movie called The Hole which was filmed in the summer of 2000 [Edit by Alexi - where she would have been 15].

With the exception of Kristen Stewart (who is just a child), all of these young women, along with Hilary Duff (16), Jena Malone (19) and Scarlett Johansson (19), have achieved some measure of leading lady success before they are old enough to drink. In fact, they're pushing the female stars of the 190s right over the romantic-comedy ledge. When you see a romance in 2004, it's more likely to star the Olsen sisters - 17 years old and coming to the big screen with New York Minute on May 7 - than Meg Ryan.

So it goes for the middle-aged male critic who sees the unedniably chesty Lindsay Lohan in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, or the fresh-faced Kate Bosworth having her pants yanked down and getting humped by Val Kilmer in Wonderland, or even one of those Nickelodeon-grown teenage stars bouncing up and down after getting her first kiss. (With her fake eyelashes, her aggressive lipstick, her big hair, and her curvy figure, Hilary Duff from certain angles looks as if she's 30. And divorced. And wondering if you're going to buy her a drink.) In our reviews, we say things like "Ms. Lohan is becoming a beautiful young woman" and "Ms. Bosworth reminds one of the prettiest girl on the homecoming court" and "Ms. Duff is an adorable screen presence." What we hardly ever say - is something like: "Damn! They didn't make 'em like that when I was in high school." To do so would be to admit the truth: that men never stop appreciating the unique beauty of girls who are just becoming woman - and some of the most enticing young women in the world are the ones who are starring in these movies. In fact, that's one of the prime reasons they've become starlets: the way they look. They come to the table with physical gifts, and they're presented onscreen in a stylized, sexualized manner, and they are objects of fantasy, whether they're playing the good girl who writes in her journal every night or a 21st century Lolita.

And we're not supposed to notice this, at least not out loud.

[sfalexi]

Pardon any typos or anything. I typed it in a word program without spellcheck and just copied the text as well I could from the magazine.

Alexi

[Junket]

And we're not supposed to notice this, at least not out loud.

Yeah after turning 18, you kinda start keep yourself in check. Least I did.

[Innova]

While I agree that the world has become to sexually intuned because of the media and explotation. The problem I have, is that many feel that US laws have to seem to imply to every other part of the world and that bothers me.

An adult is 18 in the US, 21 to drink. In Canada you only have to be 19, in the UK your legal at 16. Its all different.

Everyone has their opinions, yet many never look at both sides of the coin. Its funny how we all come into an age where we explot women, and yet at the same time ***** about it.

We as humans are a big contradiction...plain and simple. I will go about my life as how I see fit, I do not find getting myself involved in such stupid arguments because its all one big circle. Before you know it, your life is over.

[nomas]

This is a discussion about morals. Morals are something I now hate because people have different views as to what this means. There's different levels. The average person or what is considered most acceptable is I guess whatever is within the 70% of the bellshaped curve. It seems it's what's most sensible, 35% in either direction of the middle...you're not an extremist in either direction. The problem is, it's still a regional thing. Like Innova says, being the US the world's superpower, Americans tend to see in only their way..they know US movies make the round ALL around the world so everyone knows US standards along with their own. I just have to travel south of the border a couple of miles and all of a sudden I'm submerged in north Mexican culture. For one thing, this age difference thing is not so taboo. It is not too uncommon for married couples to be 10 years apart. In fact here in the US it was so before too. I guess it's a conservative thing where the man has got to be "the man", the mature presence in a household that basically makes all the calls. As we become liberated from this gender role we're more into the equality between genders and with it, dating someone equal to you in age.

No matter where you stand, there will be some society or subculture in the world where you WILL be the deviant. It just keeps getting subdivided further and further even at the family level. You could all have been raised with the same values, but as you grow up and are influenced by different things/experiences than your siblings you find that your opinions may drift apart. And sometimes even on a personal level, I find I am my own devil's advocate...a walking contradiction as Innova states...and that is the trick: Decide what's good for Freddie. What are MY set of values and opinions on things? Not what's been pushed on me, both from the right and from the left. Do I think youthful beauty of women is the greatest thing since sliced bread because that's what's being pushed on my by all the movies and media? Do I think it's wrong to even think that youthful beauty is the greatest thing since sliced bread because it's what "morals" of my society tell me so?

Currently I prefer to be as open minded as possible. My on defined line is: As long as you're not harming others. The trick is, where do I define harm? Not just physical, but do you scar someone emotionally, subconsciously, mentally by being an influence on them at an early age? But everything influences how you'll grow up and who's to say what a positive influence is and what is negative?

People will always judge...you do what's good for you. That's why the theory of God would be so consoling. An ultimate judge who you'll have to justify your own views to.

Freddie

[sfalexi]

I agree with Freddie and Innova.

Yes, you have to decide what is acceptable for YOU. However weigh into the equation whether there are repurcussions on your decision based on where you live, and if there are, what is the risk factor of getting 'caught'? Are you willing to take the risk? That's what it comes down to.

Alexi

[nomas]

Exactly. We all take risks at some level. Hell, leaving your bed every morning is a risk...STAYING in bed is a risk. Everything has consequences, you measure your risks on a scale and decide from there.

Freds

[Innova]

0o0 I agree, they def. have to fit within the cultural laws where you live/or are and what not.

[Illusional]

well i for one would like to say that i find all 12 year old very attractive and sexy...

being that humans in general hate to admit when they are wrong and would like to them of themselves are egocentric. most ethnicities would think that they are the best and would hate to consider otherwise. being that the US is run by the richest people, they would like to portray sex because like i said before, it sells. who would care to see an 18 year boy get his first kiss as opposed to an 18 year old girl in her underwear?? it's society in general. we have been lead to believe by our ancentors that women are sex objects and sadly this is still portrayed today.

also it is true that everyone has a different view on this matter, shit it's life. the standards that society has created are supposed to be for whom?? i ask you this. is it for the common people in which the elite doesn't have to follow?? and when they break these rules, they get a slap on the wrist while i would go to jail for committing the same crimes. to sum it all up, i give you one word, BULLSHIT.

raverboy

[nomas]

It's not exclusive to the US to be run by the rich..it's the entire world.

I also don't think that women are portrayed as sex objects so much. The way I interpret the fact that we all like to see the girl use her sexuality blatantly is not because they are made to be sex objects..but it's okay for them to use this as their weapon. I think at the primal level, guys like girls and girls like guys. Simple as that...but...where society affects us is in the gender roles. The guy is the one who asks the girl out. So all a girl can do is do what she can to lure guys to her. The sexy clothes, the accessories, make-up, etc. So we fell into our roles and it snowballs from there. It's okay for guys to openly try to be, basically, a slut. Because it's natural for a man to be horny. It's those male hormones..sure, of course. Yet if a woman acts like a man, she's just that...a slut. So the compromise is that they get to be sexier in fashion/behavior/whatnot and we reserve the liberty to go and try our luck with them and if we score, we're one up..where as if the girl "gives it up", it's a win/lose situation. Yeah, you lured your guy..but now you gave it up and lost respect. But back to their sexiness: it's just snowballed and now we're trying to draw lines and limits as to when it's gone too far.

It's anybody's call.

Freddie