Hounddog must be one of the most boring and sexually depraved films ever made. For some reason, the people involved with production seem to think it's important and will raise awareness, instead of trying the art line, they are now trying the moral tactic. We are now supposed to see this film, because rape happens often, and happens to children often, and none of us are aware of it.
Is there any moral purpose of this film besides raising awareness? (Which one could get from a newspaper article anyway.) Apparently not. There is no message to rape survivors about how to survive, there is no closure or justice or even really the start of something better. In fact, this isn't really a film most people can relate to, given the unusual and irrelevant nature of Lewellen's life (no mother, idiot father, poor in the old-fashioned Deep South, and she is constantly behaving precociously - not because she thinks it is fun, as poor Fanning seemed to think, but because she is a wrecked, traumatized who doesn't really know any other). We are constantly treated to shots of Lewellen's underwear, Buddy shirtless and barefoot, and then there's the pointless scene where naked two children are tied together with a live snake and threatened at gunpoint. It makes you feel dirty just watching the film.
The behavior of Lewellen is disturbing, but there is this nasty sense that she is "asking" for the rape, given that she is constantly engaging in sexual behavior and then performs a striptease right before the rape itself. As this is not the most likely way in which girls aged 9-12 are going to be raped, the story seems silly, and with no relation to today. It is not something modern young girls would identify with (and is another reason why they shouldn't watch this film).
The film is cruel, it is strange, it is entirely about sex, and it is boring and badly-written and made.
Is there any moral purpose of this film besides raising awareness? (Which one could get from a newspaper article anyway.) Apparently not. There is no message to rape survivors about how to survive, there is no closure or justice or even really the start of something better. In fact, this isn't really a film most people can relate to, given the unusual and irrelevant nature of Lewellen's life (no mother, idiot father, poor in the old-fashioned Deep South, and she is constantly behaving precociously - not because she thinks it is fun, as poor Fanning seemed to think, but because she is a wrecked, traumatized who doesn't really know any other). We are constantly treated to shots of Lewellen's underwear, Buddy shirtless and barefoot, and then there's the pointless scene where naked two children are tied together with a live snake and threatened at gunpoint. It makes you feel dirty just watching the film.
The behavior of Lewellen is disturbing, but there is this nasty sense that she is "asking" for the rape, given that she is constantly engaging in sexual behavior and then performs a striptease right before the rape itself. As this is not the most likely way in which girls aged 9-12 are going to be raped, the story seems silly, and with no relation to today. It is not something modern young girls would identify with (and is another reason why they shouldn't watch this film).
The film is cruel, it is strange, it is entirely about sex, and it is boring and badly-written and made.