The other day, I found myself watching a Vietnamese film. The film initiated me to its slightly contentious theme by way of the title: "Em chua 18". According to IMDb, this is translated into "Jailbait". According to my girlfriend, it is actually closer to "Are you not eighteen?". The film is a mainstream release. I had enjoyed a moderately humorous film. The acting was actually quite good and the plot wasn't too horrible. This was true until the last twenty minutes of the film. The film's plot is quite simple to explain. A man with a rather questionable view on relationships and women is introduced. It is stated that he never settles down with a woman, then moves on to the obvious next step. A mystery woman is introduced who will change him. He meets the woman at the bar of a nightclub, they hook up and he wakes up in her bed. The entrance of a man in the mix causes him to jump out of her room and proceed to be chased around the block in his underwear. He later gets a call from the mysterious woman. It is now clear she is not actually a woman, she is a girl. She is in high school. She blackmails him into being her boyfriend. The plot gets more complicated as they use the twist of her possibly being pregnant. Although it eventually comes to the viewers' attention that they actually never had sex. So far, the film is a bit stupid, but it's a comedy and it is funny. It has basically done its job.
But, then we have the ending. This is where it gets creepy. The film makes sure that it's obvious that our protagonist is not committing a crime. He is ashamed of his high school girlfriend. After all, he is thirty-five (or thirty-eight based on one of the lines). He never actually has sex or even kisses her (he does try once though). He never does anything "bad". The whole film basically takes the moral stance of the situation being "wrong". But not for the right reason. The film then goes really weird. The film's finale is the lead actress' prom-night. It follows the natural arc of any romantic comedy with the same plot where the playboy ultimately changes his ways. On her prom night, she turns eighteen. He announces his love for his teenage girlfriend and they kiss.
I was speechless. I expected him to come to his senses about women, but I never expected him to actually end up dating this girl that, until the day before, was forbidden and wrong. He is twenty years older than him, she says. The film was obviously taking the stance, of the whole relationship being wrong, based on legality and not morals. Due to the fact that he had a moral reservation until the point of her turning eighteen, he is technically not doing anything wrong. So, all is good.
So I tried to summarise what I just saw. A film which showed a grown adult initiating a relationship with a teenage girl and the film-makers made the case that all is fine. Because of something as subjective as love. I could not believe my eyes nor ears, as I don't speak Vietnamese and was watching with subtitles. I had just seen a whole class of teenagers, the girl's father and teachers from her school cheering as a (nearly) forty-year-old declares his love for a teenager. This is someone who, just yesterday, was considered a child in the eyes of the law. It is just a film. But, film-making has an important role in shaping opinion. If someone considers this kind of thing in real life, they might consider it not as disgusting and potentially harmful as I do. I am a pragmatist, I see a film with characters that are in love, they will probably not create a harmful situation. However, the men that could draw inspiration from the film, will most likely not be that kind of harmless individual. What does it say to the forty-year-old schoolteacher that finds his student of seventeen years attractive? So, my review of this film is not regarding its quality as a comedy. In this aspect, it is actually really good. But morally, it is plain harmful and worrying. In a country where your elders are to be respected and obeyed, is it really right to be portraying adult-teen relationships as a positive? Have they really thought this through, or am I just being a "snowflake"? Maybe it is just because of the whole obsessive paedophile hatred that has never really ceased to be a "thing" in the West, causing "snowflake" behaviour on my behalf.
But, then we have the ending. This is where it gets creepy. The film makes sure that it's obvious that our protagonist is not committing a crime. He is ashamed of his high school girlfriend. After all, he is thirty-five (or thirty-eight based on one of the lines). He never actually has sex or even kisses her (he does try once though). He never does anything "bad". The whole film basically takes the moral stance of the situation being "wrong". But not for the right reason. The film then goes really weird. The film's finale is the lead actress' prom-night. It follows the natural arc of any romantic comedy with the same plot where the playboy ultimately changes his ways. On her prom night, she turns eighteen. He announces his love for his teenage girlfriend and they kiss.
I was speechless. I expected him to come to his senses about women, but I never expected him to actually end up dating this girl that, until the day before, was forbidden and wrong. He is twenty years older than him, she says. The film was obviously taking the stance, of the whole relationship being wrong, based on legality and not morals. Due to the fact that he had a moral reservation until the point of her turning eighteen, he is technically not doing anything wrong. So, all is good.
So I tried to summarise what I just saw. A film which showed a grown adult initiating a relationship with a teenage girl and the film-makers made the case that all is fine. Because of something as subjective as love. I could not believe my eyes nor ears, as I don't speak Vietnamese and was watching with subtitles. I had just seen a whole class of teenagers, the girl's father and teachers from her school cheering as a (nearly) forty-year-old declares his love for a teenager. This is someone who, just yesterday, was considered a child in the eyes of the law. It is just a film. But, film-making has an important role in shaping opinion. If someone considers this kind of thing in real life, they might consider it not as disgusting and potentially harmful as I do. I am a pragmatist, I see a film with characters that are in love, they will probably not create a harmful situation. However, the men that could draw inspiration from the film, will most likely not be that kind of harmless individual. What does it say to the forty-year-old schoolteacher that finds his student of seventeen years attractive? So, my review of this film is not regarding its quality as a comedy. In this aspect, it is actually really good. But morally, it is plain harmful and worrying. In a country where your elders are to be respected and obeyed, is it really right to be portraying adult-teen relationships as a positive? Have they really thought this through, or am I just being a "snowflake"? Maybe it is just because of the whole obsessive paedophile hatred that has never really ceased to be a "thing" in the West, causing "snowflake" behaviour on my behalf.