1. The Controversy Surrounding The Film Itself
Some of you who are reading my article may be old enough to remember the controversy that surrounded the release of the movie titled Pretty Baby starring Brooke Shields, Susan Sarandon, Barbara Steele and Keith Carradine back in 1978. The movie is about a young girl living with her mother in a bordello in New Orleans, Louisiana in the early part of the twentieth century; and when she is 12 years old, a man in his thirties marries her to rescue her from a life of ill repute.
From different sources, I have discovered that Ms. Shields was 11 years old when the movie was initially being made. Some people argue that because she was a pre-teenage minor, nobody had the right to film her in what they believed to be a racy flick. On the other hand, reality has it that she was approaching her teenage years, and this same film depicted the fact that it was not uncommon for girls to get married that young.
Ms. Shields has had a number of legal conflicts with her mother, the late Teri Shields, over some unpleasantries that she was subjected to as a child back in the 1970s. I'm not claiming that Ms. Shields didn't have legitimate disputes with her mother, because, after all, there were dangers involved in her getting wrapped up with the type of people who objectified her as a youngster.
At the same time, Ms. Shields has defended her role in the movie titled Pretty Baby and rightfully so. She has repeated again and again that she felt that the movie was a work of art, and it was. Now, don't get me wrong. I realize that every nation has to have some laws to protect minors from sexual exploitation and abuse. However, Pretty Baby was not an exploitation film but rather an educational masterpiece.
The facts are that the movie titled Pretty Baby set out to give its audience a good look at what life was like for the underprivileged in 1917. The movie was realistic in that it didn't hide the fact that women and young girls were vulnerable to all sorts of manipulation and exploitative capitalization back in that time era. However, I would never go as far as alleging that this movie was a form of child pornography.
First of all, the movie titled Pretty Baby was open and honest about the fact that it was quite common for girls to get married as young as 13, 12 or even 11 years old in 1917, especially in Louisiana, where there were droves of Cajun girls. In some parts of the world, nations had militaries that accepted the enlistment of 12-year-old boys. Therefore, how would it be unusual back then for a preteen girl to wed a man in his thirties?
The best way to describe the film titled Pretty Baby was that it had educational, artistic, and historical value to it in that it was brutally honest about the way life was back in 1917. It did not set out to sugarcoat anything.
The American Court of Public Opinion got too worked up about this movie. Jason B Truth published an article titled "Have American Obscenity Laws Gone Too Far?" regarding this topic. After reading that article, you will see that what seemed like a noble mission has become a travesty of justice in recent years.
Second of all, Ms. Shields appeared on The Diane Rehm Show and described how exciting the scene was in which she kissed Keith Carradine despite that she was still 11 years old at the time and he was an adult. Diane Rehm has voiced her strong objection to any forms of sexual exploitation, and she has shown herself to be educated on the subject matter.
Nevertheless, Ms. Rehm had no problem with Ms. Shields describing her passionate kiss with Keith Carradine on camera when the movie titled Pretty Baby was being filmed. Here is a video of the interview between Ms. Shields and Ms. Rehm.
Brooke Shields Opens Up To Diane Rehm About Her Role In "Pretty Baby"
In the above interview, Ms. Shields commends Mr. Carradine for handling the kissing scene tactfully in spite of their age difference and the controversial nature of their respective ages. The role of Violet that Ms. Shields played in the movie Pretty Baby was based upon the true story of a real girl who went through those same experiences in 1917 New Orleans.
The possible reason that the film titled Pretty Baby fell under scrutiny by the authorities was because tough child-pornography statutes had been placed on the American law books in 1978, which was the same year that this movie was released. However, the authorities got nowhere with their witch hunt against everyone who participated in the making of this same film.
2. A Litmus Test For Barbarity
Now, what I'm going to do is have you, the readers, choose which movie clip is more unwatchable. The kissing scene between Brooke Shields and Keith Carradine in the movie titled Pretty Baby? Or this one graphically violent scene involving animals that was removed from the remake of the film titled The Fly starring Jeff Goldblum and Gina Davis.
Nobody gets to answer my dilemma-oriented question as "NEITHER." "NEITHER" is for idiots that live in Never Never Land. If you're going to answer "NEITHER," then stop reading and go away. Nobody is interested in your neutral garbage in that event. This is a serious litmus test rather than a mind game.
Let's begin with the kissing scene between then 11-year-old Brooke Shields and Keith Carradine who was significantly older than her. Watch it below.
Brooke Shields Kisses Keith Carradine In Her Role As Violet In "Pretty Baby"
Was this scene pedophilia? Ms. Shields didn't seem to believe so, and I wholeheartedly have to agree with her. However, I am not going to go into the particulars as for why I agree with her. I've written plenty of articles about this subject matter on this writing platform. You are perfectly welcome to read any of my other articles about it.
Nevertheless, I can attest that Keith Carradine would not willingly partake in an exhibition of pedophilia if he were asked to do so. He is a professional actor who has made a name for himself in the field of cinema. Hollywood needs to produce a film regarding all of the late Dr. Richard von Krafft-Ebing's dirty secrets as a hedonistic shrink.
Now prepare yourself to watch a graphically violent scene that was actually deleted from the remake of the movie titled The Fly. Here is the video clip below.
A Scientist Attempts To Splice A Baboon And A Cat Together At The Genetic-Molecular Level In The 1986 Movie Titled "The Fly"
Now, I'm not going to disagree with any of you that the above scene from the film titled Pretty Baby did flirt with taboos and cross a number of forbidden lines set by societal norms. However, it was supposed to do so. It was that kind of film, and I don't mean so in a negative light. The movie was meant to be brutally honest.
The biggest complaint from those who loved that film was that they felt that the movie producer, Louis Malle, should have casted an 18- or 19-year-old woman to play the role of Violet and make her look to be 11 and 12 years old. In any event, the movie told a true story and convinced its audience that it had artistic, educational, and historical value to it.
On the other hand, the above deleted scene from the remake of the film titled The Fly is something that will give you nightmares in years to come after you first see it. I would much rather see the above video with the kissing scene from the film titled Pretty Baby than watch a baboon and a cat get spliced together into some kind of two-headed mutant that attacks the protagonist.
Also, the scene in The Fly in which the protagonist experiences an insect antenna or some kind of insect body part force its way out of his chest was not something I would recommend anyone to watch before eating dinner. Before I watched this one clip from that movie, I had thought that the scene in Alien in which a scary creature pops out of one of the astronauts' chest was fairly gruesome.
Between the kissing scene from the movie titled Pretty Baby and the graphically violent scene from the remake of the movie titled The Fly, I'm certain that most of you probably chose the one from the remake of the movie titled The Fly as being the most unwatchable of the two. I cannot imagine anyone preferring to watch the clip from the remake of the movie The Fly as opposed to the one from the movie Pretty Baby.
I like science-fiction and horror movies. However, after seeing the deleted scene from the remake of the movie titled The Fly, I can understand why Ms. Shields steered clear of starring in science-fiction and horror movies. She was better off shocking her audiences with scenes that delved into taboo topics rather than being in a movie in which a man changes into a human-sized insect.
Then again, if Ms. Shields decided to star in a science-fiction or horror film, I would likely be sure to watch it inasmuch as I know that it would probably be good. In any event, I rest my case about Ms. Shields' appearance in the movie Pretty Baby as a preteen girl.
Most Americans would prefer to see a beautiful, young girl on screen than a grotesque half-human, half-fly mutant toying with Mother Nature. Never mind all the puritanical rhetoric about age-appropriateness.
3. Final Thoughts
The United States has become so feisty about any films depicting the way of life from years past that may be perceived as overstepping the hedonist line. On the other hand, science-fiction and horror movies get more and more violently graphic as years go by.
It is time for Americans to wake up and smell the coffee. Our nation's obscenity laws have gone overboard in indicting individuals for so-called offenses that would not even constitute a crime in most European nations. Meanwhile, there doesn't seem to be as much concern about graphic violence in films.
Now, I completely get it. The video above that showed the scene from the remake of the movie titled The Fly was one that was deleted before this same movie was released to the box office. However, there are many more such violent scenes that slip through the loops and end up on the silver screen.
I'm not claiming that we need to censor such grotesque scenes as the one that was deleted from the remake of the film titled The Fly. However, if movie theaters, television cable channels, and the likes are to continue to be allowed to show them, then I think Americans need to stop making a big stink about the controversial scenes that appear in the movie titled Pretty Baby. Those same scenes were not intended to offend anyone but rather to retell the story about a young girl's biography.
The movie titled Pretty Baby attempts to mix the bitter with the sweet in that it displays the hardships that women and young girls endured in the patriarchal world that they lived in back in 1917. It shows both the ugliness and the beauty of youth back in that time era.
The remake of the movie titled The Fly presents an interesting plot that progressively turns into something hideous as you continue to watch that movie. Instead of showing any beauty in it, there is more and more gore and violence as you near the end of the movie.
Take your pick between the two. That's not a hard decision to make.
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