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First, I want to acknowledge Tim for his choice of movie. I can only assume that there will be better discussions with this type of film, compared to Dude, Where’s My Car?. Anyway, on with my thoughts.
To me, Lolita seems to be a film that is brutally honest. I haven’t seen another film about the subject of pedophilia that paints such a paradoxally forgiving and unforgiving portrayal of its characters.
There seems to be much discussion about who exactly is the victim. In my humble opinion, all of them are in one way or another. Humbert is a victim of tragic circumstance and an inability to escape the past. I can relate a certain extent with him, because for me, it is difficult sometimes not to be nostalgic or melancholy, especially about my first ‘true’ love. I would think that it is common for anyone who has reached that certain point in life, when youth starts to become memory, and the remembrances of youth become more and more romantic. Maybe Humbert would have been all look, and no touch, if Dolores hadn’t kept rubbing her body all over him, and the passionate kiss that pushed him into pure carnal lust disguised as love. However, Dolores didn’t make him a victim either. He himself did with his own desires.
Dolores has been seen as a victim, as well as a girl that deserved what she got. I see her more as a victim. Yes, it was her who originally seduced Humbert when vying for supremacy with her Mother. I could easily see her in a modern day setting, sitting in a chair on the set at Jerry Springer, flipping the audience off all the while screaming, “What-evah, I do what I waon!”. She is not the classical good girl in any sense of the word, but she is still a girl. No matter how sexually active she is, or how hard she works her seductions, she is still a kid. She has at her disposal, perhaps the most powerful of all weapons (ask any Wicca), and she doesn’t and can’t understand all the ramifications of using it improperly. And does she ever do that. When she seduces Humbert, she seems to be thinking that he is nothing more than a tool to use at her discretion. She doesn’t show any remorse at all that Humbert is all tied up in knots. Is he a real human being with all of its wide range of emotions to her? Or is he nothing more than a fly in her web? Hell, she’s not evil. Just callous and unfeeling most of the time. Then again, her Father’s dead and her Mother’s a drunk, maybe she was a victim a long, long, time before hand. I feel most sorry for her. After her Mother’s death, there was only one weapon she had available to her to use combating the horror of her life. We see that eventually, she is in horror about everything. First, she needs to recover from her Mother’s death, and there’s only one person around to help her with it. For her, that’s all it is. Sex is used more for comfort than for recreation. Humbert is completely oblivious, because he never sees her as a real human being with all of its wide range of emotions either. He thinks she’s in love with him, and all his dreams have come true. He is young again. When she eventually leaves Humbert, I think it’s more of an escape, and of course, Humbert sees it as an abduction. Just another way to be haunted I suppose, but obviously the end of any ability of reasoning as far as Humbert is concerned. The ending illustrates that point quite perfectly. Dolores has moved on, thank goodness, but we know nothing more about her than that really.
The message that I received from the movie is a very poignant one. Age and experience does not necessitate an understanding and/or ability to decipher what appears as love. The young and in-experienced have even less of a chance. Put the two together…
To me, Lolita seems to be a film that is brutally honest. I haven’t seen another film about the subject of pedophilia that paints such a paradoxally forgiving and unforgiving portrayal of its characters.
There seems to be much discussion about who exactly is the victim. In my humble opinion, all of them are in one way or another. Humbert is a victim of tragic circumstance and an inability to escape the past. I can relate a certain extent with him, because for me, it is difficult sometimes not to be nostalgic or melancholy, especially about my first ‘true’ love. I would think that it is common for anyone who has reached that certain point in life, when youth starts to become memory, and the remembrances of youth become more and more romantic. Maybe Humbert would have been all look, and no touch, if Dolores hadn’t kept rubbing her body all over him, and the passionate kiss that pushed him into pure carnal lust disguised as love. However, Dolores didn’t make him a victim either. He himself did with his own desires.
Dolores has been seen as a victim, as well as a girl that deserved what she got. I see her more as a victim. Yes, it was her who originally seduced Humbert when vying for supremacy with her Mother. I could easily see her in a modern day setting, sitting in a chair on the set at Jerry Springer, flipping the audience off all the while screaming, “What-evah, I do what I waon!”. She is not the classical good girl in any sense of the word, but she is still a girl. No matter how sexually active she is, or how hard she works her seductions, she is still a kid. She has at her disposal, perhaps the most powerful of all weapons (ask any Wicca), and she doesn’t and can’t understand all the ramifications of using it improperly. And does she ever do that. When she seduces Humbert, she seems to be thinking that he is nothing more than a tool to use at her discretion. She doesn’t show any remorse at all that Humbert is all tied up in knots. Is he a real human being with all of its wide range of emotions to her? Or is he nothing more than a fly in her web? Hell, she’s not evil. Just callous and unfeeling most of the time. Then again, her Father’s dead and her Mother’s a drunk, maybe she was a victim a long, long, time before hand. I feel most sorry for her. After her Mother’s death, there was only one weapon she had available to her to use combating the horror of her life. We see that eventually, she is in horror about everything. First, she needs to recover from her Mother’s death, and there’s only one person around to help her with it. For her, that’s all it is. Sex is used more for comfort than for recreation. Humbert is completely oblivious, because he never sees her as a real human being with all of its wide range of emotions either. He thinks she’s in love with him, and all his dreams have come true. He is young again. When she eventually leaves Humbert, I think it’s more of an escape, and of course, Humbert sees it as an abduction. Just another way to be haunted I suppose, but obviously the end of any ability of reasoning as far as Humbert is concerned. The ending illustrates that point quite perfectly. Dolores has moved on, thank goodness, but we know nothing more about her than that really.
The message that I received from the movie is a very poignant one. Age and experience does not necessitate an understanding and/or ability to decipher what appears as love. The young and in-experienced have even less of a chance. Put the two together…
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"Today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."
"Today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."
I hadn't thought of it like that either.
