January 29, 2007

Every winter independent movies at the Sundance Film Festival manage to grab headlines by pushing the envelope. This year, amid movies centered on bestiality and touting full male nudity, the majority of buzz is surrounding Hounddog, which tells the 1960s tale of a rural Tennessee pre-adolescent caught in a cycle of abuse. In it, 12-year-old Dakota Fanning's character is raped by a 20-year-old man while her younger boyfriend watches. No nudity is shown in the less-than-a-minute-long segment, nor is there any simulation of sex. Yet what the disturbing visuals suggest has left many questioning whether Fanning's parents should've allowed the child actress to be involved in such a situation. Despite the buzz, so far critics have widely panned Hounddog, and the controversial film has yet to attract a distributor. [foxnews.com, 1/25/07; AP, 1/24/07; usatoday.com, 1/23/07]

QUOTE: "Since I am one of the few [reviewers] who've actually seen [Hounddog], let me explain something important. There is no point that I can find to the child's rape. Once it happens, it's never discussed. The culprit is never accused or apprehended. The child never tells her story to anyone. There's no great moment of revelation that could possibly help someone who's watching the film. It's simply there for shock value. The fact that [writer/director/producer Deborah] Kampmeier and the producers have somehow conned rape-assistance groups into using the movie as a public-service announcement is bizarre to me. But I guess it's no more bizarre than using Dakota Fanning as the public defender of the indefensible." —Fox News film critic Roger Friedman [foxnews.com, 1/25/07]

QUOTE: "Children at 12 do not have the ability to make the types of decisions that we're talking about here. If we're offended by someone's racial slur, why aren't we offended by somebody taking advantage of a 12-year-old child?" —Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission and publisher of the Web site movieguide.org [AP, 1/24/07]

QUOTE: "It's not really happening. It's a movie, and it's called acting. I'm not going through anything. Cody and Isabelle aren't going through anything, their characters are. And for me, when it's done it's done. I don't even think about it anymore." —Dakota Fanning [AP, 1/24/07]

QUOTE: "The strangest thing about the [Hounddog] pre-release debate may have been observing Dakota Fanning herself defending her choice with the savvy articulateness of a child raised in Hollywood's echo chamber. In curiously perfect sound bites, she winningly explained her decision to play the part to the New York Times ('The bottom line was, I couldn't not do it,' she remarked. 'I was the perfect age'). Elsewhere, she pointed out what seemed to her a puzzling failure of logic, noting that Hounddog is 'no darker than Hide and Seek or Man on Fire! I still am going through difficult things in those films as well, and nobody seemed to talk about that!' ... There's an odd paradox at work. Fanning invokes [her Hounddog character] Lewellen's innocence as a way of comforting us that she herself has not yet reached the realm of sexuality and still stands at the brink of it. But to know to do as much is, in a way, to be out of the garden already. That she comprehends the various dimensions of the role is not reassuring proof of her childish innocence. It only makes it all the more impossible for the viewer to imagine her going back to the cocoon of childhood, rather than moving forward into the trials of adolescence. Dakota Fanning the actress (if not the character she plays) has chosen to take on this graphic a role. She has opened Pandora's box. Once she has become part of the sexual economy of adolescence—about which Americans are so clearly conflicted, living as we do in a hypersexualized era that is also peculiarly hyperprotective of children—she can't go back." —Slate literary editor Meghan O'Rourke [Slate, 1/24/07]

Teen traffic deaths involving alcohol have dropped by 35% from 1990 to 2005, according to National Traffic Safety Administration data. Unfortunately, traffic accidents still rate as the No. 1 killer of U.S. teenagers, with a fatality rate four times higher than drivers ages 25 to 69. [msnbc.msn.com, 1/25/07 stats]

A new radio service wants to make kids who take the bus to school every day a captive audience for a new advertising campaign. And schools seem to like the idea. By the end of this school year, Needham, Mass.-based Bus Radio expects to reach 1 million kids in 11 states with hour-long broadcasts—created specifically for elementary, middle or high school students—that contain songs by acts including Christina Aguilera and Gnarls Barkley, along with national commercials and messages about important issues such as bus safety and healthy eating. School districts are supplied with equipment free of charge and receive an airing payment based on how often they use the broadcasts and how many students ride the buses. [Billboard, 1/27/07]

QUOTE: "If you ask the kids [in America] what they want or need, they will say an iPod or some sneakers. In South Africa, they don't ask for money or toys. They ask for uniforms so they can go to school." —Oprah Winfrey, venting her frustration with young Americans' obsession with material things, when asked why she built a school in South Africa instead of the United States [washtimes.com, 1/24/07; cnn.com, 1/23/07]

For all the talk about Generation Y embodying a different set of values than previous generations, those born since the early 1980s may not be so different after all. According to a new Pew Research Center Poll, 81% of the 579 18- to 25-year-olds surveyed indicated that "getting rich" was their most important or second-most important life goal. Fifty-one percent said the same thing about being famous. Thirty percent referenced helping people, while 22% expressed some aspiration to become community leaders. Just 10% described spiritual growth as their highest or second-highest priority. David Morrison of Philadelphia research firm Twentysomething Inc. believes reality TV has a lot to do with Gen Y's value system. "Look at Big Brother and other shows. People being themselves can be incredibly famous and get sponsorship deals, and they can become celebrities. It's a completely new development in entertainment, and it's having a crossover effect on attitudes and behavior." [usatoday.com, 1/10/07 stats, c&e]

QUOTE: "When you open a celebrity magazine, it's all about the money and being rich and famous. The TV shows we watch—anything from The Apprentice, where the intro to the show is the 'money song'—to Us Weekly magazine, where you see all the celebrities and their $6 million homes. We see reality TV shows with Jessica and Nick living the life. We see Britney and Paris. The people we relate to outside our friends are those people." —22-year-old Cameron Johnson [usatoday.com, 1/10/07]

MTV's My Super Sweet 16 documents the lavish extremes some parents now go to throw a coming-of-age party for their teenagers. It seems that trend isn't just for teens, though. The industry for kids' birthday parties continues to expand for big-spending parents willing to fork over anywhere from $500 to $1,000 for renting out private party rooms or limos to $38,000 for a sleepover at FAO Schwartz. "You have to perform to a certain level," said a mother of two who's also a teacher. "When they were little, it was Chuck E. Cheese. Now it's laser tag. Next it's going to be a concert or a game. It's no longer a family thing—it's an event." [time.com, 1/22/07]