Especially that mother. You don't let your kids date at ALL?! People have to live!
I myself am a fan of 'later dating' (no dating before age 16 at least) but not at all?!!
Did anyone else think the mom was sexually abused as a teen or child? She was a serious nut though.
"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."
try being the oldest of three and not allowed to date at all but your younger sisters are allowed to not only date but go to FLORIDA on a trip with her douche friend and her family.
Oh Thank you God! Thank you so BLOODY much!Basil Fawlty
the parents were ill especially once they began to share a post traumatic stress disorder.
I dont think the mother was sexually abused, she tried to bring boys into the house to cheer up her daughter with a party but obviously that didn't work. After the incident with Lux, I think she began to think the outside world was evil like rat poison to her baked sweets if you catch my surfboarding pun on the drift.
Another theme of the film is the suburban culture of America and how at the time people had nothing better to do than gossip. There are times in the movie were neighbours joke about the fashion and interior design of the main family after very sad tragedies. It just shows the delusion of the characters and how they fail to have healthy relationships
It's because she has very strong religious beliefs, which effect what she does in a everyday life.
Some Christians for example believe that you shouldn't date until you're an adult, e.g. 18+. They disapprove on sleeping with each other before you're married; you should only be with someone to have kids. As some think.
You can call me queen bee and baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule.
Because she's a religious nutcase.
shareWell to be FAIR, only a few of the girls were older than 16... so technically speaking your "later dating" would be the same. However, the isolation she inflicts is horrible. IDK why she would act that way.
Death Awaits You! A Horror Forumhttp://w11.zetaboards.com/Death_Awaits/index/
I wasn't allowed to date before 18, you guys are making it too much of a big deal calling her crazy. Also it was a different time, I hear many 14 year old American girls give BJs like they were holding hands. They even made a movie of this American phenomenon. Just because that's the American culture now, doesn't mean it was always like that or it's like that in other countries.
But I'm guessing you were allowed to actually leave the house, at least for school and errands, right? I'm guessing you were allowed to socialize with other teenagers, at least if chaperoned or at school. I'm also guessing you were allowed visitors (at least female ones) and phone calls (at least receiving them during the day). Towards the end, there were a lot of things other than dating that the girls weren't allowed. Even infants are occasionally taken out of the house and even prison inmates, unless in solitary confinement, are allowed more contact with the outside world. Even in Saudi Arabia women can leave the house if chaperoned. Note also there was no sign of any homeschooling taking place, which would certainly be illegal now and probably was then.
shareWe were allowed to leave for school when our school buses would pick us up and bring us to and fro. The entire school was gated, locked and guarded and no once could leave without the bus conductor picking us up. In school, unlike American schools where there was plenty of free time between classes, the only free time we had was during a short recess and lunch. No time breaks between classes, we had 1 classroom and our teachers went to our rooms, we didn't go to their's.
We were not allowed outside during weekdays, only during weekend mornings and only within the neighborhood (we were not allowed to go to malls, restaurants, cafes etc without the family). By lunchtime, we had to be home and after, sleep siesta until 4pm, we were not allowed outside after that. We were not allowed to run errands, we didn't have any errands. Some of my neighbors were not even allowed outside at all, aside from school. They were locked inside their houses all the time, we rarely saw them. So there were parents who were far more strict than mine were.
The parents n the film did seem to try to socialize their kids with the party and had no problems having boys court their girls. That was a big NO NO in our house, no courting until 18. I was also not allowed to paint my nails or wear makeup, except for the graduation pictures or the prom. These girls had certain freedoms we never had. It seems the parents only became paranoid and strict when Dunst's character violated their trust and slept with a boy on the first date. Dunst didn't even try to hide it, she wasn't even worried about coming home in the morning. Her lack of fear of getting punished indicated that she wasn't afraid of her parents. I was certainly afraid of my parents, so did most of the neighborhood kids. We would not dream of doing something so blatantly disrespectful or something that would be too obvious to get caught. Dunst having no fear of her parents indicated they were not very strict with her.
Of course, I do not agree that the kids should've been taken out of school or the other girls should've been punished because of 1 girl's misdeeds. But the girls appear to be very confident to me, they did not fear the parents, and the parents do not seem to practice corporal punishment. Corporal punishment was certainly practiced in my house and most of the neighborhood kids in my area. The parents were also teachers, so I assume they were home schooled.
TBH, aside from the youngest who seemed genuinely depressed, I cannot understand the elder girls' suicides. The boys were under the illusion that they would run away together, why not make an attempt if their home life was so bad? The eldest of the girls was 17, in a year, she would've been 18, an adult, old enough to venture out on her own or simply go to College.
Global Warming, it's a personal decision innit? - Nigel Tufnel
Even the strictest parents you describe allowed their kids far more contact with the outside world - going to school, for starters. Again, the degree of isolation they were subject to in the end was at levels only experienced by prison inmates in solitary confinement, even if the situation started out as essentially normal. The only aspect in which they had any freedom was in how they dressed, but that's less important for people's emotional well-being than socializing and contact with the outside world, and wearing revealing clothes is pointless if there's no one to reveal anything to.
I see relatively little mystery in the suicides - I'm guessing they assumed (probably correctly) if they ran away they would just be returned home by force, and their situation would only become much worse, as had happened when Dunst's character broke the rules. After all, nobody seems to have taken any interest in them except for the boys, who were powerless, and their family was "respectable." Except for the oldest, they'd be waiting a fairly long time until they turned 18, and teenagers are not renowned for their patience.
Those kids had interaction with the outside world prior to their leaving school. The kids I knew had far less freedom than that. Also how long was their confinement? It lasted a few weeks to a few months? Hardly a reason for suicide. Corporal punishment is far more scary especially if taken to the extreme into abuse than simply grounding kids. How exactly were they locked down when the girls were able to leave the house leaving clues f for the boys or Dunst opening the door while her parents were asleep on the day of their suicide pact? I've seen plenty of films regarding imprisonment of children, this hardly compares. Tbh, those girls don't seem realistic to me, they're presented as ethereal and mysterious alien like entities. Their parents were far more human like than these 4 girls were.
sharePrior to their leaving school they had interaction with the outside world, yes, but my point is that after they were taken out of school they had less contact than anyone other than prisoners in solitary confinement have. I strongly got the impression that this situation wasn't supposed to be a temporary punishment but it was the new state of things, that it wasn't a long grounding but a "permanent" change.
I agree, however, that many things were completely unrealistic, starting with how the parents were able to control them without corporal punishment while, apparently, Lux could get to the roof without problems or how easily they were able to get out on the day of their suicide. It doesn't really add up. That is, I think de facto solitary confinement plus feeling, probably correctly, that nobody could or would intervene, explains their becoming suicidal, but I don't buy the logistics of their situation.
I don't think you should compare your situation to these. It is not about what is worse, it is all about how bad you feel about it. I don't think they socialized in their school, other kids have a lot of freedom and had nothing in common with these girls to interact in school.
I do know kids from other part of world who are in worst situation turns out to be just fine. But it is still unfair to compare. It is like asking 'why are you crying over your breakup when there are lot of people in the world who will never get to marry'
"The kids I knew had far less freedom than that. Also how long was their confinement? It lasted a few weeks to a few months? Hardly a reason for suicide."
You cannot tell someone what a "reason" is for a suicide. No one can tell a person how to feel or that they shouldn't feel a certain way. And because you know kids who had LESS freedom, that makes it OK? No, it was illegal to keep them out of school and locked in the house 24/7. It's abuse. And when you're a kid you don't have the life experience to know that things will change, you can't see ahead to when you grow up and you can escape.
++++++
Love means never having to say you're ugly. - The Abominable Dr. Phibes
No offense but you guys are taking this film way too literally. These kids are far from realistic yet you take the entire thing as such.
shareSounds like you grew up in concentration camp. did your childhood happen to be during WW2?
---------------------------------------------
Applied Science? All science is applied. Eventually.
No. Just grew up in Asia. Worth you everything is torture and comparable to NAZI concentration camps. Only shallow and clueless people would make such an asinine statement.
shareyour mother was crazy, then.
---------------------------------------------
Applied Science? All science is applied. Eventually.
Not until 18??? Jesus.
If I was a parent, I would never be that strict at all. I would have my kids come home at a certain time, but when it comes to dating I wouldn't stick my nose in especially like that awful mother did in the movie (who even forced Lux to burn all her records just to show how much power she has over her).