Little Children: prejudice and hate in suburbia.

           Last night, I saw a film that was interestingly thought provoking: Little Children, starring Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson (also in Hard Candy and the Watchmen-I think I'm in love with him.)  Anyway, it started off as one of those normal "families falling apart in suburbia" (think chumscrubber, american beauty, revolutionary road, etc.)  Anyway, the storyline that was in fact the most interesting, at least to me, was that of the child molester who moves back in with his mother in the same neighborhood as everyone in this suburban dwelling.  He is publicly ostricized, is prohibited from being near parks, schools, etc, and the only person who can see past all of this is his mother.  He is not an entirely sympathetic character- it is clear that he has not recovered from his indecent urges, and still suffers.  His mother sets him up on a blind date with someone from a personal ad, who turns out to be a woman recovering from a mental breakdown.  He behaves himself for the whole date, and then, in the car, while they are talking, he exposes himself and begins feverishly masturbating, traumatizing the woman.  It's clear that he has problems, and he knows that he can't escape them.  A former policeman continues to attack him throughout the film, and also attacks his mother, until she has a heart attack and later dies in the hospital.  The former molester ultimately has a breakdown of his own, because his mother's last words were "Be a good boy for me."  He knows that he shouldn't feel or do the things that he does, but he can't stop them, and he loses it.  He is basically an outsider and can't conform to society's norms.  At the end, Kate Winslet finds him in the park, where he is sitting in a swing, crying and moaning.  He confesses that his Mommy has died, the only person who could ever love him.  And she realizes that he is a person, not a monster.  Another character in the film finds him in the park later, and realizes that he has taken a kitchen knife and castrated himself, so that he "can be good."  It's then that I felt so much sympathy for this character, because he wanted to be good, to be normal, to fit in, but he couldn't, for so long.  The movie's main plot is focused on the two marriages that are falling apart, Winslet's and Wilson's, and they have an affair.  However, this is not terribly relevant to my spiel.

     Perhaps this is far-fetched, but for me, I saw Ronnie, the molester, as a symbol for all of the outsiders in society, in this suburbia.  He is a freak, someone deserving of ridiculous punishment, as the women in the park speak of in the beginning of the film.  They talk of how he should be castrated as punishment for his actions in the past.  His plot line in the film reminded me so much of the current war against gay marriage, gay adoption, and even homosexuality in Christianity.  The people of the town see Ronnie as someone having chosen his affliction, who enjoys hurting people, and who has no redeeming qualities.  I often see the same argument for homosexuality, and it troubles me.  How can we be so lacking in compassion that we see people as mere shadows of what they actually are?  Despite Ronnie's major flaws, he loved his mother very much, and clearly, should've been in a psychiatric ward.  Anyone not conforming to the "straight" orientation label doesn't choose  their affliction, nor do they want to hurt people.  (I'm not in any way trying to connect the actions and lifestyle of Ronnie with the actions of non-straight people.  Any such connection is ludicrous.  I'm merely noting that society ostracizes people as harshly for criminal acts and psychological issues as they do for a sexual orientation, and that, is quite tragic.)

      Thanks to jucispeak, I can keep up on women's issues and issues of equality, whether in gendered, orientation, or racially based situations.  Sadly, the battle is far from over.  This clip, taken from jucispeak and feministing, illustrates this issue, and proves that many people still see homosexuality as an illness, a choice, and a lot of other crazy things.  (Ever watch the NOM-Gathering Storm Video?  There are so many responses to it...)  Anyway, let's hope that we can change people's point of view, or at least relax the hate a little bit. 

Currently listening to: The Dodo's "Visiter"  It's *awesome*.