Child Rape Scene Causing Uproar at Sundance Film Festival

"It's not a rape movie," 12 year old Dakota Fanning said Tuesday. "That's not even the point of the film."

What film is she referring to? It's entitled "Hounddog" and it was screened this week at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. It is the story Lewellen, a young southern girl living in the 1960's. She lives with her alcoholic grandmother and abusive father, neither whom care about this young girl. Lewellen, played by Dakota Fanning, is able to escape her unfortunate circumstances by singing Elvis songs.

The very day the project wrapped, headlines about the rape scene started to surface. The scene is a few minutes long and darkly lit, but does not contain any nudity. It appears Fanning is nude from the waist up, but she is actually wearing a suit. According to the director, it is not necessary to show such a graphic scene, images are enough. She said, "If you have a hand hitting the ground, Dakota screaming 'stop' and you see a zipper unzip - that creates a rape." She also stated that she spoke with the parents of the three children in the film.

Although the chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission says the movie breaks the child pornography law, Fanning is defending her work. She says that she and the director spoke at length about the film's story and she insists that she was not being exploited, as the chairman suggests. Fanning has also pointed out that it is a movie, and not really happening. Sundance director Geoffrey Gilmore has agreed, saying filmmakers should pursue sensitive subject matter.

Many reviews of the movie, both in papers and on online blogs, condemn the movie, Fanning, and the director for the rape scene. These critics deem the scene inappropriate and say that Fanning has been manipulated. Many of these people also say she is too young to be able to decide on subject matter like this. I disagree. Dakota has been in several movies in her short life and I think she has acquired enough sense to decide on her participation in this movie. I think people aren't giving her enough credit and they are not being realistic. Younger and younger kids are being exposed to sexual material on TV and in movies. Dakota is 12 years old. She is capable of understanding the situation presented in this movie, and I'm sure it's not the first time she has heard of something like this happening. I think Dakota made a good decision to be in this movie, because it shows that even though she is young, she is mature and versatile as an actress. Hopefully, once more people have had the opportunity to see the film, there will be more positive reviews and opinions.