I hope I explain myself clearly without offending anyone. This is my theory on the movie regarding the relationship Tre
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Icthus381376 — 18 years ago(June 30, 2007 10:05 AM)
I grow tired of people who see an adult male befriending a girl child in a movie or real life and jump to the conclusion it is pedophilia, a word whose definition is debated. Trent and Devon's relationship was one of friendship. Unfortunately, given the world we live in, nothing good was going to come of their friendship.
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InUrFridge — 18 years ago(July 07, 2007 06:36 AM)
Who the **** is this josephinelilac?
You go around accusing people of being peadophiles but it is obviously you who have some sort of problem for you to be so bitter.
You say that no adult in their right mind would want to befriend a child unless they were a peadophile. So are you saying that when children go on trips with their Dads the Dad is merely going out of parental duty? That if when someone takes their children out somewhere they have a good time and enjoy the company of their child they must be a peadophile?
However you might argue that that is different because they are the parents of the child. What about youth workers and teachers then? Did you never talk or (god-forbid) joke with your teachers? Scout leaders, for example, although they also supervise they join in games and activites and have fun else they wouldn't be in that job.
Anyone who thinks that befriending a child can only be sexually motivated is obviously so scared of being branded a peadophile themselves that they have never spent enough time with children to know that they can have just as much to offer to a friendship as any adult.
Tsk
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Niknack — 18 years ago(January 22, 2008 02:06 PM)
Back to the original post
I didn't come away thinking that Devon had a crush on Trent. I thought it was just that she was looking for company, and she felt comfortable with Trent, rather than with the pretentious community she was living in.
And I thought that when she asked Trent to touch her scar, she was telling him that she trusted him completley. She wouldn't let anybody else touch, or even see it. And his (reluctantly)touching it was an aknowledgment of their friendship, rather than pedophillia.
That's just what I thought. -
fran-emily1 — 17 years ago(June 16, 2008 10:44 AM)
it was clearly a friendship,some people are to cynical to understand that,
obviously in real life there are situations that are less innocent.
but everyman that has contact with a child that is not there own should not be considered a peodophile, some people are just nice. -
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porzstar — 16 years ago(August 18, 2009 02:55 AM)
I think that sums up perfectly, without offending at all. This film can be uneasy to watch in parts but I dont think its meant to be peadophillic in any wayIts just a very good example of the interaction between a child and different adults, and the childs realisation of how she can manipulate certain adults (parents)but at the same time maintains to a certain degree innocent child like qualities (i.e. not realising the effect of running to her parents after the dog was killed etc and end result of this) The fairy tale end is left unexplained and thats what makes this such a tgood ending. Sometimes a films ending is best left unexplained.
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ExAxLxPx12 — 16 years ago(December 09, 2009 04:50 PM)
i completely agree with the OP with the exception of i don't think Devon ever had a crush on Trent. they were friends, plain and simple. letting him touch and see her scar was just her wanting him to know her. her parents wouldn't even look at it. and she recognized that the scar was a part of her, her parents tried to ignore or shove that part away, Trent had a scar as well and she felt that they had that "damaged" thing in common, she trusted him and thought that he would accept this part of her. which he did. they were friends, nothing sexual about it.
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Mousuke — 15 years ago(September 02, 2010 05:56 AM)
Firstly I just want to say that I don't think for a moment that Trent was supposed to be some kind of paedophile, I didn't find anything in his actions to suggest he was.
That said, I think paedophillia was a major part of this film and in particular that scene with the scar. I liked this film because although they had an innocent relationship it was filmed in such a way that you could interpret it in a much more sinister way. For example, there were several longish shots of Trent looking at Devon, such as when he is watching her talk to his mother- this is perfectly innocent, of course he is going to look at her every now and then- he is not going to walk around staring at the floor all the time, but in films if the camera shows lingering looks for a long time it is usually to communicate some kind of romantic feeling. Again I stress, this is not what I think the character was thinking, but just a choice the director made to possibly make the viewer think that. Maybe I am reading too much into shots like that, but I think it could be not to show that Trent is a paedophile but to make viewers (some not all) feel uncomfortable at the situation and perhaps confront their own hang ups. Likewise the scar scene was innocent, and we can clearly see from Trent's reaction to her unbuttoning her shirt that he is uncomfortable with what she is doing and definitely does not have some kind of desire to see her naked, but there are still elements of that scene which a cynical viewer could read too much into, like the way he runs his fingers down the scar and the 'I'll show you yours if you show me mine' aspect of it, and Devona sking slyly 'can I touch it?' Plus the positioning of the scars is quite important- across Devon's chest, and right above Trent's belt line- they could just have easily been on arms and legs but they are on parts of the body which you would not normally show someone unless you were in some kind of romantic or sexual relationship.
While I think the film was mainly about two lonely and out of place people forming an unlikely friendship, there is definitely something there to fuel this debate, but I think people who genuinely think that Trent had unsavoury feelings towards Devon should perhaps rewatch the film with a more open mind.
Lovers in League Against Satan -
babz12 — 15 years ago(November 30, 2010 03:53 PM)
I think it's more just acceptance. Both were outsiders and finally found someone that was an outsider like themself. Since the scar was part of Devon, she wanted this other person to accept her for who she was. Trent realized this and touched it to make her know he accepted her and her "flaw." Besides if Devon's scar was on her shin and she asked him to touch it, would it be as big a deal? Probably not. Unless he caressed it or something
Anyways, adults and kids can be friends. I was "friends" with 20 somethings when I was 10. We didn't call each other up, but our parents were friends and we'd all go camping together, and the kids, teens, and 20 somethings often hung out together. I never found it weird when the 20 year olds would hang out with us, I found it weird when they would sit around talking with the 40-50 year old parents.