Given his normal attitude, Neil was way over the top friendly to the little boy who brought the baseball up while he was
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Jupiter1988 — 12 years ago(April 28, 2013 01:29 PM)
I don't think he will/would/
The end of the movie felt, to me, like Neil was coming to terms with what happened just as much as the other guy (sorry, forgot his name) it was as though saying it all out loud made it seem more "real" in the context of adulthood and he finally accepted that what happened to him was pretty awful. Just my opinion of course.
My name is Mike. His name is Bob -
bakerstreetdozen — 12 years ago(April 28, 2013 01:45 PM)
Yes, I think it took meeting Brian again (that's the name of the other boy) and seeing how he had been affected to finally make Neil realise what had
really
happened to him. The reverence in his voice when previously speaking of those events (as I brought up in my other post) was gone in that closing scene, when he was relaying them to Brian, telling him what had gone on between them, like he was finally seeing what had happened to both of them as he watched Brian become more and more broken.
So, if you take that single scene with the child out of context, I think it's very possible to think that Neil may become a child molester, but if you take into consideration the rest of the film and how Neil has finally come to realise what's happened and how wrong it was, I don't think he would.
Why don't you take a pill, bake a cake, go read the encyclopaedia. -
hoboboxerjoe — 12 years ago(April 29, 2013 12:26 AM)
Gotta disagree with ya, moriartygal. Neil was attracted to older men, not boys. If anything he'd feel the need to protect children. that may sound weird, maybe I have a different perspective, being a victim of similar pedophilia.
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MicahFish — 12 years ago(September 25, 2013 06:52 AM)
Whats ignorant about the comment? The fact that they refer to GAY child molesters? Sorry I wasn't aware we held such reverence for homosexuals that we had to be respectful for the gay molesters as well.
It is quite well know that child molestation does cycle through. Considering this film is based on a homosexual child molester I think he has every right to talk about a GAY CHILD MOLESTER, and the possibility of it being passed on.
Stop with your over-the-top PC idiotics. -
Kragey — 12 years ago(July 17, 2013 09:51 PM)
I don't think so. I don't think they made it super-clear in the movie, but in the book, it's quite obvious that Eric's reaction to the way Neil treats that boy has nothing to do with it being "inappropriate." It's because Neil is such a jerk to everyone else. Eric expected Neil to be rude to the kid, like he would be with anybody else, but he was really sweet.
There are definitely some hallmarks of his relationship with Coach, like the stroking on the back of the head, but unlike a molester (who tends to get focused on/preoccupied with his target), he just brushes off the encounter with the kid. Eric gives him a weird look and he's like, "What? No big deal," and doesn't look at all flustered or guilty. He doesn't stare longingly after the kid or anything, just lets him walk away.
Also, it seems to me that Neil sees himself as the little boy in his sexual relationships. It's like he's trying to recreate his relationship with Coach. He goes for older men and spends most of his encounters being entirely on the receiving end. Even when he tops the one guy in NY, it seems to be because it's easy for him, all the work has been done for him, etche doesn't have to prep the guy or himself, just put on a condom and slide it in. Once again, he's like a little boy being guided through the motions.
You're a sexual Disneyland. -
samgslp — 12 years ago(September 03, 2013 12:15 AM)
I think that when Neil got beaten by the john, it was the moment that he connected the childhood experiences with pain. He had to feel physical pain to understand the emotional pain he had been harboring. Maybe that experience cements in his mind just how wrong it is to abuse a child, even if he has mixed feelings about his own experiences. Especially during the scene at the end, it seems like Neil actually does comprehend how extensive the damage is, and that was just from one experience unlike the many he had endured. My hope would be that a person like Neil doesn't do the same thing when he gets older. But the danger is that, without proper treatment (I guess just therapy and a lot of self reflection) he could. Like a poster mentioned above, he continually sees himself as a child in sexual relationships, which might mean that he'd seek out a child because he feels like he's on the same emotional level as them.
The very disturbing documentary Stevie deals with that very concept. It's another great film that takes this taboo subject and humanizes it, which I think is more effective than demonizing it. Cartoons are hard to take seriously. -
TRhett — 10 years ago(August 22, 2015 03:43 AM)
He's a man and has a penisobviously, he has to be put to death immediately just to be on the safe side.
I LITERALLY just spit the Pepsi I was drinking out of my nose! LOL!!! It seems there are many people out there who won't be happy until that day comes. -
Kragey — 12 years ago(October 24, 2013 09:07 PM)
Looked through my copy for this. I found the part where they watch porn together, and one of the scenes is a twinky young guy getting tied up, then saved by a stereotypical bear. There's also a mention of a variety of porn under the bed, but nothing about a guy hogtied in any of them. One is of a guy chained up, another is a younger guy giving a man a blowjob, and another is of a young guy in a group sex scenario with dubious consent. There's a reference to "young boys" and "preteens" who look obviously terrified, butsince those are the first-person-limited narrator's perceptions, and because these are in what appear to be published magazines, it's not unlikely that they're of-age actors picked for their youthful appearance.
It's creepy, but it doesn't necessarily prove that Neil is a child molester. Again, it's not uncommon for porn to take legal-aged actors and purposely make them look younger. Companies produce rape porn with actors pretending to be terrified, hurt, abused, etc all the time. Some people who watch rape/"fake child" porn may have some major issues, like Neil did with his molestation, but it doesn't mean they're actually going to abuse people.
You're a sexual Disneyland. -
stillkisseswith_saliva — 12 years ago(November 12, 2013 06:09 AM)
it's possible that he could but after realizing what brian had been going through for years & starting to come to grips with the reality of his own experience.. that they were used & not loved.. i don't think he would want to inflict that pain or confusion on another child.
plus if those are real porn magz they're not underage bc they couldn't've been published. thousands of porn stars male & female are popular & chosen bc of their youthful looks. they have ones specifically made to look super young.. small bodied, pigtails, sometimes they get braces, wear childish clothing, the works. just think of all the teacher/student classroom porn. they even have animated porn of very kids (it's legal bc it's animated or drawn). obviously not everyone or even most people who watch it would actually become a pedophile or harm a child in real life. & this instance especially.. just bc someone likes bondage (hot) & slender guys (cute) doesn't have anything to do with child porn. it's not like they're pictures of real 8 yr olds with old dudes. i'm not saying the older men with younger men thing might not remind him of the coach but that's completely different than having porn of actual children. -
rodcenray — 12 years ago(November 05, 2013 03:42 AM)
In the book Eric discovers that Neil has child pornography in the dresser drawer he always locks up. It has pre-teen boys with older men. The book pretty much confirms the boys are underage and not twinks.
Now, all that being said, do I think Neil could become a child molester too? That's a hard question to answer but I'd say no. Yes, he was looking at child pornography but I feel like it isn't just about the child but rather the innocence a child possesses. Maybe in his mind while he viewed the porn he imagined he and Coach doing stuff.
By the end of the book he does come to a realization about the true lasting effects of what happened and I feel like it made him finally open his eyes and see that where he may have enjoyed the experience and held it as something sacred it totally ruined Brian's life and stunted him emotionally. He came to realize it wasn't love. That Coach used them. I think that knowledge, seeing what Coach did through Brian, would be enough to deter him from ever molesting a child. -
neilmcks — 12 years ago(November 12, 2013 08:12 AM)
For all the people who read the book in a proper way it must be clear that Neil already had some kind of sexual feelings for older men before he was molested.
Neil just likes older men, simpel as that. What by the way of course doesn't justifies him getting abused by an older man, not at all.
But I can't really understand why some people here think that his desire for older men will turn all of a sudden in a desire for children. Its a bit a strange conclusion if you ask me.
The 'child pornography' he was looking at was more about the children he could identify with and the older men he could identify Coach and all his other older John's with. It has nothing to do with own feelings for children. Not at all.
Neil describes several times in the book in detail his preferance for older guys. Something totally different then pedophilia. Next to that the desire for older men maybe has something to do with the absence of a father (figure) in his life.
The case you often see with pedophiles, yes some are also abused as a child. But also get theirselfs at a very young age feelings for younger children. This is not the case in Neil's situation. If their would be a definition for Neil his sexual preferance you would more say he is just a gay guy who likes older men. Not at all uncommon in the gay scene.
So to answer the question. Will Neil molest boys too? No, he will not. 100% sure of that. -
Forlorn_Rage — 10 years ago(July 27, 2015 03:24 AM)
Excellent post! Couldn't have said it better myself!
Child pornography is brought up with Neil and some posters immediately throw all logic out the window; automatically thinking Neil= child molester, even though he specifically states he is attracted to MUCH OLDER MEN, not children. He sees himself in the position of the much younger boys with the older men, not the other way around. -
greenjae — 12 years ago(November 23, 2013 11:51 PM)
I've heard people say that the sexually abused children will be likely to grow up to commit sexual abuse. I think it's important to address this prevalent belief.
"while it is true that many (though by no means all) who sexually abuse children have histories of sexual abuse, it is NOT true that most boys who are sexually abused go on to sexually abuse others. "
source:
https://1in6.org/therapists-and-other-professionals/myths-facts/ -
knoxfan2008 — 12 years ago(November 29, 2013 10:39 AM)
^ Thank you for actually using reason in this thread.
Also people saying "yep he probably will", are being pretty moronic. The film showed pretty clearly that he wouldn't. The film also went to show that he is not gay because he was abused, yet his view towards sex has been modified heavily due to this experience. -
belinda-short — 12 years ago(February 11, 2014 12:13 AM)
When you are groomed the way that Neil was to enjoy it, there is a very real chance that you will grow up to think that nothing that happened was wrong.
In real life, there is a very real chance that someone who was molested in this way would continue this behavior unless something changed them. By the end of this movie, he realized that what had made him feel good actually hurt someone else. I very much doubt at that point that he would do that to another child.