Subject
Camille Paglia's TV show on Lolita (fwd)
Date
Body
From: John_Lavagnino@Brown.edu
To: NABOKV-L@UCSBVM.UCSB.EDU
Camille Paglia's book *Vamps and Tramps: New Essays* (New York:
Vintage, 1994) has what purports to be her script for this program; in
the book it's called "Lolita Unclothed". Most of it is about the
image of Lolita in popular culture, and it only glances a few times at
the novel; in fact it's got more to say about the heart-shaped
sunglasses Lolita wears in the movie than about the novel. I liked
the information that an usher at the premiere of the movie was
photographed wearing such sunglasses.
Anne Rice is quoted as saying that the book's Lolita is very different
from the ``hot little number'' who is Lolita in popular-cultural
reference (as in the case of Amy Fisher, the "Long Island Lolita").
Otherwise, though, the script generally tries to ignore this
distinction. Paglia's own views strike me as waffling: she says we
should recognize the sexuality of children but, of course, not engage
in sexual abuse of them. Generally there's a suggestion that we need
to work out men's relationships to young girls, keeping in mind their
sexuality; a Jungian is brought on to talk about how rejuvenating this
can be (for men, that is); but there aren't any specific proposals
about just what would be spiritual and uplifting and what would be
abuse, which is the point of difficulty, of course.
John Lavagnino
Women Writers Project, Brown University
To: NABOKV-L@UCSBVM.UCSB.EDU
Camille Paglia's book *Vamps and Tramps: New Essays* (New York:
Vintage, 1994) has what purports to be her script for this program; in
the book it's called "Lolita Unclothed". Most of it is about the
image of Lolita in popular culture, and it only glances a few times at
the novel; in fact it's got more to say about the heart-shaped
sunglasses Lolita wears in the movie than about the novel. I liked
the information that an usher at the premiere of the movie was
photographed wearing such sunglasses.
Anne Rice is quoted as saying that the book's Lolita is very different
from the ``hot little number'' who is Lolita in popular-cultural
reference (as in the case of Amy Fisher, the "Long Island Lolita").
Otherwise, though, the script generally tries to ignore this
distinction. Paglia's own views strike me as waffling: she says we
should recognize the sexuality of children but, of course, not engage
in sexual abuse of them. Generally there's a suggestion that we need
to work out men's relationships to young girls, keeping in mind their
sexuality; a Jungian is brought on to talk about how rejuvenating this
can be (for men, that is); but there aren't any specific proposals
about just what would be spiritual and uplifting and what would be
abuse, which is the point of difficulty, of course.
John Lavagnino
Women Writers Project, Brown University