Jennifer Lopez has a new movie coming to theaters. It is called The Boy Next Door. Here is the trailer:
I realize trailers can be misleading. Clearly the actor portraying the “boy next door” is not a boy. Ryan Guzman is 27-years-old, so it is possible that in the film he lies about his age.
However, the premise of the film, based on trailer, is that this high school student seduces and then stalks a high school teacher, using their sexual encounter to control and threaten her. In other words, the child is the abuser.
Let us stop there. Flip the sexes. Would anyone make this film? Would anyone make a film in which the lead male character is seduced by a barely legal girl who then stalks him and portray the male lead as a victim?
Again, the trailer could be misleading. Yet as it is, it comes across as what feminists think happens when women rape teenage boys. It is as if someone watched That’s My Boy and wondered what it would be like if the boy were older and sexy and tried to murder his teacher’s ex-husband.
This is precisely why so many boys and men abused by women do not come forward. This is not the case of someone telling a joke. This is situation where the general idea of the sexual violence against males is considered so trivial that people feel comfortable making films depicting the child as the rapist and abuser.
At the very least this film looks like it will bomb. It is due out in two weeks, yet there are no reviews for it. That is usually a sign that the studio is preventing critics from reviewing the film.
Toy Soldiers 
The trailer is vague about his age as portrayed in the film. He doesn’t come across as very young. However if he is SUPPOSED to be a 16 year old it will indeed be interesting to see feminist commentary, or lack thereof.
Reality: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/he-was-abused-by-a-female-teacher-but-he-was-treated-like-the-criminal/2015/01/09/3f2e7980-96d5-11e4-aabd-d0b93ff613d5_story.html
And, as I said, our top rated school of social work teaches that males can only be sex offenders, and “victims” are only unconfessed perpetrators who are referred to sex offender treatment. I heard it from a professor when exploring graduate school there with an interest in males and victimization. Nada. Doesn’t happen. I’ve never seen such sick twisted people before. Seriously.
They kind of did make that film: Election. Also, Wild Things.
In Election, the older male teacher is portrayed as a dishonest, cheating, lying, self-pitying, selfish, alcoholic loser pervert, not as a poor, poor victim who’s been set up, like the older female teacher in this other movie. So, no, they have never done that movie…
And if I remember “Wild Things” correctly, the teacher in that was crooked, too.
…And in Wild Things, again, the older male isn’t a “victim” at all, but a villain too, who ends up being outsmarted by a more intelligent younger female…
That trailer is pretty amazing given the concerns about this. It clearly says Noah is in grade 11, so I think he cannot be 18 in this story. Using a 27 year old actor frankly makes it close to propaganda for an agenda…
Consider me offended.
I suppose states may vary, idk, but as for “seduced by a barely legal” ..: in Minnesota, any student under 18 is illegal for any teacher and a serious crime (15 yr max sentence) due to:
609.344 CRIMINAL SEXUAL CONDUCT IN THE THIRD DEGREE.
(e) the complainant is at least 16 but less than 18 years of age and the actor is more than 48 months older than the complainant and in a position of authority over the complainant. Neither mistake as to the complainant’s age nor consent to the act by the complainant is a defense;
In a saner world, it would be easy to organize a protest with 100 people at a showing, and get some attention to something more reality based.
Re: Election & Wild Things – I’m still comfortable drawing the equivalence – in both films, what under any sane sense of ethics should be considered victims were, in the end, shown to have fully agency, used their sexuality tactically, &etc. This is the fantasy – yes, it’s wrong, but the wrongness gets sublimated, the abused becomes the source of punishment. And the victim role is, in the end, reversed. It’s purely defensive, the films way of justifying having the fantasy.
I imagine the Lopez film operates in the same genre wheelhouse – her corruption is the act of having sex with a student, and the punishment is the stalking &etc.
Here’s the difference: it’s much harder to sell (ie. get people to suspend disbelief) men as victims, and young women as having full agency, so Election & Wild Things have to work extra hard to justify that narrative.
Roe, I doubt the angle of the film is that Lopez’s character is corrupt and must be punished. That is not the impression the trailer gives. I accept the trailer could be cut to edit out the film’s true narrative, but it is hard to see the “boy next door’s” actions as anything other than stalking and harassment. So it would appear the film presents Lopez’s character as one who seeks love after a divorce, has sex with someone she should not have, only to find that this “boy” is a psychotic killer.
I agree, however, that it is much harder to sell a film as the male lead being the victim.
America is a matriarchy. This ‘movie’ is part of its constant propaganda, which manufactures consent for the evil that’s later codified into law and broad public policy. Cheers.
What about the movie Crush?
Lee: “What about the movie Crush?”
Actually it’s called “The Crush”. Released in 1993 with Alicia Silverstone playing the physcotic Lolita in pursuit of Cary Elwes’ character.
Well, it’s a prediction, then. There’s only two endings to this type of movie: if he gets killed – twice, after a faked “gotcha” death – and she goes back to her life, her marriage, her career, no consequences, then I will concede your point.
What’s the other possible ending? I bet it’s aliens!
Oh for crying out loud – this guy is CLEARLY way too old to be in college, let alone school! And it’s pretty shameful that the older teacher is the victim because she’s female! Feminists claim that disregard of male survivors is due to macho sexually active boys-don’t-cry stereotypes, but this film really demonstrates the bigger picture, doesn’t it? Something feminists don’t oppose because it is too convenient for them.
But maybe if it’s going to bomb, it might be a sign that people’s minds may be about to change?
No. It is simply that Lopez is not as a big of a box-office draw as she used to be.
To be fair, I think they did make a movie like that called, “The Crush,” starring Alicia Silverstone in the early 90’s.
There is one such movie I can think of: “Long Island Lolita”. From the 80s. Based on a true story. Even a false rape accusation is in there.
Ah yes and “the crush” from the 90s. And one with Rose McGowan in the 90s as well. Wow 3 movies. Now how many are with males in that role?
Let’s not forget “the Summer of ’42,” not a peep from feminists in 1971 either.
Adlerowski, I think there were a couple of TV movies / B-movies with the male student as predator in the 90’s as well. I specifically remember one based on the Mary Kay Letourneau case where the boy was made out to be some 12-year-old Don Juan. Man, the 90’s were a weird heyday of shoddy teacher seduction movies, huh?
Your an idiot if you think she did something wrong in this movie. It clearly states she did not know that he was under 18 or a more or less a student of hers. Really? He looks older, thus him being 27 in real life. It simply deals with the dilemma of the repercussions of being a teacher, and having to be perfect. If she knew he was a student and did something anyway , that’s wrong and illegal. But of course the public is so quick to judge teachers period, because ,yes, some teachers have screwed up. Kind of like a few pilots getting drunk, and blaming all pilots for the few mistakes of their co-workers. People are so quick to judge. Let’s put a spotlight on your life shale we?
Miranda, the trailer does not clearly state that she knew he was not under 18. To the contrary, it appears that she is embarrassed that anyone would know she had sex with the boy. I do not feel sorry for teachers who have sex with their students, let alone those who play the victim when caught. But that is not my problem with this film. My problem with this is film is that it takes what is typically an abusive situation against the child and paints the adult as the victim and the child as the abuser.
Lets be honest. This is a direct response to the growing number of female teachers being exposed as child molesters. It is an effort to instill a level of victimhood to those women, and a level of abuse onto the boy. It is simply a means of pushing the women are good, men are bad narrative, even when a female teacher seduces a student.
Adlerowski
There s a distinct different between “The Long Island Lolita Story” and “Crush”, and this movie. The difference is, in both Long island and Crush, the man is victimized despite not actually having done anything. In both movies, the man is innocent in any wrongdoing. In THIS movie, the woman IS guilty of wrongdoing, and is portrayed as a victim anyways. You want to list some movie equivalents, make sure the man is guilty of sleeping with his underage abuser, and then still painted as a victim.
I don’t think it’s impossible for Lopez to actually be the victim of stalking and harassment because she’s the older party. Was sleeping with a kid wrong? Yep, best I can tell. Does that make her any less of a victim of his actions in response? No, I don’t think so.
Incidental: Jennifer Lopez also starred in “Enough”, where she actively tries to murder her abusive, stalking ex with her bare hands. But it’s okay, because he’s apparently connected enough to get away with just about anything, so she Had No Choice.
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