Blue Moon Aurora

A new movie is coming out titled Orphan and is part of the 'evil kid' genre of horror movies and apparently involves an adopted orphan doing horrible things. Sure it's not the most original idea, but apparently it has angered various adoption groups and even members of Congress to protest the movie. Apparently, there was a line in a trailer which really irked some parents: "It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own".  The studio did yank the line from the trailer due to the protest, but there is a call for a boycott by some groups for this movie's portrayal of adoption.  As an adoptive parent I have to just say - are you all out of your frelling minds? 

Let me break this down for people to understand - you idiots just increased the opening weekend gross for this movie by giving it free publicity. Controversy generates interest, which generates tickets when it comes to movies. Yes, there are groups out their 'boycotting' the movie, but come on, it's not like a bunch of middle-aged adoptive parents were going to see this movie in the first place. Seriously, it's a movie titled Orphan and all the posters/trailers show this cute, but obviously evil little girl. I suspect that those who are sensitive about adoption issues weren't going to see this movie in the first place.  

Yes, judging by the poster I suspect that this will be an accurate and insightful movie about adoption and the difficulties experienced by adoptive familys...

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I would also point out that there is another movie about an orphan who does really bad things that is also out right now: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Yes, I know Harry Potter is a 'good' orphan, but the movie (I haven't seen it yet, but I have read the book) has a strong focus on the life of Voldemort who is the 'bad' orphan of the Harry Potter series. To J.K. Rowling it's all about blood. Harry had good bio-parents and Tom Riddle had bad bio-parents. Both had a horrible childhood, but Harry turned out better. It's all about blood and genetics. Interesting, isn't it - you can tell that J.K. Rowling isn't an adoptive parent herself. Of course, adoptive parents don't boycott Harry Potter, because at least Harry is a 'good' orphan, though this has nothing to do with parenting but some inherent pure goodness that flourishes at Hogwarts, while for Tom Riddle it's his inherent pure evil that flourishes at Hogwarts. I like the Harry Potter books and movies, but if you are riled up about Orphan then you should just go ballistic about Harry Potter.  

Though let's give Hollywood its due -it actually loves orphans. Besides Harry Potter there was also the orphans Frodo Baggins, who saved Middle Earth, Bruce Wayne, Peter Parker, and Clark Kent (who is also an illegal alien...literally).  Also what about Luke and Leia?  Sure, their father wasn't really dead, but from a certain point of view they were clearly orphans.  Disney loves orphans - they kill off parents with ruthless abandon, though that's because nothing quashes an adventure like a parent. "I don't care what the Fairy Godmother says you aren't going to the cursed castle where the dragon lives and that's final!"  You want some more orphans? How about Worf from Star Trek, not only was he orphaned, but he was adopted and raised by Russians. How cool is that? You know the main characters of the Mummy series (Rick, Evelyn, and Jonathan) - they're all orphans! It is a Hollywood staple to kill off a hero's parents to both engender sympathy from the audience and to give a concrete example on how the hero is self-reliant. So really Hollywood loves its orphans; despite an occasional 'evil kid' movies now and then.  

Now I'm not going to go see Orphan, mainly as horror movies aren't my thing, but I do understand what they are all about: fear. It's not fear of death despite appearances, but other fears than makes horror movies so potent; fears of violation, isolation, corruption, disease, and why not a fear of children. For example, are zombie movies about the fear of death? No, they are about fear of disease. That is what makes them so potent, yes, people are dying all about, but the disease affects people turning them not only into monsters but even death is no escape from the disease. That is horror at its best, tapping into a primal fear, but from a different angle to catch you unawares. 'Evil kid' movies often use orphans, but they are about all kids and the basic fact that parents, biological and adoptive, just don't really know what their kid is truly like on the inside. You never really know and that is the primal fear tapped by this sort of movie, though often the evil orphan isn't quite what she seems, maybe she's a demon, an old woman in a kids body, an android/alien, witch, or just psychotic genius.  Judging by the reaction of some adoptive parents - this movie actually is striking that chord quite well just through its marketing.  

Despite what the critics are saying this is not a movie that is exploiting orphans, this type of movie is empowering to orphans (they love attention - good or bad), what really is being exploited are the parents, which is why people are really get rankled. However, let's face it - all horror movies encompass a high degree of stupidity. The government creates a disease which escapes the lab and turns the world into zombies, the teenage girls decide to go skinny dipping in the lake while a murderer is on the loose, everyone walks backwards into a dark room, and so forth. The difference between horror and action/adventure is that in horror the protagonists are stupid and in action/adventure the protagonists are smart. I imagine it's the same with Orphan. I bet the parents don't get a full psyche evaluation done when they adopt or an IEP until after the kid has started killing people or something.  By then it's usually too late.  They probably don't even try therapeutic holding or other methods for dealing with an attachment disorder, which I am guessing is probably the main problem in addition to whatever twisted plot hook they came up with for the movie. Basically, they are just walking backwards into a dark room and kind of deserve what happens to them.  Event the antichrist can be raised to be a good little boy or girl with the proper techniques and good parenting, despite what a movie trailer might say.