kraM asks…
Are there neutral depictions of pedophilia in mainstream media?
I’m wondering who has seen in the movies or on TV or in a book or magazine depictions of pedophiles that weren’t negative. Maybe not necessarily positive, but also not negative — just neutral.
I have two examples:
Game of Thrones. In its last season, there was a scene of a guy at a brothel. He’s choosing his woman and he kept asking for someone younger. Eventually it was understood that he wanted a pre-puberty girl. His colleagues with him didn’t seem to be bothered by this; it seemed like it was a common request of his. This guy does get killed later, but not because of his choice in girls. (GoT also features neutral depictions of incest.)
Boardwalk Empire is another, even better example. One of the main characters is the son of a woman who gave birth to him when she was 13. The father was a much older man. The last season presents flashbacks to this time. The soon-to-be father is the mayor of the town. He is seen unambiguously enjoying the company of young girls (we also see a colleague who is well aware of his activities and doesn’t interfere). The man is shown to select a young 12-year-old girl during some contest among other girls her age. The show never makes what he does a negative thing, nor into something he suffered for later in life, though it does show the girl as a grown woman pretty much losing her mind. But this isn’t necessarily correlated to her early sexual experiences. (Oh, and this show also depicts incest in a neutral way — what’s the deal with HBO?)
So, are there any other examples you can think of?