Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0001309, Sun, 15 Sep 1996 21:18:57 -0700

Subject
Re: Lolita and Hollywood (fwd)
Date
Body
Galya Diment <galya@u.washington.edu> offers the following thought.



This remark has little to do with the discussion of the merits or lack of
such in Lyne's movie which I obviously have to see first before I can
form any opinion of it. But it always struck that the movie "Gigi, for
example, which to me is the epitome of pedophile poshlost, where Maurice
Chevalier is singing, with a dirty old man's smirk firmly planted on
his face, "Thank Heaven for little girls," has never, as far as I know,
raised any eyebrows either inside or outside of Hollywood and is probably
considered by many a good "family" classic, while LOLITA, which is
pristine in comparison inasmuch as it presents a very unsentimentalized
view of lust for young girls, has had such a rocky history both as a book
and as a movie. I hope I am not offending any fans of "Gigi"...

Galya Diment