Hard Candy

My thoughts in general: This was an interesting film about a girl (played by Ellen Page, who was in Juno) who pretends to be seduced by a man online. However, once they meet, she is not as helpless as she made herself out to be. Once his perversion is revealed, she has fun torturing him, which leads to a difficult ending. This is a difficult film in some ways because of the subject matter. However, it is shot in a very interesting way. The use of bright colors is contrasted with the dark nature (and dark humor) of the film. Many different kinds of lighting were employed, and the change in lighting throughout the film was certainly intriguing. However, I think the my main interest in this film was that it was almost pleasurable to see a online predator/child pornographer (and molester) be tortured in an agonizing way. For me, this film began a discussion about the horror of pedophiles stalking children online and about how they should be dealt with. It had a difficult ending, which, even though it ends with finality, left me with questions about the issues raised in the film.

My thoughts on application: This film is definitely not appropriate for a high school classroom; however, the warning it raises about online predators is an important one. Thus, I really see this film having application as it is used to initiate/prompt discussion about online relationships. Sites like myspace and facebook are very popular, and instant messaging/chatting is also very widespread. Thus, it is important to teach students how to protect themselves and how to be careful. There is an opening scene in the film which consists of the two main characters chatting online, which I think is an interesting visual that is almost hauntingly scary when I think about how possible the scenario really is. Bringing this issue into the classroom is important, especially as we try to teach students how to be media literate.