I remember when Equus played in my hometown, and I was of course disgusted by it (hey, I was a TWEENager for Cripe's sake) and today I'm still a little rattled by the premise. I guess this is such a HEFTY departure from his role as the boy wizard. Here he is with his equally naked co-star Johanna Christie:
Personally, I still see him as the adorable eleven-year old with starry eyes, attending Hogwarts.Apparently his participation in this play has caused quite the uproar. There are parents who will "never let their kids watch any of his movies again, because he is their child's "role model" and they are aghast that he would take on such a role in the middle of the Harry Potter furor, etc. etc. etc.
I am of two minds on the subject: Part of me is screaming: Why the BLOODY hell would his parents allow him to do this? He's still a MINOR! For Pete's sake he has to pull the Full Monty and simulate sex!!! It's an OUTRAGE!!!
And the more liberal part of me is calmly saying that the fact is: he's an ACTOR. He's not really Harry Potter. It would be unfair to pigeonhole him as Harry for the rest of his life, and he's branching out into riskier roles at this point. Good on him.
Granted, I think the timing of his choice is unfortunate for his younger fans, but his crazed teen fans LOVE it (although I have a vague suspicion that it is only because they want to catch a glimpse of his Willy) and support him wholeheartedly.
I still wonder where his PARENTS are in this process?
I'm sorry, but I have to say it: if my UNDERAGE son came to me and said "Mom, I want to be in a play and cavort naked onstage in front of the world and simulate sexual pleasure from horses" I would lock him in his room until he came to his senses. I really would. Even if he had more money than Croesus. I wouldn't care. He's still my underage son.
Personally, believing what I believe, I'm disappointed. And a little sickened. But that's just me. My nine-year old daughter, for instance, just walked in behind me while I typed this blog and gasped at the picture I didn't mean for her to see. "Mom, why is Harry Potter naked? What is he doing?" I told her he only had his shirt off and it was from the movie where he was in the bath scene with Moaning Myrtle (okay, out of context that sounds kinda bad) and I felt awful that she had even SEEN it.
I know Daniel is growing up. I am just not ready for it. I think a lot of people out there are with me.
5 comments:
Wow. This is incredibly disturbing.
Yes, he is an actor. I am not so upset at the fact that this is so vastly different from Harry Potter. I am upset that, as you said, he is underage and should not be doing something like this. Actor or not, this is not healthy for children.
Puts me in mind of Dakota Fanning. I heard she had to play some rape scene. DISGUSTING. I don't care if she IS acting. It is something she should not even be exposed to for years to come and once she is an adult, she can make the choice for herself. They had argued that it was "tasteful". I don't know about you, but there is NOTHING "tasteful" about rape. MOst certainly of a child.
All these parents care about is money and fame. It is like Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson's parents. If I were them, as soon as Fulle House was over, I would have stopped there, maybe even pulled them out by the time they were five or six. Let them have at least ten years of normalcy and then perhaps if they wanted, thougth about putting them back in. These parents get greedy and blinded by it all and make rash choices that all of us can easily see are very harmful.
Ok, I am not done. But I will leave you alone now!!! LOL
I understand a lot of your concerns, but he is 17 years old. Legally entitled to get married, so surely entitled to take part in a play on this subject.
Perhaps his thinking is - in order to NOT get stereotyped as Harry Potter, he has to go to the extreme. I think people are over-reacting to this though - I mean, come on? NEVER EVER taking your kids to another HP movie EVER AGAIN? Uh huh. So when the kids cry and beg, you're not gonna break down?
I'm not saying I agree with it, I'm just saying that as a parent, it's up to US to control what our children see and don't see. And so your daughter had questions and wanted to know why he was naked - she's bound to see it on TV since it's been plastered all over the news. And *I* don't watch that much news. Good cover with her, there, too by the way. hehe
Sorry I didn't mean for this to be long. LOL
What I fear is that one of the more precocious children from my first-grader's class will have seen it over a parent's shoulder and then report to the whole class that "the boy who plays Harry Potter is naked in a play in England." The child already told the whole class the ending of Book 6 last year--in Kindergarten! For my kids the actor is not just an actor--he is Harry incarnate.
I was wondering what you'd think about that. Those pictures are creepy.
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