Incest Fans: will you be watching "Flowers in the Attic"?

[MSTarot]

YOu want to see a mainstream disturbing view of incest

X-files The Episode called Home.

Fox actually banned it at one time.

Let me tell you, the whole thing was downright creepy. Very well done and again certainly not your lit style incest

That's the one with the Peacock family wasn't it? Yeah creepy. It did help explain Walmart at three in the morning though.

 

[lovecraft68]

That's the one with the Peacock family wasn't it? Yeah creepy. It did help explain Walmart at three in the morning though.

I think that was their name.

The most disturbing thing was the mother who lived under the bed and was on a mechanics roller.

She was deformed from an accident and I want to say missing an arm.

And they would taking turns getting her pregnant.

Shudders.

I'll take lit "incest light" anyday

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I took a peek at 12 YEARS A SLAVE and hadda laugh. Its bullshit thats seriously conflicted with black diaries and slave narratives made during The Great Depression. I recommend THE BARBER OF NATCHEZ, the diary of William Johnson, a free black until his murder in 1856 (by a free black neighbor). The diary is consistent with the reports of many others who came South and kept journals of their experiences.

The horror blacks experienced came after the war, during Reconstruction. Generally speaking, former slaves lost their economic safety net when they left the plantations and were on their own. Their former masters hired strong young men NOT old people, children, or women. The GOP authorities created convict labor camps and made most blacks convicts, even children. I recommend AMERICAN SIBERIA by a former convict camp super down in Florida. The old Brooklyn EAGLE visited many of the camps and wrote about them.

 

[chargergirl]

Watched it too. Didn't think much of it, but then I hadn't read the book and that usually makes a difference. (I know it's supposed to be all horrible and stuff, but I couldn't help thinking, as I watched it, "Heck, compared to 12 Years a Slave these kids have it easy..." )

It wasn't complete crap, but it wasn't outstanding cinema, either. I think if you'd read the book and watched the first movie in '87, you'd know what I mean. lol I gave it a 'pretty good' because of the way it stuck fairly close to the book and how they were decently able to condense a book that covers nearly four years into 90(ish) minutes. However...

And you're right that there isn't incest all over the place in there being actual sex, sex, sex—and certainly not, as Lovecraft pointed out, the sort of incest stories we see here where it's family fun sex. But my gosh, if the movie is anything like the book, then Freud would have loved it. Cathy looks longingly at her dad when mom kisses him, son Chris clearly lusts for mom, and mom gives Chris looks and kisses as if he's tempting. Not to be left out, grandma accuses mom of seducing grandpa (not of having actual sex with grandpa, but she does say that mom took away "her husband" meaning she was "the other woman" to grandma, not a daughter).

It's not like that in the book. Cathy's a Daddy's girl, like her mother was with Grandfather, and Chris is a Momma's boy, 'til their mother betrays them. There's no underlying sexual tension in that regard. I didn't like how they inferred that in the movie and I didn't really like the ending. That's not how VC Andrews ended the book. They left in the dead of night, same as when they arrived and it was completely heart pounding as they traveled the pitch dark halls of Foxworth Hall trying to find their way out. Totally creepy and spooky.

It struck me not as disturbing in an "Ew! Incest!" way, but rather as weirdly narcissistic. Outside of grandma, all the characters are blond and said to look like each other, mother/daughter, father/son—all sexually fixated on each other....talk about keeping it in the family. Does the book read like this much of an echo chamber?

No, only Chris and Cathy fixate on each other in that way. But again, maybe I would think they were cheesy if I re-read them now. I was between 13 and 15 when I read them, and I'm 42 now, so... lol

I have to thank you for starting this thread. If I hadn't found it I don't think I would've watched it last night. I knew it was on sometime this month, but I didn't know when, and this thread renewed my interest!

 

[3113]

YOu want to see a mainstream disturbing view of incest

X-files The Episode called Home.

Was thinking of that one as I watched "Flowers" (don't know that they really should be compared, but there ya go). Brilliant little horror story, some of the best tv and one of the best X-Files. Voted as such among fans.

 

[lovecraft68]

Was thinking of that one as I watched "Flowers" (don't know that they really should be compared, but there ya go). Brilliant little horror story, some of the best tv and one of the best X-Files. Voted as such among fans.

I'd rate it the best because of how disturbing it was.

X-files was two types of episodes.

The stand alone like Home and Toomes

and then the conspiracy episodes,

I was never a fan of that storyline I just enjoyed the stand alone stories.

 

[3113]

No, only Chris and Cathy fixate on each other in that way. But again, maybe I would think they were cheesy if I re-read them now. I was between 13 and 15 when I read them, and I'm 42 now, so... lol

You're right of course. From reviews I read it was made totally clear that the book is one of those that sticks with you at a certain age and it really has to be read at that age (or by those who are feeling that age). And as I said, I do get why. Each of us has one of those books. The one that everyone was reading or passing around when we were 13-15, and which usually had a particularly part that we would forever remember as being eye-opening. It's just that "book" (or movie).

Few of those books, however, carry on to new generations. A lot of them have a "sell-by" date. This story really relies on its time period, one where abused kids had no internet, tv, or information and parents were the all-knowing authorities in their lives—and when there was no where for them to go if abused (unlike now where if they went anywhere and told their story, the parents would be arrested). If "Flowers" can't get the reader/viewer into that time period, then the reader/viewer remains distant from it. Such was my experience with the movie. I understood the time period and believed why they didn't leave and all that, but I didn't "feel it" and had no investment in anything that happened to them.

The flat acting (dull as dishwater) didn't help—and the little kids weren't even characters. They could have vanished from the story and no one would have missed them (which might not be the case in the book, but certainly was here). I found it also interesting that Cathy, though the protagonist, does very little. Anytime they need something, Chris is the go-to guy. He makes swings and keys and ropes, etc.

I have to thank you for starting this thread.

My pleasure! The discussion has been interesting at least. And useful. It's a good thing for us writers to talk about popular books, why popular, etc.

 

[Hypoxia]

X-files was two types of episodes.

The stand alone like Home and Toomes

and then the conspiracy episodes,

I was never a fan of that storyline I just enjoyed the stand alone stories.

I found X-Files to be generally tedious. At least, the episodes I bothered watching were.

I may be biased. I used to moderate major conspiracy-paranormal forums, dating back to pre-WWWeb days, and I suspect the show's writers engaged in a bit of online 'research'. The shows I bothered viewing seemed like ripoffs of prior forum discussions. Been there, seen that.

 

[3113]

I was never a fan of that storyline I just enjoyed the stand alone stories.

I think most of us writers would agree with that as the conspiracy episodes were confusing and inconsistent and didn't use the main characters well at all (they were victims in the conspiracy episodes rather than pro-active). Besides which, how could the "answers" ever live up to the hype? Very like "Lost" and so many other shows. When shows have that combo—the stand-alones vs. the big plot, they often fail on the big plot. Mainly because they created the show thinking it might only get a season, and so they didn't think out the big plot. Now with the pressure of a hit on their hands, they have to work this "big plot" out on the fly. Rarely a good way to deliver on grand promises.

And while I'll grant that "Home" is probably the most disturbing X-Files, my favorite is still "Post Modern Prometheus." That, to me, is the most layered and "writerly" episode.

 

[HeyAll]

A lot of people look down on Lifetime movies, but I think they're great.

They've got a lot of crime stories and dramas which are fascinating, and well written. What I mainly like about them is that they center around seemingly perfect suburban families, but something goes wrong in their lives.

So I'll probably check this out eventually.