The Impact of Choosing Less Beautiful Leads for LTROI

[jetboy]

I agree, Lina and Kare are just your average kids. They could make a 3rd movie, and I would still fall in love with those characters no matter who they are.

Yeah they PLAY average kids. That doesnt mean THEY are average.

[mackousko]

I even think Lina and Kare are so born for the roles. They could make a sequel right now and they still would be the true E&O.

[dongregg]

A related question, which I am also curious about, is the extent to which your feeling of being drawn to LTROI is tied to your attitudes regarding your own attractiveness. It is my impression from having visited this site on an almost daily basis since mid-2009 that a lot of members have had negative personal or family experiences in the past which have caused them to identify with these children. Some just appreciate or admire the aesthetic qualities of the film, but I think there is also a substantial number who connect viscerally to the story on the basis of shared experience, and find that the story's message--offering the promise of hope and love even to those who feel or believe that they are ugly, or have no reason to hope--speaks to them on a deep, personal level.

I think that we, the infected, must share some deep things in common. That said, I believe every child has a horrible childhood. Yes, even the bullies. Even the children who are perceived as beautiful or specially blessed. Many members of the forum have shared that they were bullied or had other bad expreriences, but the themes of LTROI bring those out in a discussion, don't they? Eli's abuse at the hands of adults, Oskar's abuse at the hands of kids, Eli's isolation as a vampire. But your thoughtful questions give me yet another way to watch the film (which I would tonight anyway). Is it believable that a good-looking kid like Oskar could be a bully magnet? Is there something about his personality that gets bullies' attention? Is it that he is an only child, or a latchkey kid? Is it because he knows stuff? If so, at least we can find it believable that he could be good looking and still be a victim. Would I find him (and the film) as appealing if Oskar were not good looking? I think so, but I don't know. Don't get me started on Eli. Glad they chose Lina.

[jetboy]

I think that we, the infected, must share some deep things in common. That said, I believe every child has a horrible childhood. Yes, even the bullies. Even the children who are perceived as beautiful or specially blessed. Many members of the forum have shared that they were bullied or had other bad expreriences, but the themes of LTROI bring those out in a discussion, don't they? Eli's abuse at the hands of adults, Oskar's abuse at the hands of kids, Eli's isolation as a vampire. But your thoughtful questions give me yet another way to watch the film (which I would tonight anyway). Is it believable that a good-looking kid like Oskar could be a bully magnet? Is there something about his personality that gets bullies' attention? Is it that he is an only child, or a latchkey kid? Is it because he knows stuff? If so, at least we can find it believable that he could be good looking and still be a victim. Would I find him (and the film) as appealing if Oskar were not good looking? I think so, but I don't know. Don't get me started on Eli. Glad they chose Lina.

A belated welcome dongregg. I have enjoyed your comments so far and find them very thought provoking. I think you bring up another thought provoking point when you talk about all kids have it rough. Its actually something Ive been pondering on, not so much about kids, but about humans in general and how they are so far removed, in a negative way, from the supposed natural world, and how it is this that causes the unhappiness. So it is with this POV that makes me think that Kare's somewhat good looks (normal for movies) and still being bullied goes hand in hand with Oskar going in a bad direction, before Eli, while still having a loving mother. It underlines that we are all in it together and its merely the human experience not something dependant on being unattractive or having abusive parents.

[dongregg]

...but about humans in general and how they are so far removed, in a negative way, from the supposed natural world, and how it is this that causes the unhappiness.

Thanks for your welcome. Your observation about our disconnect from the natural world is very much in line with what, I think, the author and the director are showing us in LTROI. Blackeberg is an unnatural setting, a slapped together development project that even Lacke finds fault with. "It was supposed to be perfect." I would just ask you to consider another cause for widespread unhappiness--lack of community. As I understand it, Blackeberg was built and then everyone moved in at the same time--a little town of strangers. In contrast, imagine a slightly older world in which relatives lived nearby and you had the same neighbors for years. Adults knew the kids' names and where they lived. Kids interacted with adults a lot each day, not just at school or at the dinner table. In LTROI, the kids are on their own. The isolation of neighbors from one another and the isolation of the adults from the kids means that a lot could happen that would go unnoticed. Put together separation from the natural world plus lack of community--you get something that would make a good sci fi drama. Except Blackeberg isn't fiction and it's now (well, 1982), not a set-in-the-future, off-world community of stranded colonists slowly going crazy.

Some who watch LTROI respond strongly to two powerful themes--bullying and vampirism. Yet, a lot of forum contributors have said that neither theme grabs them as much as the interaction between Oskar and Eli, their growing relationship. Here's why that is true for me--the bullying and the existential parameters of vampirism are just the proximal causes for Oskar and Eli's isolation and unbearable loneliness. To me, they are framing devices. The great triumph of LTROI is that the two people who exhibit the most extreme effects of isolation are also the only two who are lucky and bold enough to find a way out of it. Ironically, vengeful Oskar and murderous Eli affirm life rather than descending further into the isolation and despair that Blackeberg represents.

I think our exchange of ideas is somewhat in line with "less beautiful leads." I realize that Oskar are Eli are mainly beautiful because we come to love them and because children are beautiful. For me, their brilliantly told story is what makes LTROI such a powerful experience.

[intrige]

I have countless of times thought that Oskar and Eli in a way reprecent what I never had. A bit sad, but true. And I think that also attracted me more to it, espesially later after my intense infection worm off. I want that, but haven't had it. Then I can drift away in LTROI instead.

I want no pity, love will come and I am still young. I just keep thinking if someone kissed me when I was 12 (wanting to kiss me and then doing so, not just a game or something), where around me people kept calling me ugly and all, I would view myself very differently today.
Sorry, I am a bit sad today, but I find the forum confortable.

[dongregg]

love will come and I am still young.

intrigue, several of the infected have said that Oskar and Eli are really just ordinary-looking kids. That may be so, but how can I now be objective enough to know that? I love Oskar and Eli so much that I can only see them as beautiful. And love has come to you, intrige--I can see it in the posts of forum members who have responded to your posts. Do you think we see you as beautiful, or what?

[intrige]

I donno, I know a handful of members knows what I look like, the real question here I assume, is the defention of beauty.

[dongregg]

Good answer, intrige. I think Oskar and Eli become more beautiful in the course of the film because they begin to love each other. If a person is loved, the person lights up with an inner beauty that shows in the eyes and in the smile (Remember the smiles at the end of the swimming pool scene?). I just wonder if you see that effect on yourself as you post to the forum and read responses to your posts. You mentioned that the forum is comforting to you, so I wondered.

[dongregg]

PS: intrige, thanks for giving me the idea for my avatar. I ripped it off from a big version of it that was at the bottom of one of your posts. If I knew how to do screen captures or whatever, I would have one of my favorite shots of Eli as my avatar. Why? Because I like looking at everybody's avatars, especially scenes from the film or of fan art or whatever.