 Dakota Fanning in the controversial “Hounddog” film that features a child-rape scene |
“Hounddog,” the Dakota Fanning flop that generated only a few thousand dollars nationwide when it was released in theaters following publicity about her controversial rape scene is being targeted now in a warning to parents by Concerned Women for America, the nation’s largest women’s public policy organization.
The organization says it is launching an effort to have parents contact officials at Amazon.com, one the nation’s leading sources for media such as movies and books, because of plans to offer the Fanning project on DVD starting in February.
According to a CWA report from Donna Miller, an organization leader in North Carolina where the controversial rape scenes were filmed with taxpayer financial assistance, Amazon.com is taking pre-orders for the DVD and has scheduled it for release on Feb. 9.
WND broke the store when Fanning’s character in the movie was “raped,” and then followed up when pro-family interests sought a federal investigation of the case as well as when the movie was release in theaters and become a stunning flop by collecting only about $12,500 for its first weekend.
“Since the movie was filmed in North Carolina, Concerned Women for America (CWA) of North Carolina has led the campaign called ‘No More Child Porn’ to educate citizens regarding the movie attempt to mainstream child pornography,” Miller’s report said. “CWA also requested that U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey launch an investigation into the movie’s possible violation of child pornography laws.”
She said now those concerned about the images presented in the movie should contact Amazon.com’s management “to respectfully ask that they not carry this movie which mainstreams child pornography.”
The organization provided the following contact for Amazon:
Jeffrey P. Bezos, president
1200 12th Ave. South, Ste. 1200
Seattle, Wash. 98144
or call 206-266-1000
Miller expressed concern this Fanning movie is not like her other projects, such as Charlotte’s Web. It is R-rated because of the graphic child rape scene. The movie also includes several sexual situations, including when Fanning’s character encourages a boy to expose himself.
“Amazon has a history of carrying books promoting sex with children.
The most controversial is the NAMBLA-like book: ‘Understanding Loved Boys and Boylovers’ by David L. Riegel, which deals with men and boys in sexual relationships.
This book is currently listed on Amazon’s website with limited availability,” Miller said.
“Amazon.com is the reason I became a child advocate. When I became aware that the largest online retailer was pushing pro-pedophilia books (and refused to stop when questioned by pro-family organizations), I knew we were in trouble as a society,” she said.
WND reported earlier on the take from the first weekend of the movie, released by Empire Film Group, whose officials jumped into the project after “Hounddog” caused waves at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.
The movie has been in trouble ever since its production, when WND broke the story about objections to its content.
The film was subsidized by about $390,000 in tax money from the residents of North Carolina.
Days before the recent formal theater release blogger Steve Pill, was reporting on the apparent verdict from the public.
“I received a somewhat rueful message of congratulations from Eric Parkinson, the CEO of distribution for Empire Film Group,” he wrote. “According to him, more than 200 theaters across the country had cancelled their scheduled screenings of the motion picture ‘Hounddog,’ citing pressure from ‘vocal groups.'”
Fanning’s behavior in the movie has been described as more explicit than what was required of Jodie Foster, who as a 12-year-old played a prostitute in “Taxi Driver,” a 1976 Martin Scorsese production, or Brooke Shields, who was a New Orleans brothel worker in the “Pretty Baby” movie from 1978.
The movie had been the subject of several investigation requests and was targeted in a boycott launched by noted movie critic Ted Baehr of Movieguide and the Christian Film & Television Commission.
“These despicable movies promote pedophilia, whether intentionally or unintentionally,” said Baehr. “There should be a massive public outcry against them. The inclusion of children in sexually explicit films is inappropriate. There also is no excuse for the authorities to allow such material to be shown publicly.”
“Much has been made about the rape scene regarding lighting – indicating that it was done in taste, etc. But there is no doubt that Fanning’s character asked a boy to expose himself, that she would give him a kiss for doing so, and had done so with other boys. What does this tell other little girls,” Miller continued.
The Contact Music report said prosecutors in North Carolina reviewed the movie in late 2007, interviewing crew members, producers and Fanning, who was 12 when the movie was made. The prosecutors said some people might find the film “disturbing and distasteful,” but there was no evidence that the scene constituted “sexual activity” under North Carolina law,.
Kampmeier, in promoting the project, said opponents were “projecting their anger and their fear onto my film. A lot of agendas are being projected off this film that have nothing to do with the film, and they’re being projected onto it by people who haven’t actually seen the film.”
When the movie was released, the comments from various reviewers included:
- “Kampmeier … has crafted a howler of a bad script, shows little affinity for working with actors and displays no visual sense behind the camera.”
- “Rarely has there been a movie as misguided as Hounddog, which self-righteously indulges in exploitation while loudly decrying it.”
- “Take away the ‘hound’ part of the title and you have an appropriate descriptor of this production.”
Alex Jackson at FilmFreakCentral wrote earlier: “The film is offensive in precisely the way you think it’s going to be but surprised you by becoming offensive on a whole new level. Everything in the film revolves around a scene where Dakota Fanning is raped … Before The Rape, ‘Hounddog’ plays like one big striptease leading up to it: in the very first scene, Fanning promises her playmate a kiss if he shows her his penis, and throughout the picture, Kampmeier has her prancing around in her panties, gyrating in her rendition of Elvis Presley’s ‘Hounddog,’ and going swimming in an undershirt.”
Vic Holtreman at ScreenRant wrote of Fanning’s dancing: “Seeing an undeveloped 12 year old moving like that is just plain creepy.”
“I’ve never seen a 12-year-old wearing just underwear in a movie in so many scenes. There were also instances of her lifting her dress to carry fruit or to pull something she’d been carrying out of her underwear,” Holtreman wrote.
