Was "Summer Of '42" About Statutory Rape???????????? How About "Tea And Sympathy?????????????????"

                                  The idea for this post came to me while thinking about another film, set in the summer.  That was Frank and Eleanor Perry's 1969 indie, "Last Summer."  It featured a cast of up and coming newcomers--Barbara Hershey, Bruce Davison, Richard Thomas, and, in a shattering Oscar nominated portrayal, Catherine Burns.   The film is a study of friendship, bullying and betrayal along Fire Island.  Burns' character, Rhoda, does a classic monologue about her mother's death that has to be seen, darlings.  She is taken into the trio's fold, but soon becomes the target of their bullying, and culminates in a shocking gang rape of Rhoda.  Then the film inexplicably, ends, with Rhoda running off, and the trio going their separate ways, as if it was no big deal.  Judith Crist kept calling this film "remarkable;" it was plastered over all the theatrical posters the summer it was released.  So, I guess the question could be asked--all four young people were minors, so is the gang rape statutory?????????

                                 "Summer Of '42," even when it was the hottest film of the day, has always gotten my goat.  Of course, I went to see it, but I did not buy it for a second.  The film's logo, "In everyone's life there is a....summer of '42."  Oh, yeah?????????  Well, sisters, there wasn't in mine!!!!!!!!!!!  Over the years the novel by Herman Raucher, before he wrote the screenplay, was viewed as either a novel or a memoir.  As a novel, it is just some wet dream fantasy concocted by Raucher directed to toxically masculine heterosexual males.  As a memoir, it is Raucher's attempt to justify his own sexual prowess, and, girls, what do we know about men who outrightly have to prove their sexual prowess?  What have we learned, dears?  Right, they don't have any.  Sure, Dorothy lost her husband, and was in the deepest grief, but the idea of taking an underage boy, who knows nothing, to bed, is not only disgusting, it makes me wonder if the genders had been reversed, would it have been accepted the same way, or not?

If the consensual sex was an adult male and young girl, wouldn't we be talking about statutory rape?  So, why not here? 

                                   I'll tell you why.  Because the fascist patriarchy that is trying to hold on to the control of this country wouldn't have it any other way.  "Summer Of '42" is hardly shown any more; it is pretty much forgotten, but if shown, I bet there are those out there who would defend it.  

                                    Even when it was shown on TV, Raucher picked on Judith Crist's criticism.  He concluded that "if we had made our film off the coast of France, in black-and white, with English subtitles, Judith Crist would have loved it."  Well, "Last Summer" could have been that film, minus the French and English subtitles, but its shocking conclusion carried with it a powerful message, whereas "Summer Of '42'" was meant to say, "Good for you, boy!!!!!!!!!!!!"  Screw that!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                     "Tea And Sympathy" gets a little dicer, because homosexuality is brought into the mix.  Having not seen it onstage--and never expecting to, as this play, the way it is, could not be revived today--but having seen the film, the depiction of homosexuality is more understated and implied than 1961's "The Children's Hour," which was pretty outright, save for its not mentioning the "L" word.  What Robert Anderson would have you believe that sex with an older woman will cure a burgeoning gay young man of his inclinations.  Here, it is Deborah Kerr, in a wonderful performance, who initiates things, and like with "Summer Of '42," the act of statutory rape is called into question.  Are both older women in each film guilty of it?  I think so. Kerr is classier, with that classic line, "Years from now, when you talk about this, and you will, be kind."

                                        But, really, darlings?  No matter how well acted, would anyone buy it?  Audiences in 1956 might have, because the whole thing was considered shocking, but today, wouldn't it be more realistic to have the Deborah Kerr initiator be an adult man?  That is the only way to realistically re-stage "Tea And Sympathy."  Yes, the question of statutory rape is there, and I think exists, but to believe a sexually ambiguous young boy will go over to the straight side after an encounter with one woman is ridiculous.  And for those gays who think they are, but continue to interact that way with women, even to the point of marriage, I say they are little more than closet cases who do  not want to admit anything.  It is your life , guys, so go live it.  Thankfully, I don't have to.

                                        Statutory rape is just that, no matter how it is presented, sugar coated or romanticized.  I know some will cite "Death In Venice," which is an extraordinary exception, or "Call Me By Your Name,' which is pure hypocrisy, and crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                           Couldn't Hermie or Tom have waited till college?  They might have been better off, then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                              Oh, and guys, before you go "initiating" some young thing, think about the consequences of those actions.