Discuss: Little 'Orphan' Aneurysm

JESUS! We have become so over sensitive as a society. Its a movie people! A MOVIE! Take a breath and realize that this isn't some news reel or documentary about adoption, its a piece of fiction ment for entertainment, you know a movie. It may not be for your taste, but don't piss on everyone elses parade! When i hear things as absurd as this it just makes me ill.

Reply

I am an adoptee..and grew up hearing this wisphered my whole life... my parents family never did fully accept myself or my sister..and now that my parents have passed no longer acknowledge us as family...so to me a movie line isn't going to change what people already think..if they are narrow mined enough to feel this way a movie line isn't going to change their minds

Reply

You have got to be kidding me. I guess the people in this orphan group don't fall into any of the 35,000 minority groups that get to whine every time they aren't portrayed as saints in movies so they had to go form a new one. People really are pathetic. Do you love your adopted kid as much as your real kid? Yes? THEN WHO ****ING CARES WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK?! See, when I see people getting this bent out of shape over something small like this it makes me question their convictions. Are they so insecure about whether or not they love their adopted kid that a movie tagline sends them into a frenzy? It honestly wouldn't surprise me. People need to focus on making themselves happy instead of forcing everyone to walk on eggshells around them so they don't accidentally get "offended". And that goes for every minority group too. Most people don't care that your black or gay or whatever until you start shoving it in peoples faces every chance you get.

Reply

"It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own."

Haha! It's funny because it's true!

Reply

I'm more offended by ANOTHER movie about an evil kid killing everyone.

Hasn't this been done about 6,000 times?

And now they're getting free publicity? I say let's let this one die and go straight to DVD.

Reply

I think what some people may be missing is the impact that the statement has on other, non-adopted children and how they might treat adopted kids they know.

With more children coming into families via adoption, IVF, step-parenting, etc. - why make their lives more difficult by giving other bullying kids amunition?

Reply

I can see where people may worry that their adoptive children are going to horribly murder them or send them to hell.

Happens all the time.

How dare the studios do this.

Reply

Much like last year and the whole "Tropic Thunder"/use of the word 'retard' imbroglio, I get the feeling that this will be but a memory once audiences laugh themselves stupid at the movie.

Seriously, you want a good laugh? Go to the IMDb message boards for this movie and click on the threads marked 'spoilers'. That's really the twist they're gonna use.

Reply

perhaps the issue is more that many adopted children will suffer more insecurities and fears about their relationships with their adopted family. as adopted orphans with a film like this being released I imagine if word got out in high school, old issues could be reawakened, and in general bonding with a new family could be that much harder.

Reply

500,000 foster kids won't receive any pity. The most people know about adoption is during a Madonna update...seriously. I highly doubt a studio would care about offending less than a million people, let alone children.

Reply

I'd say the bigger issue is that it's called "Orphan," so that is plastered on billboards and bus stops everywhere. Basically telling young kids who have lost their parents that they're also evil isn't a good thing.

Reply

I wonder if The Omen makes these same idiots afraid of bearing biological children.

Reply

I was adopted as a newborn, and I still don't know anything about my biological parents or my natural heritage. I can't speak for all adoptees, but I'm not usually offended by the occasional adoption joke on tv, or "evil adopted kid" plot in a movie. What offends me most is Angelina Jolie and Madonna allowing adoption to become a Letterman or Leno punchline, and the family history projects I had to do in school. But am I going to take to the street and demand that Angelina and Madonna stop adopting? No. They have as much right to try to give those kids a good home as anyone. Am I going to storm into the next schoolboard meeting and demand that they remove family history projects from their curriculum? No. I felt awkward doing the family history of my adoptive family and not my biological family, sure, but I understand the benefit of such projects and they brought me closer to my adoptive family and helped me learn more about them, which is the whole point. As for The Orphan, I'm not going to protest the movie, or demand that they make changes. As far as I see it, if people want to spend their hard earned money on what looks to be no more than a lame "re-imagining" of The Omen and The Good Son with a female lead character instead of a male, so be it. Ticket sales help to boost the economy, no matter what movie people pay to see, and if people are going to see The Orphan, that means they're not at Public Enemies, or Harry Potter, and I have a better chance at getting a good seat. You can either choose to accept the role as a "victim," and spend your time and energy getting upset and offended, or you can take the high road and say you know what? Unless you have adopted a child, or are an adoptee yourself, you'll never know what it really means to be adopted, and I'm not going to waste my breath trying to explain it to you.

Reply

As an adopted kid and an adoptive (& bio) parent, I couldn't care less about an inane "evil kid" movie. Is it harder to love an adopted kid? Depends on what type of person you are. For most of us, our adopted kids ARE our own kids. How they came into our family means much less than the fact that they are part of it. If you don't understand the idea of a family of choice, don't adopt. (see www.vachss.com if you don't know what I mean)
What does interest me about this movie, is how it will handle the origins of the child's "evil" nature. Is this another "Bad Seed," asserting that some people are just born bad? Or will it at least pay lip service to the fact that we make our own monsters--through abuse, neglect, and a failure to protect children. If the movie acknowledges even a little bit that the villain learned her behavior from her past family I'm willing to overlook it's idiocy on other fronts.

Reply

It's reasonable that people are angry at a horror film. The point of horror is to reflect actual fears that people possess, be it of animals, extreme weather, people outside the norms of society, or even themselves. If it's not an actual fear or danger, then how can a movie exploit it? For example, there was a horror movie that starred a giant rabbit that terrorized a town. (I can't remember what it was called, for all its absurdity, it's forgettable.) Since rabbits aren't a legitimate danger, it was not frightening. I do not suggest that adopted children are necessarily dangerous, although some may be. It simply seems that there is a root of our fear of adopted children, even if it is simply that they are strangers who volunteers are expected to love, even if they ARE dangerous. And that seems frightening to me.

Just playing devil's advocate,
Lauren

Reply

A lot of adoptive parents are angry about one line in this film: It must be hard to love an adopted child like your own.

They are angry about this movie line but are perfectly content that their adopted child has a birth certificate that was permanently sealed from him/her and a falsified "amended" one issued.

Adoptees have to live their lives carrying around amended birth certificates and are NEVER allowed to see their original birth certificates containing their true names and the names of his/her true biological parents. Adopting parents get to have their names placed on the amended certificates as the birth parents! What lies!!!! These violations of a childs rights does not concern the protestors because it works for them! It is not their ethnicities, their heritages that are sealed. No, their newly purchased child will be forced to accept these lies are his/her truth. These self-righteous people own the copyrights to their adopted child's identity and could care less that it's FICTION that is on their child's birth certificate.

It is downright disgraceful and pathetic what people choose to protest.

I'll be wearing my Orphan movie t-shirt http://www.cafepress.com/orphanesther on opening day because getting angry over one-liners and not giving a hoot about our (adoptees) civil rights is laughable.

Please sign THIS petition to help Esther, because no one should have to kill for her birth records: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/orphan-movie-t-shirts-for-open-records

LMAO.

Reply

My remarks here are for the thoughtful people on both sides of this issue. The drooling mouth-breathers who can't write a couple of sentences without cursing can go on to the next comment.
I am an adoptive parent who got in a certain amount of hot water with certain other such parents for being "inadequately upset" about this movie, i.e., I was not screaming for a boycott. After viewing the trailer, it seemed to me that the "harder to love" line (used by Esther herself) is likely intended to make her adoptive parents feel guilty and/or responsible for Esther's evil acts. The problem was that that context was not clear in a brief trailer. When that lack of context was pointed out to WB execs, they took the high road and removed the line from the trailer -- not the movie, just the trailer. They did so because the line, standing alone in the trailer, unnecessarily reinforces a false stereotype -- a stereotype that is sadly still quite commonly believed.
And to anyone who may secretly wonder if the line may have some truth to it, I'll ask you to consider this question: if you found out tomorrow that that there had been a mix-up at the hospital, and that you had no biological connection to your child (or your parent), would you love them any less?

Reply