As a group we decided that to gain a better understanding of how sexual groomers are portrayed we should look at other films and books that focused on the topic of sexual grooming. One book, turned film ,that we looked at was Lolita.
Lolita was originally a book by Vladimir Nabokov and was made into a film in 1962. It follows the life of a middle aged professor named Humbert Humbert who falls in love with his landlady’s flirtatious 14 year old daughter who he affectionately calls Lolita. When Lolita is sent to an all-girls summer camp Humbert returns to find a note from his land lady, Charlotte, stating that she has fallen in love with him and he must either leave or marry her which he does in order to stay close to Lolita.
After their honeymoon Charlotte finds Humbert’s diary in which he has written about his feelings towards Lolita, distraught, Charlotte runs out of the house and gets hit by a car and dies. Humbert goes and collects Lolita from camp and they begin traveling before settling into a new life. However they are met with questions about their relationship and Humberts ‘over protected daughter’. It ends with Lolita running away from Humbert. After several years she contacts him asking for money and he demands to know what happened to her and she tells him about Clare Quilty, who the audience see at the beginning of the film when Humbert goes to kill him.
After their honeymoon Charlotte finds Humbert’s diary in which he has written about his feelings towards Lolita, distraught, Charlotte runs out of the house and gets hit by a car and dies. Humbert goes and collects Lolita from camp and they begin traveling before settling into a new life. However they are met with questions about their relationship and Humberts ‘over protected daughter’. It ends with Lolita running away from Humbert. After several years she contacts him asking for money and he demands to know what happened to her and she tells him about Clare Quilty, who the audience see at the beginning of the film when Humbert goes to kill him.
Looking at this book and film has been extremely helpful to us as the story line is similar to what we what to achieve in our own film. Lolita is written from the point of the groomer, Humbert, and after doing lots of research, we have found is the only story written like this. As a group we had already come to the decision that as a twist we would write the script from the point of view of the groomer. The research into Lolita has also given us ideas about how to show the different stages of grooming. It also makes the audience wonder if what is happening on screen is actually happening due to the unreliable narrative.
From reading reviews I found that nearly everyone who had read the book had found themselves feeling sorry for or understanding the point of view of Humbert which is what we want to achieve.
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