All-American Girl: The Mary Kay Letourneau Story

I just do not understand this movie. I was up all night just watching television, and this movie came on. I was sleepy, buy I managed to watch the movie anyway. As I was watching it, I first thought: Is this true? Did this really happen? So, I watched the movie. When the movie went off, I was just flabbergasted. I could not move one bit, because I could not believe what I have just seen. So, I was talking to my aunt about it, and she told me that it really happened. I feel really bad for Mary because her marriage was crumbling, and Maybe she was just looking for some comfort. And I feel sorry for Vili because maybe he just needed someone to love. And she was the right one. This movie is unbelievable.

To make a long story short, this shows how "Morally Challenged" America has become; especially subtitling it "All-American Girl". They turned a case of pedophilia and statutory rape into "Romeo and Juliet." The USA network was fastest to jump on this media hyped story and redramatized it!

They distorted a couple of things to make it palatable, first they hired a 19 year-old actor to play Mary Kay's 12-year old lover. Secondly it tells the women of America that it is okay to commit pedophilia if your husband is an insensitive jerk! But the movie, and the media failed to ask the tough questions! Like; what if it were a man, that had a baby with one of his sixth grade students? Will he be portrayed as a victim, or will he be instantly prosecuted and put under the jail?

If the teacher were male then the viewers would see this story for what it is; sensationalizing a story about a teacher that put their emotional needs and desires ahead of the well being of a child!

This movie is a pathetic attempt, apparently, to justify the actions of Mary Ann Letourneau. In order to do this, they cast a 19-year-old -well, probably not "in order to do this." There was no way they could have cast a 12 or 13 year old as the boy because the love scenes would have grossed everyone out (if they had even been allowed to do them) - as they should. Mary Ann's boyfriend was my nephew's age, making her a pedophile. Sixth grade, people. The definition of pedophile doesn't have to include many children - all you need is one.

I really don't care about her upbringing or her unhappy marriage. She had a responsibility to her students that she did not live up to. The reason given is that she is bipolar, rejected the diagnosis, and refused to take her medication. It's understandable, then, that she was not thinking rationally. One hopes that she now understands her actions.

Now that she and Vili are married and have two children together, I pray that she is on her medication and thinking clearly.

All that aside, Penelope Ann Miller was totally convincing and perfect casting for the role.

We all know the subject by now. What baffled me was how so much time was spent on seeking answers to the questions: why and how did this happen? A relationship between a 13 year old boy and a woman in her thirties may appeal to the fantasy of a teenager but is not normal to any adult who upholds even a relative set of moral values. What was not sufficiently stressed in this movie was the premise that teachers either male or female are responsible for their students and may never abuse the trust parents put in them.I have taught teenage girls and realize all too well that their Lolita-like and often teasing ways can be very charming even enticing.A teacher's duties are to teach and educate and he or she who abuses children of any age, not only smears the teaching profession but causes irreparable harm.Therefore, the movie's theme was not an issue at all: Mary Kay was guilty of abuse and all the meandering over her unstable personality and what deeper causes motivated her choices are totally irrelevant on the basis of the fact that she was a teacher and supposedly committed to the basic rule of respecting others.

I guess we're all capable of interpreting a movie in whatever light we are predisposed to. Keeping that in mind, I must disagree with those who believed that this film approved of Mary Kay Letourneau. I thought the movie, although told from Mary Kay's point of view, was careful to show how distorted her point of view really was.

For the most part, based on news stories I have seen, the film stayed pretty close to the facts as presented by the investigators and the parties involved. But the film did have a spin--Letourneau was portrayed as an irresponsible, almost infantilized woman, who looked to men to define and complete her. From the first, her relationship with her husband was shown to be indifferent, even hostile--so he could not provide her with the validation she needed. Rapid flashbacks were used to show how her relationship with her father was unrealistic (bordering on hero worship). To my knowledge, the film did not show several defining events in her life with father that might have shed even more light on her pathology. But, although the movie implied that these dysfunctional relationships contributed to her behavior, I do not think it tried to pretend that she was mentally healthy or morally right. In fact, I think Penelope Ann Miller struck just the right note--a mixture of manipulative dependency and eerie, willful, innocence.

I think the important point of this movie was that although what this woman did was reprehensible, that does not mean we cannot be sympathetic to her. But I certainly do not think this story was meant to be some simplistic tale of star-crossed lovers. The filmmakers juxtaposed various techniques--such as bright and dark lighting, realistic and silk-screened sequences, and jarring jump-cuts--in order to cast doubt on the perceptions and motives of all of the people involved, including Vili. It is not clear to what extent Mary Kay used her helplessness almost aggressively to ensnare Vili, nor to what extent Vili was taken in by her--or if he even manipulated her in his own right. It is a very complex situation. True, Vili was a child, but I was not 13 so long ago that I have forgotten that children that age can consider themselves quite grown up and fancy themselves in love with adults. It is the adult's responsibility not to capitalize on adolescent emotions--but if the adult is an arrested adolescent him- or herself, we have a big problem. I think that, more-so than pedophilia, was Letourneau's pathology. (Of course, if you want to get technical, adults attracted to adolescents are not pedophiles, but ephebophiles. The definition of ephebophilia actually fits Mary Kay much better.)

The question that kept popping into my mind was: how would I view this situation differently if the gender roles were reversed? I had a hard time imagining that eventuality, however, because the power dynamic between men and girls is usually so different. I could not envision a grown man appealing to a young girl by being so emotionally helpless. I am not expert, however. Personally, I was disgusted by Letourneau's behavior, and am highly doubtful that her relationship with Vili will work out. But I think the film did a good job of presenting the situation in such a way that the viewer could draw his or her own conclusions.