{"id":24375,"date":"2021-02-14T19:00:03","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T00:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/?p=24375"},"modified":"2023-12-15T16:47:10","modified_gmt":"2023-12-15T21:47:10","slug":"the-evil-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/2021\/02\/the-evil-child\/","title":{"rendered":"The Evil Child: Presidents’ Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"We have all watched at least one “evil child” film, most likely several.\u00a0 Our latest one was Case 39<\/em><\/a> (2009) featuring Renee Zellweger.\u00a0 It was pretty derivative as evil-child films go, but the actress (Jodelle Ferland<\/a>) who played the evil foster-child did an admirable job of getting viewers to hate her<\/a> from the get-go.\u00a0 Unfortunately, this meant that our viewing experience amounted to 1 hour 45 minutes of waiting for the evil child’s comeuppance.<\/p>\n

Even so, in accordance with post-modern conventions, the evil child’s comeuppance would remain in doubt in the end.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the first-and-foremost evil-child film was The Bad Seed<\/em><\/a> (1956), based on a\u00a0novel<\/a> of the same name.\u00a0 The story of the biological daughter of a serial killer (and her victims), it garnered four Academy Award nominations and would pretty much write the rules for how all future evil children in film would behave and the dilemmas that they would pose.\u00a0 Namely:<\/p>\n

\u2629<\/span>\u00a0 How can a child<\/em> be evil?\u00a0 Children don’t know sin!\u00a0 They haven’t had enough experience to learn adult-quality guile and calculation.\u00a0 The evil child’s motives are presumed to be beyond question for the simple fact of her age.\u00a0 This means that Act One of every evil-child film deals primarily with the adults coming to grips with the possibility of child sin.<\/p>\n

The evil child’s bad intentions are usually brought to light by showing her doing something really annoying<\/em>, like making a whiny demand over and over (like a normal child might do) until the adult can’t stand it anymore and yells at her.\u00a0 Subtext: if it makes an adult angry, of course it is sinful!<\/p>\n

\u2629<\/span>\u00a0 How dare adults question the morality of a child when every adult has his own secret sins!\u00a0 The adult-as-hypocrite angle is usually explored in the middle of Act Two, though often presaged by wanton behavior revealed in Act One.\u00a0 We often discover that the reason evil children become evil is to make their parents pay for the sins they never owned up to.\u00a0 (That’s what children — and priests — are for!)<\/p>\n

Of course, the adults in the film turn this idea on its head and say, my child can’t be evil!\u00a0 The child is like me — it sprang from me — and we all know I’m not evil!\u00a0 (OK, Hypocrite.)<\/p>\n

\u2629<\/span>\u00a0 Then there’s the dilemma of how to deal with the evil child on a “level playing field.”\u00a0 Even after it becomes obvious that the evil child has special mental\/physical abilities and can manipulate others to do her will, the adults invariably cling to the notion of children as helpless beings.\u00a0 So they purposely hamstring themselves from taking physical measures to stop the evil child.\u00a0 Subtext: Adults hate to take responsibility!\u00a0 What if they’re wrong?\u00a0 If they harmed a child without a really good reason<\/em>, they would never hear the end of it.<\/p>\n

The result of all these constraints is that the only acceptable way for the adults to deal with the evil child is to outwit<\/em> him, her or it.\u00a0 So most of the tension in Act Two derives from the protagonist adult trying various schemes to distract\/derail\/disempower the evil child, but with each attempt failing — and each failure portending the dreaded (and taboo) physical measures that will ultimately be needed to neutralize his\/her\/its evil threat.<\/p>\n

\u2629<\/span>\u00a0 Eventually, the protagonist finally realizes, it’s the evil child or me (or humanity), and all stops must be pulled, all taboos set aside.\u00a0 And all past sins must\/will be acknowledged, whatever it takes to defeat the child.\u00a0 This brings us to Act Three, where the battle begins.<\/p>\n

No matter how it ends, the adult who takes on the evil child always winds up (a) exhausted or (b) cynical and demoralized or (c) sullied by the endeavor.\u00a0 Often all of the above.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n

A BRIEF COMPENDIUM OF EVIL CHILD STORIES (AND THE CHILDREN)
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nThe Bad Seed<\/em> (Rhoda Penmark)
\nVillage of the Damned<\/em> (David Zellaby)
\nPet Semetary<\/em> (Gage Creed)
\nIt’s A Good Life<\/em> (Anthony Fremont)
\nThe Adventures of Lassie<\/em> (Timmy)
\nThe Exorcist<\/em> (Regan MacNeil)
\nThe Omen<\/em> (Damien Thorn)
\nCase 39<\/em> (Lilith Sullivan)
\nGodfather Part II<\/em> (Michael Corleone)
\nThe Wizard of Oz<\/em> (Dorothy)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

If I may remind you, Dorothy was responsible for killing two older women.\u00a0 As for Timmy, well, no one can be that wholesome.\u00a0 Lassie was onto him, but adults wouldn’t listen.*<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 ? \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n

We will see how these well-worn themes play out in the real-life horror story in which the “evil child” happens to be a once-President of the United States.\u00a0 As you recall, his actions could not be questioned because… well, because he was President!\u00a0 How could any act of our President be sinful?<\/p>\n

In this suspense-thriller, the Evil President (like all Presidents) began his term by reciting an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution.\u00a0 This oath is the American version of white smoke pouring from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney — a sign of new leadership blessed by destiny.\u00a0 And sort of like how cardinals becomes popes, the recitation of the oath transforms the oath-taker, for one brief moment, into a person pure of heart and a worthy vessel for the nation’s hopes.\u00a0 Americans expect their new President to be the quasi-religious guarantor of their liberty, opportunity and well-being — at least when it comes to themselves.<\/p>\n

But in our story, soon after the curtain lifted in Act One, this President’s words and deeds were seen to be callous and calculated.\u00a0 His constant lying, whining and pandering forced (most of) Americans to recalibrate their notions of normal<\/em>.\u00a0 Still, since he caused nothing terribly tragic to happen, at least not right away, this slow-boil of the frog<\/a> served to freeze his opponents in place and embolden his supporters.\u00a0 The Evil Child President grew in strength even as the media tallied his innumerable threats, lies and schemes.<\/p>\n

So, Act One concluded with the forces who wanted to “do something” about the President lining up against those content to “wait him out” (as long as he advantaged them), while a third contingent formed, agreeing among themselves to add fuel to any fire that the Evil Child President might ignite.\u00a0 Which he would.<\/p>\n

Every horror movie since The Bad Seed <\/em>has taught us, don’t give the evil child a free pass.\u00a0 The evil child takes advantage and preys on the weaknesses of others.\u00a0 Then the evil child appeals to the adults and pleads for immunity from punishment, because he is a child and because the adults are just as bad.<\/p>\n

Act Two.\u00a0 The Evil Child President took advantage of his free pass, given to him by half of Congress and a third of Americans.\u00a0 He demanded loyalty without being loyal to anyone or anything.\u00a0 He made enemies for the sake of having enemies to disparage.\u00a0 His opponents were vocal but their curses did not harm him.\u00a0 With Shakespearean flair, he set fires and caused storms, setting himself up for a grand Shakespearean fall.<\/p>\n

Act Three.\u00a0 The Evil Child President was sort-of held to account for his acts by a tribunal of self-interested politicians.\u00a0 But these nominally powerful adults could not summon the will to banish the Evil Child President or deny him future power.\u00a0 Instead, they condemned but ultimately excused his wanton behavior, because they could not come up with a really good reason<\/em> to punish the evil child.\u00a0 Technicalities, they said.\u00a0 Cowardice, they showed.<\/p>\n

So the evil child won.\u00a0 His weak vindication (reminder: a majority of the Senate did<\/em> vote to convict him) showed that the essence of the evil child’s reign was to sow doubt about who are the victims and who are the victimizers and thus render moral judgment impossible.<\/p>\n

And suitably, in accordance with post-modern conventions, the evil child’s comeuppance remained in doubt in the end.\u00a0 We may now have to endure a sequel.<\/p>\n

_____________<\/p>\n

For further reading, you might consider “The ‘Evil Child’ in Literature, Film and Popular Culture”, edited by K. J. Renner<\/a> (2013).\u00a0 I didn’t consider it because accessing it would have cost me about $50.<\/h5>\n
* “What’s that, Lassie?\u00a0 You say, Timmy is from hell?\u00a0 You must mean, Timmy is in the well!\u00a0 Let’s go!”<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have all watched at least one “evil child” film, most likely several.\u00a0 Our latest one was Case 39 (2009) featuring Renee Zellweger.\u00a0 It was pretty derivative as evil-child films go, but the actress (Jodelle Ferland) who played the evil … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24375"}],"version-history":[{"count":191,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31725,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24375\/revisions\/31725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}