MovieChat Forums > Great Balls of Fire! (1989) Discussion > Cant believe the english!

Cant believe the english!

posted 17 years ago by bornandbreedinNZ
21 replies | jump to latest

Just watch this movie - Cant believe that england did that too them, when their
Queen and her husband are second cousins once removed! Yeah there is the age, but she was willing as well.!!

[–] kitkat981 17 years ago

It doesn't matter whether or not she was willing. Marrying a 13 year old is statutory rape.

[–] bornandbreedinNZ 17 years ago

Dont get it!! I think statutory rape is an adult having sex with a minor! not getting married. There probably weren't any statutory rape laws back then, as they were legally married.

[–] mattsvilleashley 17 years ago

if you cant believe it,,,,,,,,,id hate to have my kids round you

[–] bornandbreedinNZ 17 years ago

Get it right! There is nothing to believe. First off! Im not into adults getting it with any child/teenager. It didnt make sense what the other person wrote!!!! I'll repeat - How could they be legally married, and its statutory rape!! Dont make sense.
Some people need to read things properly and go back to school.....

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] rwsmith29456 16 years ago

Same here. In the 50's my Uncle married a 13-14 year old and they are still happily married today. He is a very devout person and wouldn't do anything knowingly illegal.

[–] paulcoxwell 16 years ago

Marrying a 13 year old is statutory rape.

No, it isn't. You have the explanation as to why not in the statement. Statutory rape is as defined by statute (i.e. by law). Since the law allowed a 13-year-old to marry, it was not statutory rape.

This was the Deep South 50 years ago. It was not that unusual. Many states, especially in the South, didn't even specify a minimum age back then. Texas still allows 14-year-olds to marry with parental consent even today.

[–] tramky 16 years ago

There's a lot of supposition & speculation about marriage ages in this thread, and some posters here are getting bent way out of shape on this subject, like why is it so IMPORTANT that something be considered 'statutory rape'? Lighten up and realize that the real world is quite different than that small one between your ears.

First of all, the situation with Jerry Lee & Myra occurred 50 years ago, so laws may have changed since then.

In the film, Jerry Lee & Myra were married in Mississippi, not Memphis (Tennessee). As of this writing (January 2008) the age of consent for marriage in Mississippi without parental consent is 17 for males and 15 for females.

WITH parental consent or permission of a judge people of any age can be married. As portrayed in the movie, it seems that they had the permission of a judge, that magistrate or whatever he was in Mississippi.

California has no age limits for marriage with parental consent, though other statutory requirements may apply.

Massachusetts allows males 14 years old to marry with consent of parents and/or a judge, and females can be 12.

New Hampshire permits 14 year old males to marry with consent of parents and/or a judge, and females can be 13.

[–] rwsmith29456 16 years ago

At the time, having the parents permission made young marriage legal or not. I don't know if they had that permission. But grown men marrying young teenagers was a lot more common back then. I'm not sure Lewis did anything ILLEGAL, but the combo of her age and being his first cousin was fanned up in the tabloids and made him unpopular with fans.

[–] paulcoxwell 16 years ago

but the combo of her age and being his first cousin

Not first cousins -- Second cousins, twice removed.

[–] mchnive 8 years ago

Not with me - he was then, and always will be one of my favorite musical artists of all time and a true rock pioneer - the tabloids that bashed him were way out of line and with millions of his fans, it did not affect our opinion of him at all - he was still hugely popular among us.

[–] cormac_zoso 11 years ago

well let's just examine the Texas law on that subject ...

with parental approval, the legal age is 14 yrs old ...

that's why both the State and the County could never make "child endangerment" or "child abuse" as was commonly thrown around by the ATF and Janet Reno at the time stick against David Koresh in Waco ... Parental Consent means Parental Consent ... period ...

so ... don't know the law in Tennessee at the time Jerry Lee was there but MOST southern states had and probably still do have very low age requirtements where that was concerned (and I assume they still do since many still have Sodomy laws on the books for both unwed and wed couples -- sodomy btw is defined as anal or oral sex) ...

the south was always a different culture where marriage age and kinship were concerned ... very unlike the north ...

even in "Gone Wth The Wind" the comment is made that "the Wilkes (Ashley being one) always marry their cousins" ...

and as mentioned in another post, the British and European royals always married close ... thus the Haemophilia that ran thru the lines

i ain't sayin it's right or wrong ... it's just what is

[–] hasen-07476 8 years ago

In Japan the legal age of sexual consent is 13. In China its 14. Its legal that young for sex, never mind marriage.

[–] corimcd 16 years ago

Loretta Lynn, movie "Coal Miner's Daughter"

She was married when she was 13 also.
I have not seen that movie in a long time, but
I don't seem to remember people (in the movie) making a big deal out
of the fact. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I think some states permitted young marriages.
I also remember in the movie "Gypsy", June ran off
with one of the dancers and married, she was only about
13 or 14.

[–] paulcoxwell 16 years ago

I think some states permitted young marriages.

Quite a number of states simply had no minimum age limit at all at one time.

[–] bornandbreedinNZ 16 years ago

Yeah some 1 with brains.

The Statutory rape law is just weird.
Im from New Zealand but live in Aussie, and the statutory rape laws here are kinda the same.
I've read that some states in the USA that no matter if he or she consents is outright statutory rape and they will go to court and have a record etc..

But here down under, I know of a few people who had to go to court, and all were cleared because the minor consented!! these minors ages were all 14yrs old - girls and boys and the offenders were age between 18yrs and 30yrs
Now the legal age to have sex for girls in NZ is 15yrs and boys 17yrs(might have changed) and 16 yrs for girls and 18yrs for boys in most Aussie states.
But!! A child under 12 cannot give consent for sexual intercourse!!
So yeah if you are older than 12yrs you can consent! How Flipped up is that!!!
Let me stress again that the legal age is 16yrs!!! Just weird!!!

[–] paulcoxwell 16 years ago

Here in England the age of sexual consent is 16, the same as the minimum age for marriage (with parental approval; it's 18 without). Laws in Scotland, however, can differ from those in England, and at one time 16-year-olds could marry without parental consent there. The village of Gretna Green, only just over the border, had a thriving business catering for runaway sweethearts.

I find that the more you look at the laws which specify minimum ages for certain things, the more you come to realize that there is very little logic or consistency to them. They are merely arbitrary values which some group decided was appropriate at a particular point in time. Some U.S. states allow young people to start driving on the roads from 14, for example, while in many European countries they're not allowed to start practicing at all until 18. Look at how voting ages have varied from place to place and at different times for another illustration.

Comparing the minimum ages for different activities within a single jurisdiction often shows the absurdity and inconsistency of the laws. With the almost-prohibitionist zeal of the national minimum drinking law in the U.S. now, it's become the case that a 20-year-old may marry, have children, drive a car, be drafted and sent off to fight and possibly die for his country, and be held accountable and sentenced to death for a capital crime -- But isn't allowed to buy a beer.

There was a story on the local news here a while ago about a 16-year-old girl who was delighted that she had just earned her private pilot's license -- But she still relied on her parents to drive her out to the airfield, because under U.K. law she's not allowed to drive a car until 17.

It doesn't make much sense, does it?

[–] bornandbreedinNZ 16 years ago

Yeah - Actually what does make sense these days?
Thats so funny how you summed up the U.S.A!!!
And of course, obtaining a pilots license at the age of 16.. I just learnt you can also obtain one here age 16yrs, there was a accident involving a 16yr old pilot and the news report joked that his parents drive him to and from the airfield!

Some laws contradicts each other and just leaves me thing WHAT THE???!!!

[–] boxy_darko_dragon 16 years ago

Most of the laws allowing people aged 14-16 to drive/fly are that way for a reason. I grew up in the midwest (USA) and we could drive at age 14 because of all of the farm in our area. The families that work farms need children to help and they are driving tractors to do that. I'm not sure about the piolet liscenes because I haven't looked it up, but I'd imaging that it might be legal to help during crop dusts.

[–] gtbarker 8 years ago

Those awful English standing up to rules and laws and stuff

'Well I've got two words for you - STFU'

[–] gtbarker 8 years ago

So you missed the fact the US treated him the same way on this return from England?

'Well I've got two words for you - STFU'