MovieChat Forums > Chaplin (1993) Discussion > Chaplin a PEDOPHILE?

Chaplin a PEDOPHILE?

posted 14 years ago by lovepotion19
67 replies | jump to latest

Would you say based on Charlie Chaplin's appetite for much younger women - teenage girls actually - some of which he married...that you would consider him to be a pedophile? Was his relationships with some of these girls even legal (especially his first wife (played by Milla Jovavich) back then? It would seem as though Hollywood and the rest of America and the world was very accepting of - and well respected - him even knowing about his controversial sex life. Could it have been the times? Would Americans be as accepting of his well-publicized sex life in our times now? I would highly doubt it. I think he'd end up like Roman Polanski - a fugitive of this country.

This was taken from his mini-bio on IMDb:
He was 29 years old when he wed Mildred Harris; she was 17.
He was 35 years old when he wed Lita Grey; Lita was 16.
He was 47 years old when he wed Paulette Goddard; Paulette was 26.
He was 54 years old when he wed Oona O'Neill (Oona Chaplin); Oona was 17.

Just wondering if others were thinking the same thing while watching the movie.
Your thoughts?

[–] Strazdamonas 12 years ago

no. A pedofile is one that craves young girls that are not secually mature yet. Woemn get sexually mature in te age of 11-14. Once that happens, its not pedofilia, just illegal.
I didnt knew that he marrid a 16 year old, so that was new to me, and i found it kinda odd (not that much that he married but more that the movie didnt leave it out as they usually do). But i dont blame him as long as the marriadge was agreed by both parties.

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[–] Lord_Gyaldhart 12 years ago

I see that lots of people here in this thread do not even know what pedophile really means, instead they contribute to an ignorant witch hunt accusing people of it left and right.

To those people I say; If you can not tell the difference between a pre pubescent person (a REAL child) and an adolescent, then you are closer to a real pedophile than you would like to admit.

Also, I can not help to notice how no one in this thread seemed to have understood how the movie handled Chaplin's obsession with young women. Clearly he was crazy in love of Hetty Kelly, she and Oona (his last wife) were the true loves of his life (and they are both played by the same actress Moira Kelly to highlight this symbolism.)

Chaplin was very affected first when Hetty turned him down, then when he heard she got married, and he was devastated when he learned about her early death.

He met Hetty when she was 16 years old (by the way, before the inquisition gets all crazy here, even nowadays the legal age of consent in England is 16), and for the remainder of his life he was looking for Hetty in other women, which is why he always looked for women of about those ages, until he meets Oona and finally settles with her for the rest of his life.

Christianity's GREATEST ally and BEST friend throughout history is Satan

[–] Mattfinbell 11 years ago

Lord_Gyaldhart

He met Hetty when she was 16 years old (by the way, before the inquisition gets all crazy here, even nowadays the legal age of consent in England is 16), and for the remainder of his life he was looking for Hetty in other women, which is why he always looked for women of about those ages, until he meets Oona and finally settles with her for the rest of his life.

Well did you know gay love was illegal at that age until recently

[–] rasheed_node 12 years ago

Paranoid and narrow minded people like you in the US grossly mistreated a true genius like Chaplin. I could never understand how a maniac like J. Edgar Hoover can be and remain the chief of FBI for 50 years! Was there no American alive in those 50 years who can kick that lunatic out?

[–] Mattfinbell 11 years ago

rasheed_node

Paranoid and narrow minded people like you in the US grossly mistreated a true genius like Chaplin. I could never understand how a maniac like J. Edgar Hoover can be and remain the chief of FBI for 50 years! Was there no American alive in those 50 years who can kick that lunatic out?

Well its not just america look at Middle east China Latin America and other countries like North Korea. For J Edgar I am guessing he greased alot of palm during his day

BobsBrotherFutureman

Pedophilia implies a relationship with a pre-pubescent minor, doesn't it? Dating/marrying a 16/17 year old does not make one a pedophile, in Chaplin's day or today.

It does if your gay

[–] BobsBrotherFutureman 12 years ago

Pedophilia implies a relationship with a pre-pubescent minor, doesn't it? Dating/marrying a 16/17 year old does not make one a pedophile, in Chaplin's day or today.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] jejozi 11 years ago

No, pedophiles are attracted to prepubescents, not teenagers.

This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] lexiever-1 11 years ago

I don't think Charlie was a pedophile, times were different then and I'm not saying that like it's okay because its disgusting to me, I'm a 24 yr old female and could never imagine myself with a man old enough to be my father. I prefer men who were born in my own decade and heck I was born at the end of the 80s I would want someone close to that year. Anyway, I think Charlie had issues with women, maybe due to his mother?, plus his first love Was young and that ended tragically so I'm assuming that had an effect on his future choices in women. Also old dudes always married young women back in the day, gross to me for the most part but times were different and what may have gotten a little bit more of a pass back then wouldn't be acceptable today and vice versa.

Lonely Chicago pie

[–] TalesfromTheCryptfan 11 years ago

He was an epheobophile actually

You killed Captain Clown, YOU KILLED CAPTAIN CLOWN-The Joker on Batman TAS

[–] audonamission 11 years ago

About a year ago, I started doing a lot of genealogical research for my family. Turns out, two of my great-grandmothers got married at the ripe old age of 14. Both had 2-3 kids by the time they were 20, and these ladies would have been contemporaries of Chaplin's wives. Back then, people weren't as concerned about putting a specific age on being an adult. Once a girl was sexually mature, she would get married, whether she was 14, 16, or 18. Of course, we can make the argument that just because a person is sexually mature doesn't mean that they're emotionally ready for the demands of being a wife and a mother. But it seems a little unfair and myopic to treat Chaplin like a monster when his choices, although arguably unusual, were not too far out of the realm of possibilities.