MovieChat Forums > Meet Joe Black (1998) Discussion > Is Quince a Pedophile?

Is Quince a Pedophile?

posted 17 years ago by neojon
83 replies | jump to latest

I felt that a couple of scenes this movie strongly implicated that Alison's husband(?) Quince might be a Pedophile. At one of the dinners he's having together with William's family, he suddenly burst out "I love little girls!!!" seemingly for no reason. I thought "W T F? What was that supposed to mean?" but in the end at the party, I'm given the explanation, when Quince breaks and says to Joe Black that Alison is wonderful for loving him even though she know about his darkest secret (He is sexually attracted to children).

I was suprised that nobody had started a thread about this yet, so therefore I started one myself. My very first one, I think. I could not be the only one who reacted to these scenes, could I? Or have I misunderstood them totally?

[–] phulltillt 16 years ago

No!!! Quince and Alison seem to be an older long married CHILDLESS couple. I think Quince would have said "I love little boys" or "I love kids" and Alison would have given him the same look. An "I know you do and I know we don't" painful look. The two of them (Jeffery Tambor and Marsha Gay Harden) are magical together in this film.

[–] matthewdewey 16 years ago

I thought exactly the same thing!!!! It just seemed strange until, like you say, there is that allusion at the party to a dark secret.

Very peculiar.

Matthew Dewey
http://www.matthewdewey.com/
[email protected]

[–] pradeepanonline 16 years ago

No way:))
It could be something to with the fact that he & Allison dont have Kids..

when he said "He loved little children" it might have touched a wrong spot for Allison..

c'mon.. you can interpret it any way :) But I prefer this.

[–] Michael_Jackson25 16 years ago

you know... i always felt that there was something more in the quincy character that i was just not picking up on. And this very well could be it. i'm about to rewatch the movie so i'll look out for this. It was so long ago when i saw this movie and i was still a teen and mostly just watched it for Brad and pretty much ignored everything else. But even then, i remember i'd kept wondering what was the deal with her sister and that weird husband of hers. I defintiely always felt that they were trying to portray that something just wasn't quite right about Quince. i just didn't know what exactly it was they were trying to get at-- didn't think about it long or hard enough. But now! thx for this post.. very thought-provoking.

i'd rather be his whore than your wife

[–] Vashperado 16 years ago

haha wow i never put those 2 scenes together~
its funny~ But i liked Quince, he seemed like a fun guy

[–] M_posse_bull 16 years ago

I think you are reading too much into it as well. But as for the darkest secrets part, Joe asks what? And Quince said something like "OH no, not just ONE thing but all things" taking it to mean all the negative aspects we have in our personalities not something dark and sinister as pedophilia.

[–] fugazzi49 16 years ago

I don't believe this was intended.This remark is an echo of exactly what he said at dinner the night before,"I love keychains."It's a typical blurting out of the first thing that comes into his head that a slightly tipsy,mentally meandering Quince would say,and he apparently uses the "i love whatever" as a form of speech.Quince is presented as a loveable,bumbling character - almost an Everymsn who has married into this very accomplished family headed by this strong,charismatic billionaire and always feels inadequate & out of his depth.He wants a golf pro at the party so he can have someone to talk to;he is always trying to come up with some idea to help the family business - ie.the several other offers he refers to,so he can prove his worth;he is shown drinking in most of his scenes and in his conversation with Bill in the livingroom immediately before this dinner he is already clearly two sails to the wind.So he impulsively just blurts out the first thing that comes to his mind on the last thing said.Last night it was "I love keychains" tonight it is "I love little girls".As he was written as a sympathetic character,no writer would also make him a pedophile,which would be to demonize him.This film doesn't get into such character complexity - the good people are good and the bad ones are bad.I can see how Allison's look at him is quite hard but it's just a "What in the hell are you talking about now,Quince..."look.She gave a similar one the night before but the camera using two angles makes it seem to be held longer this time and so seem more severe and noteworthy.The comment on knowing each others' secrets is interesting,but he says "Not one thing but lots of them".If he had been a secret pedophile,it would have been one big thing.To reiterate,it's within Quinces character to be a little drunk and blurt out non-sequiturs,and that's all this is.The writers obviously intended him to be weak,bumbling but loveable and wouldn't have confused issues by also writing him as a pedophile.

[–] midev 15 years ago

The very fact this subject was brought up shows what a society we have become. He said “I like little girls”. If he had said “I hate little girls” would that have been alright? We are all paranoid now on the subject of children. Why can’t a grown man appreciate the beauty and charm of young girls? Why do we always read some sexual connotation into it?

[–] Hazzer_99 15 years ago

Omg, I JUST watched that scene an was sitting by my computer so I thought I would nip on whilst I watched the rest and see if anybody else had commented on it. That is SOOOO weird, and well out of place! I wonder what the point of the scene was?

Go to the loo, 'cause all the *beep*'s coming out your mouth instead of your a-hole...

[–] Wolfman747 15 years ago

Oh yes, today it's totally wrong to say something like that because you will almost certainly be taken for a pedophile. If you happen to look or smile at a little girl on the street or say something nice to her, everybody (not just parents) in close proximity immediately thinks you're a pervert.

This is just sad.

It's only after we've lost everything, that we're free to do anything. - Tyler Durden

[–] Hazzer_99 15 years ago

Are you somekind of nutter mate? You've just come in here ranting and raving about the downfall of society without even making a reference to the movie. The fact is, it is sad how up tight and overpretective society is getting. But it's also sad that people don't take the time to read anymore, and use a perfectly good disussions board to rant at the world.

Go to the loo, 'cause all the *beep*'s coming out your mouth instead of your a-hole...

[–] Wolfman747 15 years ago

I have seen the movie and I did read the damn board. But I felt compelled to say that I was surprised by the way some people interpreted what Quince's said. I think it reflects very well on certain aspects of our society. I don't believe there was a need for me to make a reference to the film - you obviously got it, and also I'm not the first one here to express this kind of opinion.

While what Quince said may seem odd, I wouldn't say it was completely out of his character who was enthusiastic and positive (at least on the surface) about most things and people around him; I would say he was more like a child himself.

If anything this whole thread ruins this film's discussion boards. Pardon my intrusion and my little crazy rant.

It's only after we've lost everything, that we're free to do anything. - Tyler Durden

[–] Hazzer_99 15 years ago

No, I hear you. And I don’t disagree with with the fact that the world need to chill out about such things. But the point I was making was that this is a discussion board for films, and quite simply we are discussing whether or not what he said was supposed to mean what it sounded like. The fact is, everybody who hears the line is surprised and wonders what it means, and the writers are not stupid. It’s supposed to be something socially unacceptable otherwise he wouldn’t have told Joe about how the woman he loves accepts the things that are wrong with him. Personally, I think it is supposed to mean he has tendencies to find kinds attractive or whatever, but in his case he is clearly a good man and would not hurt a fly and tendencies or not, he does his best to ignore his feelings. And his wife helps him with that.
But incidentally, I rant about random stuff all the time, so who am I to tell you not to say what you want to say!

Go to the loo, 'cause all the *beep*'s coming out your mouth instead of your a-hole...