i got an idea
just ask the kid if her dad helped her?
shareShe was probably told by her dad not to tell anyone that he painted them.
Otherwise she would most likely have told someone long before.
MovieChat Forums > My Kid Could Paint That (2007) Discussion > i got an idea
Like a sexually/mentally abused child she would've sworn into secrecy, bribed or threatened which is what abusers do when they want their victims to obey them. She was obviously told to not say or do anything that would give the game away.
The mother at times seemed quite oblivious to it. She seemed genuine like she wanted it to stop as she knew it was wrong. There was worry in her eyes and she showed it when she spoke like she knew her husband was pressuring their daughter.
Except that the kid kept saying things like "I didn't do the green one". "You do a face" etc. Surely if she had been bribed or threatened into not saying that the dad did the painting, she wouldn't say things like that either...
shareYes but you know what kids are like. They don't realise they say the wrong things sometimes and the dad was so sketchy and on edge after she said them, he was practically sweating and panicking over it like "I told her not to say that, why did she have to say that?"
shareIf you tell a kid not to touch the TV they'll touch the TV - I doubt it was anything as sinister as what you're suggesting. Marla probably painted the pictures and once she got bored Dad would take over when she wasn't around. This way he wouldn't have to rely on her lying; she probably believes she painted them too.
shareDo you guys have kids? Trust me, no 4-year-old could keep a secret like that. Even if the dad molested her and told her he'd do it again if she told anyone, she would still spill the beans.
For the record, there's nothing to suggest any molestation by anyone specifically the father. It's just a thought.
Exactly, kids that young don't understand lying.
shareI'm not sure i buy the premise that kids (even at Marla's age) cannot lie. Once kids understand the relationship between actions and rewards, they understand the benefit of giving the correct answer (even if it isn't the truth) to receive their reward.
But, even if i accept the premise, keep in mind, the accusations that were made didn't require Marla to tell a flat-out lie. Critics accused her father of helping her out by making "suggestions," and she alludes to this possibility several times on camera, indicating that she wasn't coached to keep it a secret. The other accusation was that he perhaps polished up her works after she was "done," which would most likely had been done in private and unbeknownst to her.
What we're dealing with are not big, clear-cut lies (like her father painting a painting and her simply signing it), requiring elaborate stories to cover up their tracks. If the accusations are true, all we're dealing with are subtle misrepresentations, which either fail to catch Marla's attention or are so small that she only occasionally bothers to offhandedly allude to it after 100's of hours of filming.