MovieChat Forums > How I Live Now (2013) Discussion > Can we talk about the incest for a secon...

Can we talk about the incest for a second?


It's Nasty, First Cousins...C'mon!

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I believe, from what I remember from it, that they're cousins-through-marriage. So they're not blood related. But I think the lead actress said, about the romance, "It happens to everyone," when faced with a question about the possibility of cousin on cousin romance being controversial. No, it doesn't happen to everyone, honey.

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You do know that the only way that the human population grew to the numbers it is now was because of cousins marrying and having children right?

Yes, its MUCH better and HEALTHIER to have different genes for copulation and having children but the way people view cousin-cousin marriages has risen to new levels.

Did you know that if a cousin and cousin have a baby, there is less risk for the child being 'defected' than if a woman the age of 40 having one? and even then it is less than 1%. There will always be birth risk defects and I don't condone cousin cousin marriages but people need to *beep* relax and saying its 'gross' or 'wrong' is very childish. Adults make there own decisions.

~XTC

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You do know that you're changing the subject matter, right?

Adults make there own decisions.


This must be the most used defense.

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how is that changing subject. you were saying that cousin on cousin sex is wrong. he said that its acceptable. looks the same subject to me

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. . . you've really done your research on this.

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hahahaha if the Bible is right we're all family, right!

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The Bible has nothing to do with it. We're all family. Very distant family, mind you, but family.

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You know nothing about anthropology if you think that the "only way that the human population grew to the numbers it is now was because of cousins marrying and having children"

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I have a friend who took a DNA test and her half-brother was identified as a cousin... which leads me to believe a cousin can be as genetically similar as a half-brother.

So if you think it's ok to have sex with your cousin, you must also be ok with sex with a half-sibling.

Sorry, but it's weird.

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Marriage between cousins is legal in the UK, so it's not "incest." It's not particularly common, but it's certainly not "controversial."

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It's legal because the monarchy used to keep the kingdom and crown in the family.

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Absolutely. Most of European 'royalty' is inbred for that very reason. That is why hemophilia is/was so common amongst them.

Lethe

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Or some other *beep* American conspiracy theory....

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It's legal in in many states in the US, too. Genetic research proved that there is negligible genetic risk in first cousins marrying and producing offspring.

People used to believe that tomatoes were deadly. People believe all kinds of silly things. It takes years for facts and information to seep down into the lowest levels of education.


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Movies are IQ tests. The IMDB boards are each person's opportunity to broadcast their score.

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Not true. Royalty rarely married anyone closer than 5th cousins, mostly far more distant than that. Of course Egyptian royalty was different....

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It is still very controversial in the UK and considered "wrong" by the majority of the population. I know when I watched it it seemed very wrong to me and the 3 other Brits I watched it with :S

Hiding at www.HippoPrint.co.uk

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Just because it's legal doesn't meant it's not incest. Incest refers to a sexual relationship between relatives, not whether or not such a relationship is legal in a particular jurisdiction.

So yes, a sexual relationship between two first cousins is incest. Whether they can legally be married where they live is irrelevant.

"He's already attracted to her. Time and monotony will do the rest."

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Take a look at prince Charles face and you will see the result of generations of inbred monarchy approved sex.





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And while I don't think it should be illegal for any adults to marry each other, this was not about marriage, it was about sex which is perfectly legal regardless of their genetic relationship.

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Honestly, I think this should have been better explained because I don't understand how they're cousins through marriage although I guess that's possible. To me it seemed like Aunt Penn was either Daisy's mother's sister or her father's sister but I couldn't tell which, and either way, she and Eddie would still be first cousins.

It may be legal in the UK or whatever, but it's still weird in modern times to be romantically involved with your first cousin.

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Twenty-five states prohibit marriages between first cousins. Six states allow first cousin marriage under certain circumstances, and North Carolina allows first cousin marriage but prohibits double-cousin marriage. States generally recognize marriages of first cousins married in a state where such marriages are legal.

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Edmund's mom was Daisy's mom's sister. Blood related.

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It's impossible to be first cousins and not be bloodlrelated!
They are either children on your mom or your dad's side so if you're not adopted or a stepchild, you're bloodrelated...

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In my country (India) , it is okay to marry one kind of first cousins. If it is my dad's sister's kid or mom's brother's kid, then I can marry them. But if it is my dad's brother's kid or mom's sister's kid, then they are basically my sisters and brothers and I can't marry them. As far I know there is no problem for kids born in this kind of cousin marriages we follow.


This is pretty much extended to many generations. It is complicated to explain in words. In India most people belongs to Hindu religion. In Hindus, there are lots of different groups called castes (singular:caste , i take it as a clan?). Anyway, marriage always happens within caste. castes are further divided in to sub castes and marriage happens between two different sub castes to prevent incest. If two people are in same sub caste, then they are brothers and sisters (even if they can't trace all ancestors to prove it!). One gets sub caste name from their father.

So if I apply this rule to my cousins, my dad's sister's kid or mom's brother's kid will have different sub caste name than mine, so I can marry them.

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My wife's parents were first cousins. It's common among Appalachian Americans

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Incest is not that controversial, in my opinion, especially if children are not produced.

I don't think it was a big deal specifically in this movie given the situation because:

1. They didn't know each other- it wasn't like she grew up him and developed that sort of familial relationship. I think it was very easy to not think of each other that way because of this.

2. NUCLEAR WAR WAS HAPPENING! AND TERRORISTS! AND RAIDS! And so basically my point here is that incest would kinda be the LEAST of my worries.

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@somethingskeletal


Incest is not that controversial, in my opinion, especially if children are not produced.


What? Incest is between siblings,so of course it's controversial. Geesh. Where the hell are you coming from with that?

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Wait. Incest is sort of a huge deal. Brothers and sisters being sexually intimate just screams "huge deal" to me.

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Yes, and if any siblings had engaged in sexual activity in this movie, I can see why that would bug people. Rest easy, though. No brothers and sisters were sexually intimate. If they had, this would be a whole different discussion.


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Movies are IQ tests. The IMDB boards are each person's opportunity to broadcast their score.

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For me, the point was to be emotionally invested in these characters. Even their romance, but I was so distracted by the fact that they were cousins, that I think the emotional impact of the move was lost on me.

Mulder: Nobody likes a math geek, Scully.

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Seriously, they couldn't have made him a neighbor? A friend of the family? Yeah,it was too much of a distraction for me too.

"Love me less, but love me a long time."

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Seriously, they couldn't have made him a neighbor? A friend of the family?


The author goes out of her way to make them related, I just wonder why?

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[deleted]

May I sugest you sensitive yet judgemental souls never watch 'Game of Thrones'



I'm sorry, I wasn't aware this is the Internet BOOK Database.

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Or Clueless, Lolita, The Blue Lagoon, Kate & Leopold, The Royal Tenenbaums, Excalibur, The Hotel New Hampshire, Close My Eyes, That's My Boy, The House of Yes, The Crow, Chinatown, Girl Interrupted, The Quiet, The Manchurian Candidate, Mansfield Park, or numerous other movies and TV shows.

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May I sugest you sensitive yet judgemental souls never watch 'Game of Thrones'


Sensitive, lol. Sounds like somebody is defending incest.

For my latest movie reviews and news: http://www.hesaidshesaidreviewsite.com

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Sensitive, lol. Sounds like somebody is defending incest.



Yes, that is exactly what I am doing. Sex is always best with family members.




I'm sorry, I wasn't aware this is the Internet BOOK Database.

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Indeed, because not making a big deal about it is always the same as defending it... you surely must be a big Bush fan? If you're not with us, you're against us, that type of thinking?

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Well regardless of how everybody feels about this, it still provoked thought and discussion Which I suppose is what the author intended on to make the story "standout". But doesn't anybody remember all the voices the girl was hearing in her head the whole movie? Despite not really "knowing" her cousin and civil freakin war goin on, I mean she still heard voices... just sayin.

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I'm guessing everyone missed that they are actually first cousins. The woman she's staying with, her aunt, was her mothers sister. So those kids are indeed first cousins.

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Both Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein married their first cousins. Consider that before you knock it.

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At the begining, when she's in the car with Isaac she says they're not really related, that they're step cousins, and they didn't know each other so I don't think it counts as incest. Besides, it is never said that they are sisters, it is implied, yes, but never confirmed.

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Whether they knew each other or not doesn't mean it doesn't count as incest, ya inbred, cousin molesting, three eyed freak. They still have the same genetic material and their kids will be retards.

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They don't have the same genetic material, she says at the beginning of the movie that they're not really cousins. Thank you for your reply, though (I know it must have been hard since you don't seem to know how to read) and for your very sweet words, have a lovely life.

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I'm surprised so many people here are so freaked out by this relationship. Marriage between first cousins is not prohibited in most of the "first world" countries, nor in many of those not considered "first world," nor in 26 of these United States, according to my quick research. The risk of birth defects in children of such marriages is less than the risk from many other factors (for instance, older than optimal age of the parents, especially but not exclusively the mother). Through history there have been many successful families based around first cousin couples (a frequently cited example is Charles Darwin and his wife, who created some exceptional children--and if you've not seen the excellent movie about them, I highly recommend CREATION, from 2009: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974014/?ref_=nv_sr_1). There's plenty of info about this to be found online, including at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin_marriage, and at this site: http://www.cousincouples.com/?page=facts.

As to HOW I LIVE NOW, I found it to be an excellent movie with a compelling, beautiful love story. It certainly seems from what we're shown and told, that the leads are real first cousins by blood; their respective mothers were apparently sisters. It's possible that those mothers were step sisters (eliminating the immediate, genetic first cousinship) or half sisters (lessening the genetic closeness of the cousins). To me, it doesn't matter much, other than that their almost mystical connection seems more interesting and compelling if they are, indeed, first cousins.

I can only imagine how the people so freaked out by this element would react to the end of one of my favorite movies (and one of the best of all time), LONE STAR http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116905/?ref_=nv_sr_1. Go watch that one!


Multiplex: 100+ shows a day, NONE worth watching. John Sayles' latest: NO distribution. SAD.

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When Daisy first arrives at the house, she specifically acknowledges that she is their "step-cousin," which precludes any blood relationship. I can't understand why everyone is so weirded out by this. They aren't blood related and have never even met.

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centine1822, I didn't catch that mention, so thanks. I'm not weirded out in any case, but it's nice to know what is actually the movie's version.



Multiplex: 100+ shows a day, NONE worth watching. John Sayles' latest: NO distribution. SAD.

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Great post, and I gladly second the Lone Star recommendation.

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I'm glad to see someone else loves Lone Star, one of the best movies in the last 20 years.

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