Susan Di Santo

Honestly sad and spiritually demoralising depiction of the intergenerational effects of hedonism and neglect, but sadly not seeming to question the benefit of perpetually advocating the breaking of boundaries and collapse of family and social structures. What is lacking is any consideration, or depiction of consequences of the seemingly unlimited, ill considered permissness. I haven't read Gloekner's eponymousy titled book, or researched at what time of her life this semi autobiographical vignette was written, but the reality of social standards in this film seem to be quite stretched, or at least reinterpreted to incorporate the present day situation where floundering in a sea of comparitive and flexible values is the established new normal, (but no more helpful for it's freedom). I was also a teen in the 70s and also an aspirant graphic artist, (who then went to to art school and later freelanced). It's not how I remember my angst ridden teens, or relationship fantasies re MY stepfather 😖🔪🪓💀 🤐, but then I wasn't living in San Francisco, and although my mother was also divorced, she was older, never took drugs and had had the sobering experience of nursing in WW2 and spousal violence.... however coming from a (differently) dysfunctional family I know that once lines of moral values are crossed, (moral values, which have never actually been exemplified, or considered in this scenario ), it is very difficult to re-erect fences, or explain the value of their protection, despite that there might have been a definite feeling of unease that produced feelings of denial and confusion when they are trampled. (Where Minnie wants to but doesn't tell her mother; where Monroe tries break it off; where her mother senses the affair; where Kimmie and Minnie regret taking money for performing sex.... It is a little strange and degenerate that this foundational example of family disfunction is used as a form of entertainment and triggers nostalgia in some. For myself I'm left asking, Jesus where do we go from here and how do kids navigate the quagmire of choices open these days? This fictional retelling of teenage awakening is also a terribly damaging to female rape and abuse victims whose narrative did not include any choice, sexual curiousity, or significantly, power or positive consent with family and social dynamics. I would argue that it seldom did in the 70s, which is why I wonder which decade this retelling was fabricated.