the emphasis on the erotic side of choking does seem out of place. especially since our society places such a strong taboo on anything that may sexualize children.
I would also note, popular culture has no problem sexualizing children, it has a problem being honest or consistent about its reaction to this depiction. As in: Britney Spears bumping and grinding like a stripper on stage is okay, but remaking Lolita is not.
you make a valid distinction. american pop culture seems to be all right with underaged kids acting sexy so long as they claim that they're not actually having sex. i assume that you're talking about Spears seven or eight years past (showing your age a little =P), back when she was dressing like a schoolgirl and claiming chastity. it would have been more accurate me to say 'promote sexual activity' rather than 'sexualize'.
there wouldn't be the same sort of conflict if the choking element was replaced with an illness. the mother had to make the choice whether or not to let Tara risk herself, to make the adult decision that this was something worth risking her life for. Tara wasn't a victim of illness when she made her choice, she was proactively risking her life to accomplish something.
I disagree. If it was simply some involuntary biological reaction that was causing issues with the implant that caused blackouts and, as a side effect, contact with the alien, the choice to stop the daughter to save her health/life and whether to "power down" the device and risk the loss of the devices usefulness versus letting her continue and trust in her judgment would still be possible.
that may be a conflict but it isn't the same sort of conflict. there is a substantial difference to the story if Tara is a victim instead of actively risking herself.
I thought it was a very interesting story and i liked it, but i think the ending made it a little too 'safe'.
The whole concept of kids strangling themselves is extremely scary and in the story it was justified in that aliens used it to communicate to this girl, this also made the mother and doctor to seem very negligent, i cannot imagine how they would think it was ok to let the girl just choke.
I know this is just is story and not a moral message, but i kinda think it should have been a message, instead of just saying "hey kids are trying to kill themselves and it's ok because they might be communicating with aliens", especially considering that according to responses in this thread, that 'game' is more common than i thought
first of all, no one was trying to kill themselves. people were risking their lives.
mainly i'm responding because your position reoccurs repeatedly throughout this thread: Jillian and the doctor are acting negligently & irrationally. it kinda bugs me since they acted incredibly rationally. just real world rational not hollywood rational.
unsupported claims are discounted and mocked in the standard hollywood formula. it's a cheap way to build some outraged sympathy. these glasses let you see aliens? no way. there's a monster in the window behind me? i'm not gonna fall for that. you say that your friends were brutally devoured in the basement? good joke.
so, instead of taking ten seconds to put on the glasses or turn my head i'm gonna spend minutes on end acting stubborn and building audience resentment so that they feel like i deserve it when things inevitably turn against me.
in this story Tara is incredibly honest. when Jillian asked her about the fainting game the easiest thing Tara could have done is promise to stop and then do it behind her mother's back. instead she winds up under suicide watch because she refuses to tell a convenient lie. someone like that doesn't make up stories for attention, she really believes that something unusual is happening and Jillian trusts that.
when Tara is choking, Jillian has to overcome her emotional response in order to wait to revive her. she's giving Tara the chance to work out whatever issues she has. she doesn't have to beleive in aliens or telepathy or anything else except that Tara really wants to do this. the actual risk is minimal, a doctor has a very good idea how long someone can go without oxygen. just because it seems scary doesn't make it irrational or negligent.