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In the previous decade, Adrian Lyne had made two movies (Fatal Attraction and Indecent Proposal) that had grossed over $100 million in the US alone. With carte blanche to do whatever he wanted, he made an adaptation of the Nabokov novel about a 40-year-old pedophile’s obsession with his adolescent step-daughter – and no distributor wanted to release it. In a decade rife with the commodification and sexualization of young teens (see our previous episode on Drew Barrymore), what lines did Lyne’s Lolita cross?

SHOW NOTES:  

Sources:

“Vladimir Nabokov, The Art of Fiction No. 40” Interviewed by Herbert Gold, Paris Review,  Summer-Fall 1967, No. 41 

“A ‘Lolita’ for the ‘90s” by Sean Mitchell And John M. Wilson, LA Times, June 10, 1990 

“‘Lolita’ Loses Her Chaperon” by Judy Brennan, LATimes, Sept. 24, 1995

“New ''Lolita'' struggles to find a U.S. distributor Director Adrian Lyne's film version of the classic book has raised a few eyebrows” by Benjamin Svetkey, Entertainment Weekly, August 09, 1996

“Another Fatal Attraction?” by Christopher Goodwin, The Sunday Times of London, Sept 8, 1996

“New Law Expanding Legal Definition Of Child Pornography Draws Fire” by John Schwartz, Washington Post, October 4, 1996

“Lolita in Hollywood” by Tad Friend, Vogue, November 1996

“Waiting for Humbert” by David Gates and Corie Brown, Newsweek, Dec 16, 1996

“Nobokov Cocktail” by Charles Fleming, Vanity Fair, January 1997

“Lolita Comes Again” by Elizabeth Kaye, Esquire, February 1997

“Lost Without a Screen: the Fate of 'Orphan' Films” by Ingrid Abramovitch, NYTimes, March 9, 1997

“Nymph Mania” by Richard Goldstein, Village Voice, June 17, 1997

“How Do you Solve a Problem Like Lolita?” by Rachel Ambromovitz, Premiere Magazine, Sept. 1997, Pg. 80

”Lolita 1995: The Four Filmscripts” by Christopher C. Hudgins, Literature Film Quarterly. 1997, Vol. 25 Issue 1, p23. 7p.

“A New ‘Lolita’ Stalls in Europe” by Celestine Bohlen, NYTimes, Sept 23, 1997

“Debutante `Lolita' spurs debate” Variety Magazine via The Free Library, 09/29/97, Vol. 368 Issue 8, p22. 1/2p.

Lolita Chic: Nasty Fashion-Speak by Suzy Menkes, International Herald Tribune, Oct. 7, 1997

“Lolita's Fatal Attraction” Newsweek, October 5, 1997

“A Movie America Can't See” by Caryn James, NYTimes, March 15, 1998

“Too Hot for Hollywood? Try Cable” By J. Max Robins, TV Guide, July 25, 1998

“In Hollywood, Almost Anything Goes--Except for ‘Lolita,’ That Is” by Claudia Eller, LA Times, July 31, 1998

“Revisiting a Dangerous Obsession” by Caryn James, NYTimes, July 31, 1998

“Think Tank; 'Lolita' Turns 40, Still Arguing for A Right to Exist” by Sarah Boxer, NYTimes, Aug. 1, 1998

“Lolita: Great Novel or Not, the Movie Is a Pedophile's Fantasy” by Nancy Marsden, Christian Science Monitor, August 3, 1998

“New ‘Lolita’ Does Terrible Disservice to Nabokov--and to Our Children” by Paul Maurer, LATimes, Aug. 3, 1998

“High and Lo” by Tom Carson, LA Weekly, Aug 11, 1998

“Problem Child” by Tom Gilatto and Elizabeth Leonard, People, Aug 17, 1998

“The Girl Can’t Help It” by Alyssa Katz, The Nation, August 24, 1998

“Moved to a Large Screen, 'Lolita' in All Its Detail” by Janet Maslin, NYTimes, Sept. 25, 1998

“The Lasting Effects of the Lolita Complex, Lacy Warner examines the downward turn of actress Dominique Swain’s career, and how the trouble began the moment she grew up” by Lacy Warner, Longreads.com, November 16, 2018

Adrian Lyne Interview w/ Charlie Rose, Lolita, 1998 

“Two Years After Fuss, Lyne’s ‘Lolita’ Goes on Sale” by Susan King, LA Times, Oct. 14, 1999

“Fiona Apple: The Time Is Ripe with 'Pawn,' Singer Moves To a More Mature Beat” by Richard Harrington, Washington Post, Sunday, November 28, 1999

“'Unfaithful': Unfathomable Attraction” by Stephen Hunter, Washington Post, May 10, 2002

“An Affair To Forget: How To Make Adultery Boring” by Lou Lumenick, NY Post, May 8, 2002

“On the Subjective Æsthetic of Adrian Lyne’s Lolita” by Michael Da Silva, Senses of Cinema,  September 2009

“The Lasting Effects of the Lolita Complex; Lacy Warner examines the downward turn of actress Dominique Swain’s career, and how the trouble began the moment she grew up” by Lacy Warner, Longreads.com, November 16, 2018

“Fiona Apple’s Art of Radical Sensitivity” by Emily Nussbaum, March 16, 2020 

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov  

Lolita: The Book of the Film by Stephen Schiff

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Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Credits:

This episode was written, narrated, and produced by Karina Longworth.

Our editor this season is Evan Viola. 

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.

Logo design: Teddy Blanks.