Film based on Gabriel Garcia Marquez book prompts protest in Mexico [Updated]
If you look at the culture pages in Mexico’s newspapers these days, there is little question about what’s the talk of the town in literary circles — old men having sex with young girls, writes Andres Oppenheimer.
He's referring to a debate currently raging here in Mexico about whether a planned movie based on Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez's book "Memories of My Melancholy Whores" would glorify the sexual exploitation of children.
As the Huffington Post reports, the Regional Coalition Against Trafficking in Women and Girls in Latin America and the Caribbean filed a criminal complaint with Mexico's attorney general's office on Oct. 5.
The complaint does not specifically name Garcia Marquez, but instead "whoever is responsible for acts that could be constituted as the crime of condoning child prostitution."
Coalition Director Teresa Ulloa told the Associated Press that a movie adaptation of the Colombian author's novel would promote pedophilia and be accessible to a wider audience.
Read the full column from Oppenheimer here and go here for more from the Huffington Post.
[Updated at 11:57 a.m.: An earlier version of this post said the Regional Coalition Against Trafficking in Women and Girls in Latin America and the Caribbean had filed a criminal complaint with Mexico's attorney general's office today. It was filed Oct. 5.]
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
RE: Previous reader posts
1) Garcia Marquez's novel is NOT about the U.S. This may come as a surprise to many Americans, but the world citizenry is not as obsessed about us as we are about ourselves. Get over yourselves, fellow Americans.
2) Garcia Marquez is COLUMBIAN not Mexican. There is still a tool called an atlas. Please consult it if you don't know your geography.
3) Just because the legal age of consent in Mexico is 13 does not mean that the efforts of child advocates are meaningless. That is how change happens people. THINK!
Posted by: Rosa Martha Villarreal | October 24, 2009 at 12:20 PM
I do not think that Gabriel Garcia Marquez is in the business of glorifying illegal sexual relationships. He is a writer and as such he writes what is on his mind and what he thinks is important. His book was published without much outcry. Now producers of the film want to adapt his work to the screen - what a big deal? We did not see the film yet, so how on earth can someone protest against it? Anyway, as we can see, the very fact of filming this book helped to stimulate a discussion on the matters of children prostitution in Mexico and not only, which is a good thing.
Posted by: Janus Avivson | October 21, 2009 at 03:36 AM
This is the US, not Mexico. I take offense at many things other countries write and say about the US and/or the West. It seems as if they don't care. Nor do they write big articles about our displeasure, they seem to take pleasure in our displeasure.
Posted by: rezasantorini | October 20, 2009 at 09:57 AM
considering that the 'age of consent' in mexico is 13 -- what's the big surprise here?
Posted by: Tara | October 19, 2009 at 06:46 PM