Jun 04 2008
The Blue Lagoon Raises the Ick Bar
The Blue Lagoon came out in 1980, and I was too young to pay much attention to it at the time.
Years later, however, when my older sister proclaimed her undying love for one of the film’s young stars (Christopher Atkins), I finally watched it.
Looking back now, I’m not quite sure what The Blue Lagoon was trying to accomplish.
Was is aimed at adults (and therefore, along the lines of kiddie porn), or was it aimed at teens (it’s R rating seemed to shut out a large portion of its audience, if that was the case)?
To this day, I’m still confused.
That’s not to say that the storyline is anything but straightforward (albeit preposterous).
On a trip to San Francisco, Richard, his father and his cousin, Em (played by Brooke Shields) find themselves in danger. The children are pushed onto a life boat with Paddy Button, and their Father/Uncle is on another boat.
The boats are, or course, separated, and Paddy, Richard and Em find themselves with no food and no water, and stuck in the middle of nowhere.
When they wash ashore an island that seems to be paradise, Paddy teaches the children to survive by fishing, hunting and building.
When Paddy (predictably) drowns, Em and Richard are left to fend for themselves.
Years later, hormones and nature take their course, and the pair learn about the birds, the bees, and what can only be called…incest.
I can only hope that Shields, who was 15 at the time the film came out, and Atkins, who was 19, were paid handsomely for their parts in this 80s stinker.
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