That's right - and no not because of the whole rape scene controversy: if a 12 year old girl cannot pretend to make adult decisions about pretend adult situations under the pretense of an aesthetic whose ostensible purpose is to transcend the perverse pathology of an imagined adult context and while doing so manage to earn millions of dollars for her stage parents - well, then our culture just means nothing, is pointless, and you might as well put an end to it.
No, dear Dakota's director is a hack because of this:
"I am hoping that this film is going to touch a lot of people," she said. "When you go to a theater and you see the truth, you feel less alone in the world."
Unless that sentiment is a complete lie and is meant to mean the exact opposite of what it means to say, in which case I'd probably have to upgrade her from hack to genius, then I must assume the woman just does not know what she's doing and risks undermining everything Dakota has worked so hard to pretend to do for the greater misunderstanding of all: nothing is more damaging than a truth actually believed in, nothing more precarious than a world where one does not feel increasingly alone.
But maybe she's lying - which would be a great relief.
