Angélica García Azofeifa
Prof. Adriana Jiménez R.
LM- 1477 Literature and Cinema
May 18th, 2010
Mystic River: A Film on Child Abuse and its Effects on Male Youth
In his 2001 movie Mystic River, director Clint Eastwood discusses the effect that
male child sexual abuse has in men and male friendships while depicting it as a form of
abuse that neither formal nor informal figures of power and authority can mend for the
individual psyche.
Through the character of Dave, Mystic River helps to portray how adult victims of
enacted pedophilia must bear the consequences of feeling alien to themselves to the point
where they might not only fail to be functional in mainstream society, but also be
dangerous and harmful to others due to their own past and unresolved experiences. As a
form of prediction, a soon-to-be-abused child fails to fully write his name on the pavement
the way his playmates do. The character is destined to a split life on a torn identity. As an
adult, the same child is chased by vampires and werewolves, fictional and delusional
figures of torment. The adult victim of child abuse is thus lead to a point where he can no
longer trust his own mind, where he must warn others about his lack of mental stability and
control over his own self. The victim’s inability to channel and direct his emotions,
physical urges and balance ends in the death of a child abuser, which represents a clear
projection of the victims past that is taken to the boundaries of brutal murder.
Eastwood’s production clearly suggests that, once enacted, male child abuse bears
consequences on the abused individual that cannot be lessened, alleviated, erased nor
revenged by any sorts of figures of authoritative power, neither formal nor informal ones, in
practical, physical ways. Thus, Sean, now in the shoes of a relevant police officer, will
search for balance and justice in vain, where the two characters he aims to protect end up as
murderer and murdered. As a further step in the movie’s claims, the judicial system is
mocked through the figures of child abusers who are dressed up in police gear. The single
figure of police is nullified in dialogue numerous times by citizens, victims and their
relatives until, in the end, any actions of potential efficiency take place sufficiently late in
the story’s plot to lack all possible relevance. Admission of irresponsibility, far from being
a consequence to obsolete figures of order, is veiled by tabooed silence. Jimmy is thus a
covered, yet well-known murderer whose systems of justice have passed bills on innocent
lives and have failed to bring any order to society. On the contrary, Jimmy’s actions only
serve the purpose of leaving more women, children and families in the arms of silent
despair.
Furthermore, regardless of how plausible friendship amongst males would seem to
be a plausible expectation of male understanding and identification in dealing with child
abuse, Mystic River dares completely deny such a possibility by suggesting that, contrary
to friendship, rivalry amongst related victims of child abuse will surface. Rivalry will
flourish intensely out of a sensation of guilt and lack of forgiveness, where one character is
unable to see another in the face from a place of endearment and not of torment. A troubled
childhood leads connected characters to interact in a platform of mistrust, to the extent
where one ends up killing another.
Works Cited
Johnson, Allan G. Patriarchy, The System An It, Not a He, a Them, or an Us.
Courtois , Christine A. Healing the Incest Wound: adult survivors in therapy.
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 5th Avenue, NY, NY, 1996.