Abby and Owen as Lovers?

[DavidZahir]

Just fyi--and as an example of how the exact same thing can look different--I do not believe Abby was sexually raped in the "Be me a little" flashback. Rather, she seemed to be attacked by a vampire. Which was bad enough.

And I must point out if Abby is indeed over a century old (as seems very likely) then at twelve in many places she was of a marriageable age. There places in the US where the age of consent was nine!

[missyxxmischa]

eek the internet is mean. Not used to people picking all over what i write. I also don't think Abby was raped in the flashback. And anyway why would her getting rape equal her having to be a boy? There are ways to rape a boy.. -_- I still see Abby as a boy. Which is why when Owen peeked at her changing, he was shocked to see what Oskar saw in Let the right one in. They just didn't show this in the remake because they wanted to emphasize other points of the film and water down the graphic nature of it.

Also, i dont think intimacy between underage kids or whatever was said is perverse. I think intimacy between a 12 year old boy and more then 100 years old girl/boy is perverse. Im not trying to be all high and mighty about it, but it is disturbing and i think it is supposed to be. I think the director or writer wanted you to think about how it is actually quite disturbing and not to be so fooled by the outward appearance of Abby or Eli. So yes I guess I dont see them being lovers, just being close.

And please enough with the spelling corrections, i've been on a break from university for like 2 years, and have become um....a bit "duuurrr". Lol.

[PeteMork]

Just fyi--and as an example of how the exact same thing can look different--I do not believe Abby was sexually raped in the "Be me a little" flashback. Rather, she seemed to be attacked by a vampire. Which was bad enough.

Worse, one would think.

[DavidZahir]

Yeah, worse. I agree.

I don't believe Abby in LMI is a castrated boy. You can put that interpretation on things if you like, but if so I frankly think Owen's reaction would have been...well, a bit extreme. Methink he peeked in on the pretty girl he like while she was changing, then nervously backed off when she started to turn around. Rather like he did with Virginia.

[PeteMork]

Yeah, worse. I agree.

I don't believe Abby in LMI is a castrated boy. You can put that interpretation on things if you like, but if so I frankly think Owen's reaction would have been...well, a bit extreme. Methink he peeked in on the pretty girl he like while she was changing, then nervously backed off when she started to turn around. Rather like he did with Virginia.

I don't think so either. If Reeves had expected us to believe Abby was a boy, or even wanted to make us ponder the point, he would have picked someone else to play the part. Chloé is unmistakably a girl. In fact, IMO either of the other two girls who auditioned could have made better 'boys' than Chloé.

[missyxxmischa]

personally i believe that chloe moretz was very androgynous in the movie. A lot of other reviews i have read about the movie commented on it as well. Sometimes i think people are too set on wanting Abby to be a girl, just so that they can have a girl/boy pairing to.....like....moon over or become attached too. I cant really explain it well, but you know when you really want two characters in a movie or book to be in a relationship and for some people two boys being in a relationship isnt the one they fancy. Thats fair enough though.

Also, i think owens reaction was about the same to what eli saw in the bedroom. But maybe i will have to re watch. There is also all the times abby says she is not a girl...she could refer to being a vampire, but i really doubt it. Because you are still a girl even if you are a vampire. I think she called herself "nothing" because she was castrated, removing her manhood and making her neither boy or girl. But i like how they directed it, because if you wanted Abby to be a girl then you could say she is one or a boy. They left it to what the viewers would feel more connected to. I think Abby mostly identified herself with a girl regardless of what she was born as.
well...sorry for the ramblings.

[DavidZahir]

There are times Chloe Grace Moretz looked a bit androgynous--when Owen gave her the rubiks cube for example--but for most of the film she looks very much like a girl. Lord knows she looks anything but boyish in that white outfit 'borrowed' from Owen's mother.

[lombano]

Welcome, missyxxmischa!

I think Owen's smirk after the peek scene is actually the most solid evidence of Abby being a girl - this reaction makes no sense if she's a boy, castrated or otherwise. Contrast with Oskar's shocked reaction. You're right that she appears to be androgynous in some scenes, but that merely shows Abby to be a sometimes androgynous girl. Plus, in the deleted scene she appears to be female.

Just fyi--and as an example of how the exact same thing can look different--I do not believe Abby was sexually raped in the "Be me a little" flashback. Rather, she seemed to be attacked by a vampire.

The two aren't incompatible. Plus, we know CGM played Abby as a rape victim, and the film has a 'puberty/sexuality gone wrong' theme so the rape imagery of the flashback is no accident (if vampirism is an allegory of puberty gone wrong and pathological sexuality, a rape/bite combo makes a lot of sense). In fact, seeing the flashback alone, without context, the natural conclusion would be that it is a rape scene, and even in context the only concrete indication that it's about anything other than rape is Owen reaching for his neck.

[gymmy64]

...we know CGM played Abby as a rape victim, and the film has a 'puberty/sexuality gone wrong' theme so the rape imagery of the flashback is no accident (if vampirism is an allegory of puberty gone wrong and pathological sexuality, a rape/bite combo makes a lot of sense). In fact, seeing the flashback alone, without context, the natural conclusion would be that it is a rape scene, and even in context the only concrete indication that it's about anything other than rape is Owen reaching for his neck.

I initially didn't think a rape was taking place, but I understand why so many perceive the scene that way. It definitely feels like a violation (which it is), so I'm not surprised that some viewers believe she is being raped instead of "just" being brutally turned.

When LTROI first came out (and probably to this day), there were so many people insisting that Eli was a girl, no doubt about it. No way Eli could be boy, no matter what was shown in that 2 second scene. I thought it was funny when LMI was released and then there were people insisting that Abby was definitely a boy, no doubt about it.

Personally, I believe Abby to be a girl, not because I want her relationship with Owen to be a typical boy-girl situation, but because the film doesn't really give you a reason to suspect Abby isn't a female, unlike the Swedish film. Otherwise, I'd have to suspect every girl who, say, wears a hoodie in a film of possibly being a boy.

[intrige]

personally i believe that chloe moretz was very androgynous in the movie. A lot of other reviews i have read about the movie commented on it as well. Sometimes i think people are too set on wanting Abby to be a girl, just so that they can have a girl/boy pairing to.....like....moon over or become attached too. I cant really explain it well, but you know when you really want two characters in a movie or book to be in a relationship and for some people two boys being in a relationship isnt the one they fancy. Thats fair enough though.

Also, i think owens reaction was about the same to what eli saw in the bedroom. But maybe i will have to re watch. There is also all the times abby says she is not a girl...she could refer to being a vampire, but i really doubt it. Because you are still a girl even if you are a vampire. I think she called herself "nothing" because she was castrated, removing her manhood and making her neither boy or girl. But i like how they directed it, because if you wanted Abby to be a girl then you could say she is one or a boy. They left it to what the viewers would feel more connected to. I think Abby mostly identified herself with a girl regardless of what she was born as.
well...sorry for the ramblings.

I have a feeling that Reevs just says that to be more.. LTROI-ish. Seriously. I view Oskar and Eli - Owen and Abby as two comepletelly different Caracters in simelar situasions. Abby is more girl, mor fememnine, looking more like a girl, she even has a hint of breasts, no boys have that. Lina had that too, but THEY HID IT. If Reevs wanted Abby to be a 'nothing' they would have done more to make her one. Owen is also much more wimpy and he cried like a baby. (If you look at both Oskar's crying scene and Owen's. You'll see what I mean. Oskar is kinda holdning it in, silently. Owen is pushing them out, buhuh, kind of way.) - That's how I see it. And Eli, sweet Eli is what I call a 'nothing' very much compared to Abby. Lina am a very femenine person and tried to play smiles and swinging arms and smiles as much as she could with the Eli caracter because she is that way herself (I am sure of) They also had open casting for yoys for the role for Eli. Were there any boy casts for Abby? Pluss, Abby is an American girl's name. Even the name Eli is for both boys and girls, here in norway. Must be in sweeden too. He never really said Elias in the movie, so Eli could work anyway.

So I do not thing Abby is a castereted boy. By far. Reevs just added that to be more true to the book, I think he didn't really think it through. What it ment, cause what it really ment didn't fit the Abby character at all. Sigh. I sometimes get mad at that guy. But then again, LMI aint the worst movie either. Some good stuff too.