Posted by Unknown on 23rd Apr 2010

Innocence Defiled by Lizbeth Dusseau
Reviewed by Tobias Tanner

Have you ever taken a peek at one of those vintage blue movie sites on the Internet? If not, you should. What will be immediately apparent is that the digital revolution isn’t showing us anything new, but rather showing us old things in a new way. And I defy you to look at those grainy 16 mm film conversions from the beginnings of movie making and not wonder who those people are. They might be your grandparents, ever think about that? Even if they aren’t, those folks were wild, and I mean wild. They would do anything for those cameras. And if that isn’t sexy, then I don’t know what is.

Innocence Defiled is a story about how some of those films might have come into being. It follows a callow young girl named Violet who wants to be an actress. She is drawn into that world of crude blue movies that we look back on today with such fondness. Violet Atherton makes concessions to follow her dream—too many concessions, as it happens. Or does she?

They give her a hundred dollars after filming her defloration, and then they take her to Mexico to film a rape movie. Violet gets herself a little drunk for that one, but the alcohol does more than soothe her jangled nerves. It releases her libido, and the secret submissiveness that she carries inside. Will Violet Atherton reach stardom? Will she attain wealth and fame? Will she find true love? Well, what do you think? And while you’re thinking, read along as our budding actress is spanked and raped and violated in any way imaginable (at least any that she can imagine, and quite a few that she can’t).

I liked Violet. As the title implies, she is an innocent, but that is only to begin with. There is an intrinsic bravery to her that compels me. Violet has backbone. She is willing to try, and to try again. And she is willing to face the changes that others make in her. Young women today would look to the talk shows for guidance. They would whine and complain. And they would fail where Violet succeeds. She takes her licks and learns from them.

She’s the kind of woman who makes me want to be smarter and stronger and wiser—the kind I’d want to keep, a good, old-fashioned girl, maybe one like my grandfather had—or maybe your grandfather. Next time you see a couple of gray haired folks holding hands at the grocery and smiling at each other, ask yourself this question: Is that Violet Atherton? You never know. She could be.