Somewhere early on in her daughter Brooke's career, Teri Shields seemed to have decided to make it as controversial as possible. Soon after Louis Malle's wonderful Pretty Baby, Shields again appeared in many nude scenes whilst still only a teenager, in this, The Blue Lagoon. Scoping the IMDb boards, I find the same plagues of 'How is this not child porn?!' cries that were present on Pretty Baby. But once again, I find myself having to disagree. Pretty Baby was not child porn in that it was historical, accurate, contextual and tasteful. The Blue Lagoon is not child porn because it is one of the most innocent movies I have ever seen.
Set in some unspecified period with Victorian-style clothing, young cousins Richard and Emmeline are shipwrecked on an island in the South Pacific with their sailor friend Paddy. He quickly teaches the children all he knows about survival and self-sufficiency, so when he drowns one night, they are well prepared. The kids grow up on the island, having built an amazing house reminiscent of several Robin Williams movies, and soon the curiosities of nature take hold.
What is interesting when watching this movie, is how much two Victorian kids with only eight or ten years' worth of socialisation really don't know. Ten-year-old minds occupy the bodies of strapping young Christopher Atkins and Brooke Shields, who still fight like kids, and believe in Santa, and when Richard finds Paddy's bones years later, he suddenly comes to realise that that's what he looks like inside. He hadn't known that what he'd picked up years ago was a human skull- a dead person.
They don't know what pearls are. They don't know what's in the barrel "that smells like the Captain's breath." And of course when they fall in love, they don't know how to express it.
It is this childlike naivete that makes the entire story so sweet and innocent. It shows nature in its purest form. Whether they ever get off the island isn't really the point, or shouldn't be, as this really is just a nice story. It's been totally slated by many, but The Blue Lagoon isn't bad, it's romantic and quite touching.
On the subject of the nudity: for one, it's natural, and again, innocent. There have been differing claims as to whether or not a double was used for 14-year-old Shields, and as a lot of the nude scenes do not show her face, it's easy to justify. But I can't help but wonder whether the makers just thought it easier to have Shields' face out of sight, and let her play all the scenes, rather than go to the effort of getting a body double. Just a thought.
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