Post 1, Group B: Beneath Human Cruelty, Intention, and Innocence by Kathleen Paxtor

“An American Crime” truly opened my mind into looking at the depths of how intentionally cruel humans can truly be under dire, psychological circumstances and how the loss of innocence can go beyond sexual tendencies. This movie is based on a true story over the murder Sylvia Likens. Sylvia (and her sister Jenny) were left in care with a lady named Gertrude. Both of Sylvia’s parents had to leave for work and decided it was best for their daughters to stay somewhere stable, but little did they know that they had made a deal with the devil. The deal Gertrude was that Sylvia’s parents were going to pay Gertrude $20 a week to take care of both Sylvia and Jenny Likens, instead of that they received Sylvia’s cold, dead body.

After Sylvia’s parents failed to pay one week, Gertrude goes from the ideal kind-hearted hostess to Satan himself. Little by little Gertrude starts to abuse Sylvia making her do the most perverse things. For example, Gertrude made Sylvia stick a glass Coke bottle into her vaginal area. From there it only got worse, Gertrude would strike Sylvia with every chance she would get and eventually held her captive in the basement. Gertrude let the abuse get so far that she would have teens come over and beat up Sylvia while Gertrude branded Sylvia with the words “I’m a prostitute”. I thought the way Gertrude was portrayed was really interesting. I believe that her circumstances drove her to an edge. The movie portrays Gertrude as a low-income woman who is trying to raise a large family by herself. She is seen washing people’s clothes to try and raise extra money to provide for her large family and deadbeat boyfriend. Throughout the movie there were many scenes where she mixed medicine and alcohol together. Her boyfriend would also beat her. I think that all the problems Gertrude had she projected onto Sylvia. There was a specific scene that really made me think about Gertrude's psychological and mental state. In the scene, Gertrude is on the floor cleaning and wiping down Sylvia after she had just received her beating, Sylvia was tied down and beaten by Gertrude herself yet seconds later Gertrude looked worried and acts nurturing. Scenes like this made me feel pity yet hatred towards Gertrude, because it made me wonder what was really going on with her. The way the director filmed the movie made me wonder if Gertrude was truly evil because of her circumstances or was she always evil at heart.

(the top picture is from the movie, bottom picture has the directors guiding the actors)

Sylvia lost her innocence not only sexually but also in life. She had to undergo things that should never be mentioned. She was stripped from her life at a young age and was thrown into a life of murderous torture. The directors’ play with this idea of cruelty and innocence throughout the whole movie and this can be seen through the locations they chose to portray.  In the opening scenes, the movie starts off with locations that stereotypically portray innocence. The first of the two locations was the carnival. This is where we meet Jenny and Sylvia Likens. When you think of carnivals you think of children, fun, food, and games. That is exactly how it is shown in the movie, with happy music playing in the background and the sound of children laughing; towards the end of the movie the perspective of this completely changes (we will come back to this). The next scene is located in front of a church. I found this interesting because this is where they meet Gertrude and her children. The church is supposed to represent values, honesty, and purity, which is the opposite of who Gertrude was or represented. In the end, Gertrude went against everything that would be considered as acting “godly”.

 At the end of the movie we go back to the carnival but this time it is somber. There is melancholic music playing in the background and Sylvia (now dead) trying to find peace with what happened. Sylvia gives a monologue where she says, “I’ve returned to the carnival, the one place I felt safe…with every situation God always has a plan. I guess I’m still trying to figure out what that plan was”. With those last words and last location we see the movie come to an end leaving with us questions of human cruelty, innocence, and the psychological perspective behind emotions.