I was having a conversation with @casdroid about the way in which they talked about Miles’ abuse throughout the film, and how they addressed it without ever explicitly stating it. Especially seeing as a lot of people seemed to miss these signs or mischaracterise Miles as a particularly “creepy” or aggressive child.
So I made a list of the way it’s presented and some key moments where Miles is clearly reacting to in a way that relates to his trauma and tried to explain them a bit!
Trigger warnings of course for discussion of abuse below the cut, and spoiler warnings for the content of the film, too.
- Miles follows Kate into the East Wing at night and tells her that she shouldn't be there. Both he and Flora are scared of what happens in that area of the house, so it's likely this is a response to past trauma there
- Throughout the film Miles is more tense around Kate than he is the other characters; which could definitely be read as being because he's nervous around an unfamiliar adult and general distrust of adult strangers
- Apologises and then tries to kiss Kate. It's as if he thinks that kissing her is an apology. I don't believe that was him wanting to kiss Kate at all, I think he just did what he thought was expected of him. Like that'd make up for him doing wrong, or it was a mechanism that’d get him out of trouble or appease Quint before
- "It's a strong animal. If you don't exert power over it, you'll never gain control."
This quote is clearly something that was said to Miles before. It definitely isn’t a coincidence that the children are referred to as “thoroughbreds” multiple times – it’s implied that he’s one of the ‘strong animals’ that were controlled
- Killing the fish seems particularly harsh but you can read the kindness behind it. He does it in the wrong way, yes, but he knows that’s Flora’s favourite fish, and he knows that the fish is going to die. He does the wrong thing, he does it without realising that Flora should not be there for that. But he does it because he doesn’t want it to hurt any more
- I'm less sure about this but asking "will you keep me and Flora safe?" it really seems like Miles has been protecting Flora from this for a long time. She trusts him entirely to keep her safe
- Screaming that he'll kill Kate if she doesn't stop the car. He's so desperately trying to protect Flora from harm and making sure that people listen to her signs of distress. This has to be from past experiences of being ignored
- Miles is aggressively protective over Flora and won’t even let Kate anywhere near her when she’s upset. He’s her brother, it’s expected that he’d want to protect her but he does this to such a huge degree that it stands out
- The entirety of the drum scene. Someone forces him to talk about Quint and he starts playing the drums, angrily drowning out any talk of his abuser. Kate fails to read this as him freaking out. little ticks in his hands in those scenes too
- They half quote the book at one point; when they say that Quint had control over the house. In the book they say that Quint took control over the house, that "he did what he wanted?" And when the Governess asks "With her [Jessel]?", Mrs Grose replies "With all of them." So this parallel seems deliberate
- This one maybe I'm looking too much into but both Flora and Miles ask "bad dreams?" in the same tone. Flora finishes this by sleeping with Kate so as to make her feel safe, and I feel like she picked that up from Miles. Like Miles was worried about Flora so he'd go and sleep with her to keep her safe if she was scared
- “I can’t leave. He won’t let me leave.” Followed by “How long until he hurts Flora?” causing Miles to actually decide to get out of the house. It’s obvious that he’s been trying to keep her safe for a long time and that’s the only thing that’ll convince him to go
Other Occurrences:
- Quint took Miles out to the pub and got him drunk
- "He used to take Miles and disappear with him for hours. He used to be such a sweet boy”
- All the parallels drawn between his experience and Miss Jessel’s
“Stan?” Richie let himself into the Uris’ house, as he often did. “Stan my man?” Usually, Stan would hear him from his bedroom window, the wheels from his bike upsetting the gravel underneath them, and he would come down to greet his boyfriend. When he didn’t get any response, he kicked off his shoes and carefully walked up the stairs. The thought that he got his days mixed up briefly crossed his mind, but he was certain that today was the day. The day Stan got his bandages removed.
Stan’s door was slightly open, and Richie could see his body on the bed, curled up and underneath a blanket. Richie gently knocked on the door, calling his name again softly.
“Go away.” Stan’s response was muffled and Richie, ignoring what he said, moved through the doorway.
“You should know it’ll take more than that to get me to leave.”
“Please go away?”
“Nope.” Richie sat down next to him, the bed sinking a little under him. “C’mon, what’s wrong?” He knew it had to do with his wounds, the bite marks that surrounded his face, but he still asked.
“They’re so bad, Rich.” Stan sighed after a moment.
“I hear scars make a guy hot, actually.” Richie tried to make Stan laugh, but instead he only got a groan. And he could practically hear the eye roll. “Let me see.”
“No.”
“You can’t stay like this the whole time.” He poked at Stan’s back for emphasis.
“Yes, I can.”
“Stan.”
There was a moment of silence between them, before Stan removed the blanket from over his head. His curly hair was tousled and his eyes were red and puffy, with faint streaks of tears across his cheeks. He sat up on the bed, his eyes cast downward as he let Richie look him over.
The bite marks were healing well, or at least Richie assumed. They were definitely better than when Richie first saw them. Some of them were still scabs and surrounded with red from agitation; others were already beginning to fade into scars. He couldn’t explain why if someone asked him, but Richie gently placed his hands on the sides of Stan’s face and kissed a scar on his forehead.
“Richie,” Stan began, but Richie kissed another one.
And another one. He kissed every single scar and scab, and when he finished he pulled back and looked at Stan’s face again. Stan’s eyes were welling up with tears, and he took a shaky breath.
“I was right,” Richie said with a lopsided grin. “Scars do make a guy hot.” Stan, despite himself, broke out into a smile, a tear falling from his eye.
“Oh my god, shut up.” He laughed, moving forward to wrap his arms around Richie. Richie held him close, squeezing slightly, and made a promise to himself that he would never let anything hurt Stan again.
Dear @casdroid happy birthday to you! I hope you enjoy your present. It means a lot to me to be able to reveal my gift on your birthday. I really hope you‘re having a good day! I appreciate you very much me la. :)
i just realized that i didn't actually describe what my crushes are like, i just said i yearn for multiple people and now i seem like a big hoe :(
in this house we support yearning and do not assume people are hoes for having multiple crushes but we also do support hoes in this house so there’s that. i’m sure your crushes are very lovely people!!! just like you are :pleading:
the end of all things (patd), in our bedroom after the war (stars), and kill all your friends (mcr) yes the first two are because of IT but you shouldnt point it out
5. three songs you wish you could forget (because listening to them hurts)
ohhh boy. hm okay. i would never want to forget these bc i love being sad but desert song (mcr), how to never stop being sad (dandelion hands), and saturn (sleeping at last)
11. three favorite songs from movie or TV series soundtrack
DESOLATION ROW (mcr), wild heart (bleachers), and happy together (gerard way)
gonna double this one bc fuck it i listen to some scores too so! goodbye gravity falls (brad breeck), interstellar - main theme (hans zimmer), and nothing lasts forever (benjamin wallfisch)
