Dr. Jane featured on NPR show
Dr. Jane Aronson, WWO Founder and CEO, will be a guest on NPR’s “Tell Me More,” a nationally-syndicated public radio newsmagazine program, for a wide-ranging discussion on the “Orphan” movie. The interview will explore the film’s harmful perpetuation of stereotypes of orphaned children, and the impact on adoption. Dr. Aronson issued a press statement after attending a special movie screening on July 24, prior to the opening.
The segment will also discuss Hollywood’s portrayal of orphans. Ann Hornaday, Washington Post movie critic, will join Dr. Aronson as a guest on the show. Hornaday recently wrote a review of the “Orphan” movie.
The show will be aired on Tuesday, July 28 in New York City on WNYC (820AM) at 2:00 PM; and will be rebroadcast at 10:00 pm. Click here to listen to the show in your city.
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PRESS STATEMENT
WWO Worldwide Orphans Foundation
Dr. Jane Aronson Offers Reactions to Special Screening of Horror Film “Orphan”
The following press statement was issued by Dr. Jane Aronson, Founder and CEO of the Worldwide Orphans Foundation (WWO) in response to a July 22 screening of the movie, “Orphan”.
I had the opportunity to attend a special screening of the horror movie, “Orphan,” in New York on July 22, prior to its opening. Distributed by Warner Bros., ‘Orphan’ is about Esther, a 9-year-old adopted child who turns out to be evil and wreaks havoc on her new family.
Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine that Hollywood would produce such a horrific and violent film portraying a vulnerable orphaned child as a demonic murderer. I watched the film to the bitter-end and walked out of the theater feeling like one of Esther’s murdered victims. I was shaken to the core. As an adoptive parent and pediatrician who has cared for more than 7,000 orphaned children, to see such extreme violence perpetuated by a so-called orphan was beyond shocking.
The movie has a plot twist at the end -- Esther turns out to be “not who she seems to be”. But simply having a twist in the movie does not excuse the fact that the filmmakers use the concept of an orphan who carries out a murderous rampage against her adoptive family and schoolmates throughout the film. Esther’s demonic characteristics feed into the negative stereotypes that children who need families, particularly older children, are somehow damaged and violent, or a “bad seed". Millions of children around the globe become orphaned due to circumstances beyond their control. Why exploit the vulnerabilties of these parentless children?
Now that I’ve seen the film in its entirety, even with the twist, my perception has not changed about the movie. Some may say, “Relax it’s just a silly, horror flick, why be so politically correct?” But untold pain continues to be inflicted upon adopted children who see the trailer depicting an orphan as a monstrous, vindictive child. While that may not mean anything to some, for those of us who work with orphans, adopt them, and care for them, it is unacceptable, hurtful, and simply intolerable.
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Seeing the movie has furthered my resolve to draw attention to the plight of orphans around the globe. In a world with more than 130 million orphaned children, we need to focus our efforts on investing in sustainable solutions to ending the global orphan crisis, not wasting our time seeing a twisted movie exploiting some of the world’s most vulnerable children.
CONTACT: Shanta Bryant Gyan 646-290-8211• shanta@sbgcommunications.com
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