Enquiry

Moodboards

Loss of innocence in literature

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955)

This novel follows the life of protagonist Humbert Humbert, who after losing the girl he loved, became obsessed with physical relationships with girls aged 9-14. The portrayal of this is shown in his relationship with his step daughter Dolores, nicknamed Lolita. The book follows his early encounters, meeting Dolores, marrying her mother, the start of sexual abuse, Stockholm syndrome from Dolores and the inevitable fall. This book remains relevant to my project theme as many young girls today are subjected to behaviours far their senior through social media. Their naïveté is then lost through older men and women who take advantage of their innocence as was the case with Humbert and Dolores in ‘Lolita”

Loss of Innocence in Media

Bambi is a classic Disney film that tells the story of a young white tailed deer named Bambi as he grows up in the forest. Born to the Great Prince of the Forest, Bambi starts life as a curious and playful fawn. Tragically his mother is shot by humans in front of him and he is left to fend for himself. He quickly befriends other woodland creatures, including Thumper the rabbit, Flower the skunk, and a young doe named Faline.

As Bambi grows, he learns important life lessons about friendship, love, and survival.Through the lose of his mother and the sudden need to grow up alone, Bambi loses his innocence and matures.

Later, as an adult, Bambi must face new challenges, including rivalries for Faline’s affection and the dangers of man’s continued presence in the forest. Eventually, he proves himself by saving Faline and leading the forest animals to safety during a fire.

The movie ends on a hopeful note, with Bambi taking his place as the new Great Prince of the Forest, watching over the next generation.

This movie shows the loss of innocence through the killing of the protecter leaving the protected to fend for itself. The deers are gentle creatures by nature and this movie showed how the dangers of hunters affects the lives of these deers. As with “Lolita’, this theme remains prevalent today with many young people losing their protecters, or being mistreated by those supposed to protect. As with young deer, their naïveté leads to blind trust and as with Bambi some have to learn how live after losing that.

Loss of Innocence in Contemporary Art

Tracy Emin ‘My Bed: Everyone I’ve slept with’ 1998

Described as a ‘provocative sculpture’, Tracy Emin’s ‘My Bed’ explores themes of trauma and heartbreak using her own bed and surrounding memrobillia to represent the mental process she went through following the end of a relationship. Items within the sculpture included innocent things such as a pair of slippers or polaroids. These were then contrasted by empty vodka bottles, used condoms and cigarette butts, examples of a lack of innocence. While this piece doesn’t directly talk about the loss of innocence, its narrative is easily associated with the non innocent and it is that, that I am inspired by within this piece.