...in the SME/Richard/Sophie household.
I'm kidding, of course - Friday nights around here are usually about as action-packed as spongebath day at the seniors' home. Richard's working, I cleaned the bathroom, and Sophie is exiled to her cage for chomping on chair rungs. Oh, and I watched this crappy B movie, Abduction, about Patty Hearst. At least, I thought it was about Patty Hearst, until I looked it up and discovered that even though it was released in 1975, Abduction was based almost entirely on a novel entitled Black Abductor by one "Harrison James", put out by an obscure and elusive San Diego publishing operation that specialized in erotica... over a year before Patricia Hearst was kidnapped.
Although Abduction contains some elements of the Hearst kidnapping, in both Black Abductor and Abduction a California co-ed named Patricia Prescott is kidnapped by a revolutionary group while making out with her boyfriend. This group, made up of men and women, is led by a black radical named Dory, who rapes Patricia and sends a ransom demand to her extremely wealthy, prominent father. Over time, Patricia grows close to the members of the group and enters into a consensual sexual/romantic relationship with Dory. In the end, she saves Dory's life by shooting two men who arrive to rescue her.
Though it borrows some details from the Hearst kidnapping, Abduction takes creative liberties with the "Prescott" family. Mr. Prescott is a complete sicko who grins lewdly while watching a film of his daughter being raped, and it is implied that Patricia Prescott had sexual relations with her brother (Patty Hearst had no brother).
While it's entirely possible that someone in the Symbionese Liberation Army got their hands on a copy of the novel and decided to use it as a blueprint for kidnapping/brainwashing an heiress, as Timothy McVeigh may have used The Turner Diaries as a rough guide for the OK City bombing, the similiarities between the novel/film and the actual abduction are eerie. As in the SLA, the fictional group is a combination of white radicals from middle-class, educated backgrounds and people with criminal pasts; one girl is a lesbian; the group models itself after South American extremists who used kidnapping and extortion to achieve political ends. The victim is an heiress and college student named Patricia, who has no personal background in politics or radicalism; her father is a famous and wealthy conservative; Patricia is kidnapped while half-naked and alone with her boyfriend, and the boyfriend is beaten; Patricia comes to identify with her captors so strongly that she takes part in their activities seemingly of her own volition.
The identity of the author of Black Abductor remains unknown.
I'm kidding, of course - Friday nights around here are usually about as action-packed as spongebath day at the seniors' home. Richard's working, I cleaned the bathroom, and Sophie is exiled to her cage for chomping on chair rungs. Oh, and I watched this crappy B movie, Abduction, about Patty Hearst. At least, I thought it was about Patty Hearst, until I looked it up and discovered that even though it was released in 1975, Abduction was based almost entirely on a novel entitled Black Abductor by one "Harrison James", put out by an obscure and elusive San Diego publishing operation that specialized in erotica... over a year before Patricia Hearst was kidnapped.
Although Abduction contains some elements of the Hearst kidnapping, in both Black Abductor and Abduction a California co-ed named Patricia Prescott is kidnapped by a revolutionary group while making out with her boyfriend. This group, made up of men and women, is led by a black radical named Dory, who rapes Patricia and sends a ransom demand to her extremely wealthy, prominent father. Over time, Patricia grows close to the members of the group and enters into a consensual sexual/romantic relationship with Dory. In the end, she saves Dory's life by shooting two men who arrive to rescue her.
Though it borrows some details from the Hearst kidnapping, Abduction takes creative liberties with the "Prescott" family. Mr. Prescott is a complete sicko who grins lewdly while watching a film of his daughter being raped, and it is implied that Patricia Prescott had sexual relations with her brother (Patty Hearst had no brother).
While it's entirely possible that someone in the Symbionese Liberation Army got their hands on a copy of the novel and decided to use it as a blueprint for kidnapping/brainwashing an heiress, as Timothy McVeigh may have used The Turner Diaries as a rough guide for the OK City bombing, the similiarities between the novel/film and the actual abduction are eerie. As in the SLA, the fictional group is a combination of white radicals from middle-class, educated backgrounds and people with criminal pasts; one girl is a lesbian; the group models itself after South American extremists who used kidnapping and extortion to achieve political ends. The victim is an heiress and college student named Patricia, who has no personal background in politics or radicalism; her father is a famous and wealthy conservative; Patricia is kidnapped while half-naked and alone with her boyfriend, and the boyfriend is beaten; Patricia comes to identify with her captors so strongly that she takes part in their activities seemingly of her own volition.
The identity of the author of Black Abductor remains unknown.
Source:
Intro to Abduction: Fiction Before Fact by Al Ellenberg (Grove Press, 1974)
2 comments:
Sounds interesting and thanks for the help.i have no idea what I did wrong.
Check your Facebook mail. I wanna be your friend. ;)
Post a Comment