This isn’t child’s play

I EXPECT more of Hollywood’s hometown newspaper than providing cover for industry apologists [“ ‘Hounddog’ Finds a Home” by Susan King, Sept. 14].

A schoolteacher who presented the material in the script to a sixth-grade class would almost certainly be terminated and probably prosecuted.

Dakota Fanning spent seven weeks of living this part in North Carolina, a state with no laws to protect kids in entertainment. Its film commission brags about this absence.

What’s happened to the footage that was shot but doesn’t appear in this version of “Hounddog”? Heavily edited footage means that there is more to this experience than will ever be seen, yet Dakota was there. She did the work, acted out the part, and she was not yet a teenager.

Look at the person beneath the character, please. Consider the history of Jodie Foster, whose stalker nearly killed our president, or Brooke Shields, who was the victim of a stalker for nearly 20 years.

Think about the internal workings of a gifted young actress whose job is to make you “believe.”

Dakota Fanning will be affected by this experience her entire life. We can do without this movie.

Paul Petersen

Gardena

Petersen, who was a child actor himself, is the founder of A Minor Consideration, a nonprofit organization that looks to improve conditions for child actors.