Line #17 YMMV/TheBlueLagoon


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3	[[folder:As a Whole]]
4	* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: The story can be interpreted as a sort of reverse {{Adam and Eve Plot}}. Two children are cast out of civilization and end up on an idyllic tropical island. Their closest equivalent to a parental figure forbids them from eating a certain fruit and gives them rules, justifying his authority by saying his word is the law. The children spend the next few years abiding by the 'law', not eating the fruit. Their innocence is therefore not lost during this period, even as they mate and have a son inside paradise. However, it's this same son who eventually casts them out of the island, even after they refused to return to civilization twice. After picking and supposedly eating the forbidden fruit, the son throws away their means of transportation and leaves them stranded at sea. Believing their son will die because he ate the fruit, the children are {{Driven to Suicide}} and eat the fruit as well... And only after they do, a boat finally finds them to return them to civilization.
5	* FirstInstallmentWins: The first book was the only one to get movie and theater treatments, and not everyone knows the writer had more stories to tell. Averted with the film versions: the third is the most well-known.
6	* {{Glurge}}: It praises innocent life in nature above society while ignoring the fact that their son would have to bury both parents and live on the island alone. Not to mention that any of them could die even earlier from a tropical illness without even the slightest medication, or that their boy, the offspring of two close relatives, could have been born with a weakness that made desert island life risky. The novel reveals that the island can quickly transform from a paradise to a harsh reality. Hurricanes are terrifying. Emmeline is aware of this from the start and is cautious.
7	* HardToAdaptWork: The novel delves into the psychological and emotional development of the characters, offering readers a nuanced exploration of their evolving relationship and the challenges they face in their isolated environment. Its enduring appeal lies in its exploration of human resilience, the discovery of love, and the ingenuity required to adapt to an unfamiliar environment. However, adapting the novel to other media presents challenges. Retaining the delicate balance between the innocence of the young protagonists and the mature themes of their experiences proves difficult, as does maintaining the novel's immersive and evocative portrayal of the idyllic island setting. Striking the right tone while honoring the novel's charm and depth can be a delicate task, making the adaptation process a considerable endeavor. Despite having top talent at his disposal, English filmmaker Herbert Wilcox failed to successfully adapt the novel to the screen in the 1930s. Creator/FrankLaunder’s [[Film/TheBlueLagoon1949 1949 film]] underwent significant screenplay modifications to comply with MediaNotes/TheHaysCode. [[Film/TheBlueLagoon1980 The 1980 film]] inevitably streamlined certain aspects of the story to make it more accessible to a wider audience, which may have left purists yearning for the intricacies and complexities found within the novel's pages.
8	* MainstreamObscurity: Despite inspiring three screen adaptations and a stage rendition, the novel remains unfairly obscure beyond devoted literary circles. The enchanting tale of survival, innocence, and love unfolds on a remote Pacific island where young protagonists Dick and Emmeline forge an unbreakable bond. While the screen adaptations and stage rendition attempted to immortalize the story, they struggled to achieve widespread recognition. Nevertheless, the novel's profound impact on readers endures, making it an enduring testament to the power of storytelling and the human spirit, awaiting discovery and appreciation by future generations beyond the confines of literary circles.
9	* NightmareFuel:
10	** Richard and Emmeline finding Paddy's dead body with a crab coming out of his decomposed mouth when they were children.
11	** Emmeline's nightmare of Richard dying in many ways (drowning, eating the poisonous "never-wake" berries, being found dead with a crab coming out of his mouth, eaten by a shark, etc) all with thunder crashing.
12	** Richard and Emmeline's son accidentally eating some of the "never-wake" berries. The thought alone of your child eating something poisonous and being unable to stop it or do something about it.
13	* TearJerker:
14	** Richard and Emmeline being separated from Arthur, the boy's parent and the girl's uncle, when they're just children.
15	** Richard and Emmeline discovering their caretaker Paddy has died from a drunken binge and they had to lean on each other for survival, starting from when they were just children on an unknown island.
16	** Emmeline falling ill from stepping on a stone fish and almost dying, prompting Richard to help her.
17	** Richard and Emmeline's child accidentally swallowing some of the poisonous berries he brought with them, and being unable to get him to vomit them up, they both decide to join their son in death by swallowing some of the same poisonous berries too.
18	** Richard and Emmeline's tearful last kiss, thinking they're going to die together along with their son [[spoiler: {{Averted}}, since they all survived anyway but still...]].
19	* ValuesDissonance: KissingCousins is frowned on today in most of the U.S., making the novel and its various film adaptations difficult to watch for its incestuous overtones. In other countries where this is more permissible, almost no one cares. This was also more common in the author's time, since marriage inside the family had features of a patriarchal way of life. First-cousin marriage was also very normal in Victorian times when the book was set, exemplified by UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria and her beloved Albert.
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21	[[folder:The 1949 film]]
22	* HilariousInHindsight: Harold French, who originated the role of Richard Lestrange on stage, would direct Creator/JeanSimmons in ''Adam and Evelyne''.
23	* ParodyDisplacement:
24	** The BeachKiss between Creator/BurtLancaster's Sgt. Warden and Creator/DeborahKerr's Karen Holmes in the 1953 film ''Literature/FromHereToEternity'' [[TropeCodifier which everyone has mimicked or spoofed]] was actually an allusion to a similar scene between Creator/JeanSimmons' Emmeline Foster and Creator/DonaldHouston's Michael Reynolds.
25	** The scene where a gang of evil traders attacks Creator/JeanSimmons' Emmeline Foster is more famous for being referenced in the 1988 film ''Film/TheAccused'', where a gang of criminals attacks Creator/JodieFoster's Sarah Tobias.
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27	[[folder:The 1980 film]]
28	* AntiClimax: Despite the teasing of a plot involving [[HollywoodNatives savage natives]] that commit HumanSacrifice on the other side of the island, nothing ever comes of it.
29	* AudienceAlienatingPremise: Critics (especially Creator/PaulineKael) called the film repulsive because they felt the movie was devoted to watching the sexual experiences of half-naked teenagers. The similarity of this film with erotica about the relationship between cousins also doesn't help.
30	* AudienceColoringAdaptation: People familiar with the novel had to contend with the negative critical reception the 1980 film had upon release. The novel indicates that Dick and Emmeline were both about sixteen or seventeen when they consummated their love and she had Hannah about a year later. Creator/BrookeShields was about fourteen when she played Em at the time of filming; Christopher Atkins was eighteen. Also, Emmeline's age was downgraded from 16-17 when she gave birth to their baby to around 14-15, a change probably caused by ExecutiveMeddling.
31	* BambooTechnology: In his [[https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-blue-lagoon-1980 review for the film]], Roger Ebert said, "It's a wildly idealized romance, in which the kids live in a hut that looks like a Club Med honeymoon cottage."
32	* BestKnownForTheFanservice: That the leading actors spend most of the film partly nude seems to be much better remembered than the storyline.
33	* CriticalDissonance: As already mentioned here, the film was extremely negatively received by critics; Creator/RogerEbert put the film on his "Most Hated Film List", and said it "made [him] itch" in his original review for it. However, this did not stop it from doing well at the box office and even now is considered a pretty sweet melodrama about first love.
34	* CultClassic: Despite the hatred from critics and the passing of a lot of time, this film is still a romance classic for many. In addition, it seems that it is popular with some people because of IncestYayShipping, although neither the book nor the movie has ever had any special emphasis on it. (It was written and takes place in Victorian times, when [[KissingCousins marrying your first cousin]] was ok).
35	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff:
36	** Apparently, the film is very popular among young Romanian men.
37	** Also in Brazil, but leaning more towards MemeticMutation status, due to [[AdoredByTheNetwork severe overplay by its biggest network]].
38	** The 1980 film adaptation is also unironically regarded in Hungary as one of the best classic movies of all time. Seems to have gained a lot of popularity in ex-Communist European countries, in particular, the remake was quite popular in Russia in the 90s as a "Paradise Hollywood love story."
39	* MainstreamObscurity: The movie is rarely aired on TV, due to its controversial content about underage nudity and sex, which can be seen as inappropriate, especially in the [=#MeToo=] era's focus on consent and sexual exploitation.
40	* MemeticMutation: In Brazil, the amount of overplay this movie gets from some of the most popular networks there caused the movie to go into this.
41	* {{Narm}}: It can sometimes be very difficult to take the children's quarrels seriously, as well as the behavior of the main characters being portrayed as innocent, though they are physically mature teenagers. Events being unrealistically idealized can also become difficult to accept. The point of the book, however, is that even after they mate and have a son, they remain innocent, due to their environment.
42	* NightmareFuel:
43	** The blood dripping down the sacrificial "God" shrine Emmeline discovers in the forests. (In the book this shrine is long abandoned and it's where Em and Richard first make love. The "stone man" gets knocked over in the hurricane.)
44	** Richard stumbling upon some of the island natives preparing an island sacrificial ritual with an enemy's head chopped off and blood spilling, prompting Richard to run off and look for the pregnant Emmeline who has gone missing. (This combines two episodes in the book, where Richard discovers the scene of a battle on the shore after it's all over and tries to describe it to Em, and later when Em leaves and he tries to find her.)
45	* OnceOriginalNowCommon: It is difficult to see nowadays why audiences considered the 1980 film so scandalous, shocking and almost pornographic when it first came out. However, sensual portrayal of sex between teenagers was completely new at the time -- not to mention the nudity of the actors, with Creator/BrookeShields being only about ''14 or 15'' at the time, requiring the usage of body doubles (Christopher Atkins was a completely legal 18 or 19).
46	* QuestionableCasting: Brooke Shields as Emmeline, given her age (14 at the time of filming) and her book counterpart's age (16 or 17 when she consummates her relationship with Richard). If the character's actress had been 18 like her co-star Christopher Atkins, there would probably not have been as much controversy over the erotic content in the film.
47	* {{Squick}}: The erotic content in the film, focusing on a [[KissingCousins taboo relationship]], was the main reason why critics reviled the film.
48	* {{Sequelitis}}: The sequel, which is [[SamePlotSequel effective more of a remake]], came out after ten years with Creator/MillaJovovich in the lead role and was completely crushed by critics, failing at the box office due to the almost verbatim quoting of the original film.
49	* VindicatedByHistory: The film was panned by critics during its release, but a gradual softening of the attitude towards sensuality and erotica changed people's views of it.
50	* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: The 1991 film was a bizarre case of marketing creating confusion as the original home video release of the film was promoted as being "family entertainment" despite it having sex scenes and nudity (not to mention being a sequel/remake of one of the most controversial films of the 1970s, controversial for the exact same reasons).
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Context YMMV / TheBlueLagoon