It’s hard to say how many people really knew about Aileen Wuornos before the movie Monster came out in 2003, so it’s even more likely that people have no idea what her life was like before she went on a killing spree that eventually ended with her execution. There’s usually a huge argument that emerges when it comes to killers that are executed, as some people think that they deserve to be rehabilitated while others state that they had their chance. In Aileen’s case though she was adamant that letting her live would have been a serious mistake since she had nothing but hate left in her heart would go seeking violence again and again. According to her personal history, Aileen and her brother were abandoned as children, left with their alcoholic grandparents, and by the age of 11, she was already providing sex to obtain the things she wanted and/or needed. She was apparently kicked out of her grandparents’ home after her grandmother died and forced to live on her own in the woods as she continued to sell her body for sex. This is the kind of case when just reading about it, one might not get the entire scope but can easily surmise that Aileen and her brother were dealt a poor hand by some twist of fate that had no rhyme or reason to it.
Peyton List of recent Cobra Kai fame is going to be stepping into this role to take on the role of a young Aileen in American Boogeywoman, which will be the story of how Aileen first started out when it came to the trouble that would lead her to incarceration and execution. It’s fair to wonder what kind of look will be given to Peyton since Charlize Theron had to be given an entirely new look for Monster, but as far as acting ability goes it’s going to be intriguing to see if Peyton has the talent she needs to execute this role in a convincing manner. There’s no doubt that she’s been doing just fine in Cobra Kai and on other projects, but this feels like it’s going to be something different, a challenge that she might need to step up her game for in a big way since it’s a character unlike any she’s played at this point, even when taking into effect the character of Tory from Cobra Kai. Aileen sounds like she was a certified nightmare after a while and there’s not much doubt as to why. The frame of mind that Peyton is going to have to get into for this role feels like it will be taxing to the degree that she might need something to calm her down after each day of shooting, or perhaps seek mandatory therapy just to keep her on the level.
People are no doubt going to cite Aileen’s case by stating that she didn’t have a fair chance to develop lasting and caring relationships with her parents or her grandparents since she was abandoned and abused from a young age, and they’d be right. There are many times when people would argue that choice is still an important factor in any life since being able to tell wrong from right isn’t always the difference between being willing to commit a crime and deciding not to. Aileen was made out to be the type of individual that just didn’t care since she was out to get what she needed and she was going to do it in any way she needed to. That sounds heartless and cold, but one needs to look at her life and how it was shaped early on. Without a strong moral base to fall back on it’s likely that any person would become a creature of habit and would see morality as just another word in the dictionary. Thinking that Aileen was in fact a monster was a convenient way for many people to label her as someone that was a true danger to society since she wasn’t about to stop and she would take whatever chance and advantage she could to get through life. Hers was a complicated tale though since feeling sorry for her was difficult, but feeling that she was owed something long ago, a decent life, in fact, is hard to deny.
The argument over whether she was redeemable or not is something that was answered by Aileen since she knew that she was bad and she didn’t fight it. She’d embraced that darker part of herself by the time she was grown, and whether it was a survival tactic or something more is bound to be revealed in some way in this movie. Peyton has a pretty hefty responsibility on her hands at this moment, but there’s plenty of faith that she’ll make it happen.
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