A resurfaced essay written by the director of The Drama, Kristoffer Borgli, is gaining attention on Reddit. Users have scanned an article from D2, a lifestyle and culture magazine in Norway that is similar to The Wall Street Journal.
In the essay, published in 2012, Borgli wrote about his romantic relationship with a 17-year-old high school student. He was 27 at the time. Although the age of consent in Norway is 16, the age gap is still drawing concern from readers.
The original text, which was written in Norwegian, has been translated by The Hollywood Reporter. Borgli said, “The term ‘May-December’ is explained here as when the age difference between two people in a relationship is so large that it risks social disapproval. The reason I know this is I met a girl ten years younger than me whom I liked very much – a girl who wasn’t old enough to vote – and I had to find something that could recalibrate my moral compass.”
Borgli went on to speak about different films with age gap relationships like Lost in Translation, which was filmed when Bill Murray was in his 50s and Scarlett Johansson was a teen.
He stated, “But it was revisiting Woody Allen’s Manhattan that completely changed my attitude. The relationship there is presented as entirely open and romantic. If a film made in 1979, in which Woody Allen’s 42-year-old character has a public relationship with a 17-year-old girl, is portrayed exclusively in a positive way and causes no controversy in its own time, then why shouldn’t my relationship – with a considerably smaller age difference – in 2012 be ‘within bounds?’ I chose to listen to Woody over my friends.”
The response on Reddit has been overwhelmingly negative. Many users are calling the essay “disappointing,” including fans of his past work.
