My Kid Could Paint That - Documentary

[TranscendentalMom]

Has anyone seen this? I can't stop thinking about it. Do you think the Dad did help Marla with her paintings. My theory is that she was doing some cool stuff, it was sort of a surprise that they became worth money and then the Dad helped them looked finished. I don't think the mom realized what was going on. Fascinating story tho...

[TiredX2]

Wow, that looks totally fascinating.

I put it on hold at my library.

[travlr]

We watched that one recently and it was fascinating. I have to agree with you that dad is probably more involved then he is letting on. I have to think that the money and fame might have played a role in the potential deception. It seemed that the inability of the child to produce art while being filmed really influenced the opinion of the filmmaker. What do you think? The paintings were really amazing though regardless of the painter, though I have to agree with the filmmaker that the truth of the creator of the work does matter. I also keep thinking about it since my 4 yr old loves to create art and it's so wonderful at this age.

[LuckyMommaToo]

Just saw this and DH and I keep talking about it. The mother seems so sincere and seems to have her kids' best interests at heart. But the dad does come across as pretty shifty. I agree with a Slate article I just found that says she's a primitive, not a prodigy. She's pushing paint around, not really creating as an artist.

It'll be really interesting to see where she is in ten years...

-e

[AngieB]

I hope you don't mind that I'm going to revive this old thread. I just finished the movie and wow! I truely want to believe that Marla did all the painting but the 2 paintings that they filmed her doing are so different from all the other ones. The part in the film when the film maker was trying to film her painting and Marla said to her dad, "now it's your turn" and then she said "tell me what to do" was very telling. The dad also acted very weird about it like he was trying to cover it up. I feel bad for the mom, I think she got sucked into something that she could not control.

[Think of Winter]

I thought she had help. I really don't know anything about art, but I saw a pretty distinct difference between the paintings that she sold, and the ones that they filmed her making. It seemed that she didn't have the technical skills to produce them completely on her own, to be able to keep all those colors distinct. My guess is that she and her dad did them together, had fun selling them, and were stuck in a lie that they didn't know how to get out of gracefully. I wonder if the couple is still together, and how the wife felt about it all.

[Biscuits & Gravy]

I really want to see this, but had forgotten. Thanks for the reminder!

[mama_mich]

I'm gonna check it out myself but am sitting here thinking why would the father feel he needed to deceive. I think it would be even more amazing if they were to show some father daughter bonding type of thing. Look at what we painted together ya know. I'll check it out and come back.

I've recently realized I love docu's AGAIN!!

Maybe we should start the Docu club or thread!!

[cappuccinosmom]

I saw it a little while ago.

I think she had help. I'm not an art specialist, but I could see a real difference in the one's that she was taped doing, and the others. I felt really bad for the lady who bought the one picture under pressure. She obviously felt it was different and didn't like it as much as she liked previous ones.

I felt bad for the whole family. It kind of felt like they were in way over their heads. And particularly the mom who believed in her daughter but did not like the gallery shows and the selling.

[Storm Bride]

I haven't seen the documentary, and am just going from comments in this thread.

I have no idea if the girl did the paintings herself or not. I, however, wouldn't judge based on what her unobserved finished products looked like, vs. what she produced while being filmed. Some people (I'm one of them) are very sensitive to having people watch what they're doing. If someone is hanging over my shoulder, for any reason, my typing speed drops from 85-90 wpm to about 50, with more errors. I'm a reasonably good driver, but when I have an observer in the car, other than family (I'm used to them), my driving goes down the tubes. It's not quite the same as "test nerves" - I actually tend to perform extremely well on tests, if I'm left to just do my thing. It's about being watched/observed. I tense up and can't function anywhere near my usual level. To the best of my recollection, I've been like this my whole life, and I can't imagine having someone hover over me while I wrote a poem or anything like that. I'm mostly okay with people looking at the finished product - but I don't want people observing the process, whatever it is.

It seems possible, at least from what I'm reading here, that this little girl did do the paintings, but couldn't do the same thing while being watched/filmed.

[Mama Shifra]

I have not seen the documentary, but Alissa Quart wrote about Marla (who is from my former hometown of Binghamton, NY) in her book Hothouse Kids: The Dilemma of the Gifted Child; Quart mentioned in the book that the father was imposing his will on Marla (as filmed by 60 Minutes) more than he let on in his interview with Quart.

It was a facinating story!

[midnightwriter]

Originally Posted by Storm Bride

I haven't seen the documentary, and am just going from comments in this thread.

I have no idea if the girl did the paintings herself or not. I, however, wouldn't judge based on what her unobserved finished products looked like, vs. what she produced while being filmed. Some people (I'm one of them) are very sensitive to having people watch what they're doing. If someone is hanging over my shoulder, for any reason, my typing speed drops from 85-90 wpm to about 50, with more errors. I'm a reasonably good driver, but when I have an observer in the car, other than family (I'm used to them), my driving goes down the tubes. It's not quite the same as "test nerves" - I actually tend to perform extremely well on tests, if I'm left to just do my thing. It's about being watched/observed. I tense up and can't function anywhere near my usual level. To the best of my recollection, I've been like this my whole life, and I can't imagine having someone hover over me while I wrote a poem or anything like that. I'm mostly okay with people looking at the finished product - but I don't want people observing the process, whatever it is.

It seems possible, at least from what I'm reading here, that this little girl did do the paintings, but couldn't do the same thing while being watched/filmed.

I thought we wasn't supposed to be aware of the cameras. I wonder if some people would still feel "observed" even if they didn't know a camera was there.

But in this particular case other comment seem to be more telling.

[midnightwriter]

Originally Posted by mama_mich

I'm gonna check it out myself but am sitting here thinking why would the father feel he needed to deceive. I think it would be even more amazing if they were to show some father daughter bonding type of thing. Look at what we painted together ya know. I'll check it out and come back.

I've recently realized I love docu's AGAIN!!

Maybe we should start the Docu club or thread!!

This is a very good question. Why doing it together wasn't enough? I wonder if the first deceit happened accidently, and after that, there was no coming back...

[Ms Apricot]

I missed the first 10 or 20 minutes or so when this played on Australian t.v. a while ago, so I never did figure out who the other woman in the interview portions.

I thought it was fascinating and raised all sorts of issue aside from whether Marla had help with her paintings. It was interesting to think about how we deal with gifted children and child celebrities, and the industry that adults can't seem to help themselves from spinning off these children.