There has been a taboo against adult-child relationships and sex in almost every society throughout history. The age of maturity has varied, true, and marriages and betrothals happened with minors but the actual consummation if one of the parties was considered a child was frowned upon. I'm not saying it never happened but it wasn't the free for all some are making it out to be.

 

I'm not saying it was a free for all. My comment was more about the age gap; not the age of consent. After all, Beth is 18. (or close)

A 50 yr old guy with an 18 yr old lady wasn't that taboo. The concern was if the man could support her. Daryl could definitely support Beth in the ZA. His skills make him "rich" in a way.

 

My point was that there there has always been a taboo against grown adults with children. Whatever society deems "a child" is what matters. In our society an 18 year old is "legally" an adult but not a full fledged one so they're is a social taboo against exploiting them even though there may not be a legal one.

 

The dyed hair looks out of place. They should have left his natural color.

 

Bow Chicka Wow Wow!

 

I don't care what age Daryl is supposed to be, he looks over 40, his face is all puffy and he has bags under his eyes- he looks creepy next to Beth and that's not an image we should be giving to the audience- it makes him seem like a pedophile or a child molester, Daryl is supposed to be a good guy, let's not saddle him with being a pedophile.

 

The question is what is the age at which a woman was considered adult. In many societies, including Western, a girl was considered woman and could consummate the marriage when she was her first menstruation, with 13-15 years, or less.

In addition, the taboo against relationships with children (in this case I refer to children under 12-13 years) grew out of Christianity. In Greco-Roman society practices such as pedophilia, infanticide and abortion were not illegal (In the case of abortion, the pater familias was the one who decided, could force women to have abortions, but could kill her if she aborted without his consent. For the authorities this was a private matter in which there weren't getting into) Christianity sought to differentiate itself from those practices.

 

13 was young by Western standards of any time. 15, 16, sure but not 13. In the 15th century when Margaret Beaufort was married at 13 it was a huge scandal that her husband decided to consummate the marriage right then and there. It was not socially acceptable although it was technically legal. It caused an uproar at the time. Marie Antoinette's marriage at 14 took 7 years to consummate. That was way longer but the point still stands.

Even if marriages had to take place for political reasons it was expected that the husbands would wait until the girls were of an acceptable age. Even if that took years.

 

There was definitely some "awkwardness" in last night's episode. I guess I can see why people think they are going to "hook up", I just don't see it happening, especially considering

 

definitely. sometimes i hate the walking dead for doing that crap! wouldve liked axel and oscar to stay alive as well as the two hippies but whatever!

 

We're not talking about repopulating the earth, we're talking about a relationship and in a relationship age difference, monogamy, and etc shouldn't be completely ruled out.

 

I'm not even sure there's that big of a social taboo with an older man dating an 18 yr old.

It happens all the time with men of high status.

 

R U Kidding me? If the real ZA happens human nature would take it's natural course. This means people wouldn't really get the luxury of being picky about their relationship partners. You would even see 20-30 year olds finding love with very young teens.. Daryl & Beth would make sense because it's realistic. Two lonely people depending on eachother for support, it would be bound to happen.

 

Daryl and Beth are fine with me..I think she makes him happy. I did think they were a bit like brother and sister for a minute there ,even the hand holding, and piggy back , until they talk about him thinking there still were good people around..and she said" Don't" hmmm" what did you mean" and he looks at her and she just says " oh" but still they could just be close friends... I am soo worried about Beth right now.. I have heard some things that might happen to her...

 

Does anyone know where I can read the actual dialogue/subtitles to this episode? Especially the scene between Daryl and Beth in the kitchen just before the walkers turned up. I found it really hard to follow the conversation and Daryl has a habit of mumbling his words....

 

Before this episode I didn't really mind either way about the potential relationships for Daryl. Probably thought that Carol was a bit more appropriate for him, age and maturity-wise, but I didn't give it much thought. Would skip over the "shipper" arguments. Didn't care.

Until this episode.

And that stupid, stupid scene with Daryl and Beth in the funeral parlour house kitchen. Actually before that. Holding hands in the cemetery + the piggy-back + her singing (bleergh) + her INCESSANT babbling about "good people in the world" and then we are in the candle-lit kitchen and she is pestering him to tell her why he now thinks they should wait at the house and "make it work" if the residents return ("What made you change your mind? Tell me!").

The Daryl we all knew and loved would roll his eyes and tell her to go get some sleep instead of jabbering about things that don't matter. Instead he stares into her eyes for an excruciatingly long moment, until she "gets it". It's HER. She has changed him. "Oh" she says, and we're all supposed to hear the violins playing in the background. It made my stomach turn. It is just so wrong for this show; so beneath it's previous standard of writing, which seems to have melted away. Doesn't matter what you say about how social mores would change in a de-populated world, she's too young for him AND way too annoying.

Seriously, I am beginning to kind of hate this show and I once loved it. I despair of the ridiculous plot lines and what it does to previously good characters. The producers need to stop this sh*t. Show us they are messing with us and it's a red herring and get Daryl to say he thinks of her as the little sister he never had etc. Just end the teen-drama!

 

Wow, I actually cant believe this age debate crap is still going on. Beth isn't a child, she is a young woman. here's a quote from NR

“There’s definitely some tension there. The thing about it is, she’s a woman. She is not a little girl. Everyone grows up real fast in this world. Daryl, being a man, starting out was really child-like. There is an emotion; he makes a decision. A sort of distinctive honesty that kept him mentally in a non-grown-up situation. He had a mother that kept him down. He never really emotionally grew. He never learned how to be around people. And, then you have Beth who is the little sister who’s growing up really fast. Meanwhile she’s not a kid. She was a young farm girl. So, there is definitely some tension going on. It’s not just one layer of tension; it’s a whole bunch of tension. Circumstantial tension. It’s a very volatile episode. Stuff goes on for all of us, not just these two characters, but for all of us.”

- Norman reedus

If you think Daryl being with Beth would make him a child molester or a pedophile then you lose all credibility and I cannot take you seriously.

 

*pedo face*
Oh sorry, Yes, I mean wtf

I'm thinking it would be unrealistic not to portray things that happen very much like that in the real world.
Thou I can also agree that I've seen 'Dallas' coming more than once by now.
But you know it's coming, too...
Season 5 is for sure, 6 is in the pre-thinking stages and so long there's interest we will have a 7 and 8 and 9 and... I'll be dang right 70 years old before it's all over.

 

Personally I liked Axel, I thought he was quite interesting and could have become a pretty great character

 

Exactly, age is the last factor to consider in this scenario.... anyway younger women have married older men for years, just look through history, younger women had a better chance of surviving childbirth with no medical care, just look what happened to Lori. Even through history women married far younger than the age beth is now.
This might be a strange point but when I was visiting Bangladesh one time I was told that the legal age to marry for men and women was different (for men it's older than women) as men would have to have the capability to support a family before they marry. It's kinda the same in a ZA, a women would look for a guy who could offer her the best security and protection. As far as I'm concerned in a ZA, Daryl with his hunting and tracking skills and his ability to fight off walkers would be considered a prime catch.
Anyway I'm not saying that Daryl and beth will be together and will marry and have children, I personally don't want relationships like that just because at this current point in time I don't thing it is necessary to the story but I have no problem with it down the line. I just feel like age shouldn't be an issue.

I know, I don't may sense to myself half the time either ;p