Posted by
Chris Lee Reyes on Friday, June 20, 2008 10:50:37 AM
By Chris Lee Reyes
Blood shatters all over an elevator floor, as an undercover cop gets blasted by a head shot from a crooked cop. Seconds later, brain particles splash throughout the elevator floor once again, artistically of course, as that crooked cop receives a bullet through his skull himself, right before subsequently executing another head shot just for “kicks.” Total number of bloody gunshots to the head, three, total lapse time of scene: 45 seconds.
This was a mildly violent scene from the Academy Award winning motion picture The Departed directed by Martin Scorsese, which is infamous for controversial and brutally- violent films. However, in comparison to recent films, the violence in The Departed is parallel to a Disney Classic.
Films such as “Hostel” and “Saw” glorify human torture; depicting gory, grotesque and inhumane scenes. They are, by every definition, cult classics of the modern age of horror film making. The following of this genre (for lack of a better term) is enormous. In fact, it has assimilated so effectively, that its themes have become culturally acceptable and a good source of entertainment.
“Family-fun” is gone, a new age of filmmaking is clearly making notice, I call it the “no-family, some buns, more guns” movement, where gory and sexually-explicit-driven movies atop the top ten list of almost every average Joe below the stratosphere, and yes, even those so-called Christians.
Moviegoers have been enthralled by violence for a long time in the history of American cinema. There’s no question about it. But today filmmakers have gone too far. Think about this for a second, is it wrong for one human being to applaud and cheer on an act of a vicious beheading or depraved bloodshed of another human being? Yeah , maybe if you were a part of the Mongol Empire in 1220 AD or part of rapper 50 Cent’s entourage, but, quite frankly, we’re in the 21st century folks, let’s be more civil.
Whose fault is it?
How can these films have been so ferociously marketed and distributed within our modern society, through the mediums of mass communication, in such a lightly manner? Is it Hollywood’s fault or is it our own violent human nature that helps these films become not only admissible but, seemingly, vital to our self actualization of American culture?
Don’t get me wrong, a movie without any action could be as boring as, say, a pep rally led by NASA engineers and a senior citizens’ chess club, but honestly, how far is too far. Nowadays, viewers have not only let these types of films integrate with our culture, they have permitted them to become the pure essence of entertainment. Which brings yet another question: Are traditional values in film being annihilated by Freddy Kruger films or the viewers that plead for them?
The American Psychological Association has stated in the past that violence is not a natural state, and it is heavily influenced by societal factors such as the media.
That being said, some may argue that before we were filming Indians we were killing them, so where exactly is the ultimatum. Well, if you feel wayward about it, then, let me point you to some commonsensical perspectives.
The fact is, one can’t help to agree with two very distinctive figures in world history, with amply different ideologies yet similar point of views, Sigmund Freud and Jesus Christ, when they pointed out that all humans are inherently malicious. Of course, Jesus established that first, but he wouldn’t brag.
I believe human nature is to blame too.
This makes human nature the culprit, and our soul the victim. And if that’s the case, then Hollywood is the cocaine trafficker, and gory movies are just ill-produced coca bushes.
Either way you look at it, one cannot help but see how society has truly departed from some of the imperative principles that distinguish us from brute beasts and total depravity, whether you decide to point at the manufacturer of the drug, or the drug itself, maybe you should consider a mirror first.