Sin City

[Clint]

With the news of Pope John Paul II's death dominating the weekend news, moviegoers appear to have vindicated recent accusations that America is plagued by a "death culture", a charge made by President Bush in reference to the Terry Schiavo case, by flocking to the ultra-violent Sin City.

The movie grossed $28.1 million this weekend. It seems we here in America are caught up in a culture of death. Even The Passion of the Christ was focused on his death. I'm hoping I'm wrong.

[anastrophe]

Originally Posted by Clint

With the news of Pope John Paul II's death dominating the weekend news, moviegoers appear to have vindicated recent accusations that America is plagued by a "death culture", a charge made by President Bush in reference to the Terry Schiavo case, by flocking to the ultra-violent Sin City.

The movie grossed $28.1 million this weekend. It seems we here in America are caught up in a culture of death. Even The Passion of the Christ was focused on his death. I'm hoping I'm wrong.

it's just a movie.

[Clint]

Originally Posted by anastrophe

it's just a movie.

Yup, just an extremely violent movie. Bruce Willis rips a guy's penis off in it. Doesn't our taste for entertainment say something about us?

[Lon]

I don't know Clint if it's a death culture thing or more just an increasing appetite for violence. Think the auto racing fans just love to watch cars go round and round? Or boxing and wrestleing fans into technique? Nah---they want to see BLOOD & GUTS.

[Clint]

Originally Posted by Lon

I don't know Clint if it's a death culture thing or more just an increasing appetite for violence. Think the auto racing fans just love to watch cars go round and round? Or boxing and wrestleing fans into technique? Nah---they want to see BLOOD & GUTS.

So, just because we've always liked "blood and guts" it's okay? Don't you see our apitite increasing for violence and death?

[Lon]

Originally Posted by Clint

So, just because we've always liked "blood and guts" it's okay? Don't you see our apitite increasing for violence and death?

I didn't say it was OK Clint. I said the same thing you did, that our appetite is increasing for violence. And I might add, it's in direct proportion to the exposure via film, TV etc.

[anastrophe]

Originally Posted by Clint

Yup, just an extremely violent movie. Bruce Willis rips a guy's penis off in it. Doesn't our taste for entertainment say something about us?

let me put it this way. way back in 1972, i saw the movie The Valachi Papers. I was twelve years old, well below the age i should have been let in, as it was rated 'R'. but just as now, it's not much enforced. i don't remember the plot, but it was a gangster/mafia film, and at one point, a woman wants a man killed, and wants the henchment to bring her his penis. they do. the scene where they cut it off was not directly graphic, but the actions were well 'implied' and quite horrendous. it was enough to be certainly disturbing at twelve years old.

33 years ago. now, does our taste in entertainment say something about us? not really. the technical skills available for realistic depictions are certainly better (haven't seen Sin City so don't know how they handled their turn on things). but it really is 'same as it ever was'.

what's peculiar is that i just finished watching 'Grey's Anatomy'. one subplot dealt with a woman who was severely beaten by a rapist - and she somehow managed to bite off and swallow the assailant's penis.

so apparently this is removable penis evening. not exactly what i'd had in mind, to say the least.

[anastrophe]

Originally Posted by Clint

So, just because we've always liked "blood and guts" it's okay? Don't you see our apitite increasing for violence and death?

appetite increasing for violence and death != [is not equal to] appetite increasing for depictions of violence and death.

there has been an appetite for depictions of violence and death (and horror and carnage and destruction, et al) since time immemorial. stories around the tribal fire. the paintings of Bruegel or Goya or countless others. We've all seen the moment JFK died probably a hundred times, in slowmo, the cloud of pink and red above his head, General Nguyen Ngoc Loan's execution of a viet cong prisoner in 1968, caught on film as he shot him at point blank range in the side of the head. i was eight years old when i saw that on the evening news.

there is nothing new under the sun.

[Jika]

Originally Posted by Lon

Think the auto racing fans just love to watch cars go round and round? Or boxing and wrestleing fans into technique? Nah---they want to see BLOOD & GUTS.

I concur with Lon on this point, however, I would argue that peoples morbid fascination with death, violence and maiming is not some kind of atavistic phenomenon of increasing magnitude.

It is, as it has been for centuries, just another aspect of human nature, or the human psyche.

Think of the carnage and mayhem enjoyed by people at the Roman Colosseum thousands of years ago.

It would seem we have not evolved that much at all.

[koan]

If you'll recall, people used to "flock" to public executions. There always has been and always will be a grim fascination with death and torture.