Ezra Klein: Pick Your Perversion

« Link of the Day: Gore Love | Main | Let's Hope »

January 18, 2006

Pick Your Perversion

It's not that no one has noted that our puritanical, squeamish culture is perfectly accepting of physical sadism and brutality before, but rarely do you see the disconnect so starkly illustrated. So here's a question for the parents in the audience: would you rather your kid absorb the grisly torture scenes and meaningless violence of Hostel, or the fairly standard family-values message of Transamerica? Is there a belief that children are better equipped to mentally marginalize fantasy violence than sexual ambiguity? And if so, why?

January 18, 2006 | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c572d53ef00d8342cb6be53ef

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Pick Your Perversion:

Comments

Why do you think parents want their kids to see Hostel at all? Isn't it rated R? As far as Transamerica goes, I don't know much about it. But what little I know doesn't scare me...thekeez

Posted by: Jeff Keezel | Jan 18, 2006 11:09:58 AM

Come on, Ezra, family violence is a family value, as any divorce lawyer, social counselor, or state judge will testify to.

The secrets of family sexual practices are well hidden however (except for the occasional really nasty divorce action made public, or child abuse proceeding that makes the news).

The gore is also quite available on TV/cable. CSI, CSI-Miami, CSI-New York, Law & Order-Special Victims, etc. are all over the spectrum. Don't you love the closeup autopsy views in CSI, with the clinical dialogue and cynical comments to go along with it?

As a non-parent, I really can't quite understand how teens are not forbidden to see Hostel, unless as prep for entering military service and being shipped to Gitmo, Iraq or Afghanistan. Torture, sadism, etc. are just necessary ways of preparing people for interrogation ("softening them up"), according to Bu$hCo, and we do believe our President, don't we?

/snark

Posted by: JimPortandOR | Jan 18, 2006 11:21:10 AM

I thought the Golden Globes were a hoot!

Winners are picked by foreign journalists and not by the viewing public.....and what did they pick?

Brokeback Mountain - a 2 hour homosexual indoctrination film.

Transamerica - a touching story about another pervert that is confused and wants to be a woman.

Capote - Yet another story about a homosexual.

Syriana - A slam at America.

Well, it's nice to know what foreign journalists feel is important.

Posted by: Fred Jones | Jan 18, 2006 12:15:06 PM

Fred, you forgot Weeds (pro-drugs) and Commander in Chief (pro-Hilary) and Elvis (pro-sandwich eating while sitting on crapper).

Come to think of it, pretty much everything could be considered anti-American if you look long and hard enough.

Posted by: shingles | Jan 18, 2006 1:39:14 PM

Proof is in the pudding and the best measure of success is in the boxoffice receipts. Good luck to them.

Posted by: Fred Jones | Jan 18, 2006 3:04:35 PM

The wife and I saw Brokeback over the weekend. It was quite good, not at all what I expected. I like alot of Ang Lee's stuff anyway, and Brokeback certainly has some of the hallmarks of his work. The movie has already more than doubled its money, so it's doing pretty well. It is still playing at the indy theater here and hasn't even started at the big movie complex.
Fred, you will be really disappointed to hear this, but there ain't no butt secks in it.

Posted by: sprocket | Jan 18, 2006 3:15:25 PM

Then why were both Cinderella Man and the Great Raid films flops, despite being given the Michael ("its cool to be a conservative") Medved stamp of approval.

Declining box office receipts are a result of systemic shifts in the entertainment industry, not a result of Hollywood liberalism.

Posted by: shingles | Jan 18, 2006 3:35:27 PM

The wife and I saw Brokeback over the weekend.

Did you wife way he liked it too?

Posted by: Fred Jones | Jan 18, 2006 4:00:10 PM

I must say... I'm uneasy about arguments like this.

I can't say way, but I think that there is a certain value to depicting violence, horror, grief, and even senseless sadism on the silver screen.

I don't think there's any value whatsoever to these things in real life, mind you, but in film, it's different. Maybe I'm just too much part of the generation that grew up with Doom, Quake, etc to be a good little progressive about this, but like it or not (and I'm definitely on the "not" side here), violence, horror, grief, and sadism are all part of the human experience, as much as sensuality, eroticism, and all those other (comparatively) wholesome things.

I think that condemning a certain part of the human experience as being too perverse and demoralizing for cinema would leave film in some ways dead, flat, and neutered. I don't want to do that to sex on screen, and I don't want to do that to violence on screen either.

Now, there might be better and worse ways of portraying the human experience. Violence can be portrayed without being glorified, etc. I don't really know what to think about this, but for more, see Lance Mannion.

Posted by: Julian Elson | Jan 18, 2006 4:07:45 PM

The whole violence > sex thing is indeed disturbing. I also don't think that legitimate expressions of either should be squelched, even if there are radically different definitions of what "legitimate" is. I will not see movies that I consider to be inappropriate, nor will I allow my children to do so. In terms of whether movies such as "Brokeback" or "Hostel" should even be allowed, I lean toward getting rid of Hostel. But then, I don't think that seeing homosexuality portrayed in a sensitive and thoughtful way is somehow worse than having my kids become desensitized to the worst types of torture and violence possible.

But then, the same people who think Hostel is fine and Brokeback is not are those who think that real-life torture is a-ok. It is interesting that these people use "nuclear weapon ticking away in the center of New York" scenarios in order to justify their bloodlust - something that exists only in formulaic Hollywood movies.

Posted by: Stephen | Jan 18, 2006 7:35:56 PM

I don't think that seeing homosexuality portrayed in a sensitive and thoughtful way is somehow worse than having my kids become desensitized to the worst types of torture and violence possible.

Agreed. It isn't an either/or choice. They are both horrible examples of the worst society has to offer.

Posted by: Fred Jones | Jan 19, 2006 9:09:31 AM

Side note: I thought Cinderalla Man was excellent.

But seriously, I will not see Hostel because the very idea of it sickens me. I would hope parents would restrict their children from seeing it. This of course, says nothing that there is no reason for any theather not to show such films.

Posted by: Adrock | Jan 19, 2006 2:18:49 PM

So much hate over where someone puts their weewee. That behavior seems so irrational to me.

Posted by: Adrock | Jan 19, 2006 2:25:09 PM

So much hate over where someone puts their weewee. That behavior seems so irrational to me.

Yeah, the pedophiles say the same thing...

Posted by: Fred Jones | Jan 20, 2006 2:48:46 PM

Except that pedophiles usually have partners who can't give their consent, and homosexual rape(outside mens' prisons) is much rarer than the heterosexual variety, the latter usually done by guys who are 'straight'.

Posted by: The Dark Avenger | Jan 21, 2006 10:53:25 PM

..and your point? Queer is as queer does.
It's a free country, though and you can be just as gay as you please. What I don't want is the forced redefining of marriage....and the voters have overwhelmingly agreed.
good luck with your "lifestyle"...

Posted by: Fred Jones | Jan 22, 2006 5:25:34 PM

vplhu gokewa qjwgr switubx pwcorhkey awigpcu gpiqkdoj

Posted by: ezojw hsraio | Jul 5, 2007 8:55:37 PM

仓储笼
 仓储笼
 折叠式仓储笼
 仓库笼
 南京仓储笼
 上海仓储笼
 北京仓储笼
 广州仓储笼
 杭州仓储笼