[geeks] Very odd combination

[David Cantrell]

On Mon, May 13, 2002 at 09:40:36AM -0400, Kurt Huhn wrote:
> > > normally affected by mind-fuck movies.  There are two types of movies
> > > that I will walk out of: 1) portrayal of violence against women or
> > > children
> > I'm curious.  Why women and children, but not men?
> > No, let me rephrase that.  Any *rational* reason for hating such films?
> Not sure - it's an emotional response, not a rational or logical one. 
> It affects me, but I can't say why.  I suppose it's the father/husband
> reflex.  Violence against those without a method for fighting back
> sickens me.  Presumably, somewhere in my brain, my logic is telling me
> that men are more capable of fighting back.  

Fairy nuff.  What about violence directed at women who most definitely can
defend themselves, such as in Crouching Tiger Hidden Wires?  Or what about
the treatment of some women and children in The Patriot?  In the latter
film, it is only a few minutes of screen time, but sets up the characters
to perform great, heroic deeds which eventually lead to a far better world
for the survivors.  Indeed, it could be argued that the death of a child
and the savage treatment of women and children who were mostly innocent was
a price worth paying for the liberation of a nation.

> > >          2) *actual* pain/suffering/death.  Number one makes my blood
> > > boil, two just makes me sick...
> > Sometimes that's the point.  I can think of at least four pretty good films
> > off the top of my head which use real footage of actual pain/suffering/death.
> > In all four cases, they do it for a reason, not just for jollies.
> > (Clockwork Orange, Cry Freedom, Salvador, Sarajevo)
> It doesn't matter what the reason is, or whether anyone else thinks it's
> a good reason.

Well, in Clockwork Orange, archive footage of Nazi tanks attacking
infantry is used, as part of Alex's aversion therapy.  The horrific
images are used to turn him away from his life of violence.

Cry Freedom cuts archive footage of the apartheid-era South African
paramilitary police putting down anti-apartheid demonstrators with
extreme violence in to scenes with the actors.  There's also footage -
using actors, so it's not *actual* suffering - of some of their methods
of torture.  These help to cement the regime's evil nature in the
audience's minds, making them even more sympathetic to the central
character's crusade.

I haven't watched Sarajevo or Salvador recently, but they also use
archive footage to provide a substrate for their thin layer of fiction
being smeared over the top.

>                 Seeing people in pain or dying under violent
> circumstances sickens me.  If the footage is of obvious death, pain, or
> suffering - I will walk out.

Hmmm ... in all of the above films, the *real* pain and suffering shown
is not only just a small part of the film, but is also footage with which
we are all familiar anyway through the TV news and our history lessons.
Perhaps that makes it different in which case, please rewind and ignore
this whole sub-thread :-)

> I'm the same guy that walked in on an attempted rape, and as a reflex
> action, broke both the aggressor's elbows.

Good for you!

-- 
David Cantrell    |    Reprobate    |    http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david

  I often reflect that if "privileges" had been called "responsibilities"
  or "duties", I would have saved thousands of hours explaining to people
  why they were only gonna get them over my dead body. 
                 -- Lee K. Gleason in comp.org.decus