Entertainment

This is a compilation of violent scenes from films. This video is meant as a rhetorical critique regarding the amount and varying degrees of violence being filmed as a means of entertainment. I wonder if a violent scene, even if used with purpose (as, ironically, was my intent for this very video!), serves nothing but to perpetuate and encourage violence itself. I wonder what it says about the state of our society that we not only view these films, but encourage the production of them.

Be advised that this video is extremely violent, watch it at your own discretion.

The following is an excerpt from a previous discussion with a friend…. there is far more and this friend did punch many, many holes in my argument, but I will just post a general glimpse of my inner confusion in relation to this topic.  I do not know what to think, but I do know that I do not think violence in film should be banned.  That said, after making this video and thinking about it, I am not sure if I would ever myself create a certain type of violent film…. or watch and be blindly entertained by violent films in the same manner.  The research that went into the creation of this video made me physically sick. 

I think a problem with cinema, in general, is that it portrays people in black and white, good and bad… and once somebody is “bad” it is somehow okay to smash their head in with a baseball bat. Isn’t it a little odd that often the “good guy” kills far more people than the bad? You don’t think there’s something wrong with applauding death, no matter the circumstance? Furthermore, I think their is a transference of those ideals to everyday life; black and white, us and them, and i think that is dangerous, because it gives “us” justification to kill, an obvious example being war. I’m sure you and I aren’t pro-war, but the fact is nevertheless wars occur. I love that you trust people, but I don’t know if I do, so much around me says otherwise.

It seems that the nature of film encourages us to give more credence to the reason than the fact. Is that right or wrong? I don’t know, but it’s interesting to me…. our evaluation of reason will constantly change, but what is will never leave us. 100 years ago people truly believed that segregating First Nations people into reservations, and filtering their children through residential schools would help ease our cultures together…. now what do we believe? All I know is that it is true that killing is wrong, and if I show it, even if I believe my audience will know better, even if I believe my intentions just, I will never escape the fact that I am showing it.

Just because something is fantasy, it does not mean it cannot affect us or affects us less. Ifanything, I believe it can affect us more! Because as we enjoy these things we absolutely let our guards down. For example, there are hundreds of stories in the bible, parables, that are clear cut fantasy, yet people obviously take those lessons to heart; a metaphor can be more powerful than fact. Further yet, the creator is a person in himself – what does it mean when people choose to fantasize about things like, for instance, “Natural Born Killers?” Is it okay that we are giving people a way to express abusive behavior? Just because you would never do these bad things we see, and I know you never would, is it okay to laugh/be entertained by it? What if somebody is entertained by watching simulated, fake, staged child pornography, is it okay for them to watch that under the condition they would never act on it? How about that genre of extreme torture porn?

There are many examples of children and adults directly emulating behavior on television and cinema. In Norway two children beat another child to death, it was later found that they did so because they were trying to be like the Power Rangers! In the U.S. a teenager shaved his head, and killed his parents after watching “Natural Born Killers.” John Hinkley, an adult, shot Ronald Reagan to impress Jodie Foster, or rather, a character she played in a film (Taxi Driver). You can say that these people are screwed up to begin with, but that is like saying people will kill anyway, why restrict gun access? Furthermore, these instances, and there are many more, are directly inspired by violence in film. That is, I believe that if said violent films did not exist, these specific cases would have never happened. My dilemma is – what happens if I make a violent film, and I find out that somebody, somewhere, killed another directly because of my film? Am I really going to say they would’ve killed somebody, someday, anyway? How could I forgive myself? I know I can’t live life being afraid of the actions my choices might incur on others, but I also can’t make blind choices. It’s a delicate line, I don’t have an answer.

Their was an interesting study I just read about – basically, it analyzed crime rates in the United States, Canada and South Africa between the years 1945 to 1974 when South Africa did not have television whereas both the United States and Canada had television. His results concluded that the homicide rate in the United States increased by 93 percent [and] in Canada the homicide rate increased 92 percent. In South Africa the homicide rate declined by 7 percent. I mean, there are so many things that point to violence in media as a definite problem. Am I going to disregard that, because its not a problem for me?

Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance. Must Watch.

“Obomsawin’s film, as part of its undoing of the cultural construction of Mohawk warriors as terrorists, asks the white Western viewer to identify with the gaze of the Mohawk Other that reads colonialism as white state-sponsored terrorism.” – Christopher E. Gittings

Everyone should watch Alanis Obomsawin’s, “Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance.”  Obomsawin passionately captures a certain “Native” point of view, powerfully evoking a sense of empathy; in the course of watching this film, many of “their” frustrations became mine… its upsetting, unsettling, but, more importantly, inspiring.

90% of reservations are operated at states comparable to the third world

The movie is a documentary about the conflict (The Oka Crisis) between a Mohawk First Nations group, and the Quebec and Canadian government.  Basically it shows the Canadian military laying siege to a First Nation’s community in a dispute over land.  The appalling thing is that the land in question was apparently purposed for a luxury housing development and to expand a goddamn private golf course!!  This documentary arose all sorts of strong feelings within me, I physically felt sick watching it.  There was so much senseless anger and violence and hate, it just didn’t make sense, I felt like screaming.  Examples of events portrayed or talked about in the film: townspeople throwing stones at Natives leaving the area, a 14 year old girl bayoneted, media being forcibly removed, and other unnecessary physical violence…sometimes both ways. 

Watching the movie, after awhile, its strange, it just felt so close to me… its funny the things that get you, there was this moment when some guy was just talking to his kids over the phone, and it just hit me…. it was maybe one of the most beautiful moments I’ve experienced on film. I don’t even know if the guy was Native, it doesn’t even matter, its just the contrast between that love and such anger was so startling and effective.

“it’s hard to defend democracy against people who don’t believe in democracy.” -Canada’s prime minister Brian Mulroney

What really scares me though is that this past event doesn’t even scratch the surface of things going on in present places!…for equally, if not more, senseless reasons!  I can’t imagine what would’ve happened if their were no camera there… and to think – those events occurred in Canada… God, I just wonder, what happens in places with zero coverage? With no camera?  And you know what? I don’t have to wonder – I absolutely know!  

At the end of World War II, the common German citizen, when asked, cited ignorance in regards to atrocities committed by their government to Jews…. I find that hard to believe.  And I look at us, basking in our riches, forgetting that, among many other things, we have relatively silently succeeded in annihilating a culture in the process; many of the gains we enjoy in life, are absolutely built on the desperate loss of others.  How will history look back on us?  Fuck history. How will I?  Will I cite ignorance?  Will I say, what could I have done? I’m just one person?  Fuck that. JUST one person?  EVERYTHING starts with JUST one person.  Just.

 There are scenes in the film that are particularly poignant… in which you watch the native “warriors” accost individual soldiers… basically, screaming at them, “how could you do this?”  And it is infuriating, because you realize the soldiers have no idea why they are doing anything, yet still do it.  I think this is a very striking metaphor to society, and myself, as a whole… people everywhere are screaming, “why?” And I have no answer, and because I don’t I do nothing! But, like the soldier, my nothing, is, if anything, a large part of the fuel that feeds the fire… that keeps the subaltern subjugated; if I am not a part of the solution, then I am a part of the problem.  And, I realize, startlingly, that I am exactly that infuriating soldier, I am exactly that madness.

How can I be part of a society that is so willing to turn a blind eye?  I don’t even mean just towards first nation injustices or Canada….this is the world, and I am a part of it.  How can I excuse myself by claiming impartiality?  I can’t claim I don’t know, because I DO know!  I don’t want to forget the messages this movie invoked in me, because I know in the past, with similar things, I have; I see something, on the news, in a movie, and I say, “oh, how sad,” and then go have dinner.  Maybe, at dinner, I talk about it, and maybe I feel better about myself, because, “hey I thought about it.”  Maybe I feel smarter, more noble, because I’m now aware of something others, to a degree, may not be, and now I can point it out to them, “hey I’m smart, and I think about doing good things once in awhile.”  And then  I forget. Its so EASY.

But I CAN’T let myself forget – I can’t just keep talking, and not doing anything!  It doesn’t affect me?! Than I have to go somewhere and MAKE it affect me!  You know? 

“A man who does not know foreign language is ignorant of his own.” –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I look just in the past week, and my heart breaks at what I haven’t done; the uselessness I’ve committed.  I went to go see my friends band play last last night, and I felt good at the time.  Why did I feel good? How could I feel good.  I wonder, the 20 or so dollars I spent that night, where else could it have went?  Could it have fed someone? A family maybe? Could it have saved a life?  The 4 hours I spent – for what? For me? Why?! What did I do that meant anything?  Who am I that I deserve fun?  More importantly, was it even “fun”?  What is “fun?” I tell you now, I feel ten times better doing something as simple as walking an old lady down the street, then I do downing five tequilas.  And if my friends can’t handle that, then I need new ones.  I don’t mean to say, “don’t have fun, don’t be happy,” I mean to say don’t be selfishly happy.  How can I invest in my happiness or enjoyment knowing full well that it is bought tenfold at the expense of another? ….whether through my needless consumption, or what I could be doing, but am not.  I want everything I do to be in the process of something better.  People will argue, you can’t spend every hour doing something worthwhile, talking about things of import, you need release once in awhile, down time.  But sometimes release is the escape that negates action…. for me, especially now, down time feels completely, utterly ugly.   I don’t want to have time for bullshit anymore.  Really, I’ve spent 20 years bullshitting, and, to be honest, I feel desperately horrible.  I am looking for something to believe in, to waste my time on what is fundamentally escapism, in hindsight, is absolutely ridiculous.  I don’t need fun, I need passion.

“A learned man is an idler who kills time with study. Beware of his false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.” –George Bernard Shaw

That said, I don’t mean to be a downer. I don’t mean to say, just focus on all the negative things in life, because don’t.  Their is wonder in this world, and things worth smiling about all the time; catch a breeze, its magical.  Anyway, hopefully I find something I can do in the next couple of days, and then maybe I’ll post about it.  Or if anyone has any ideas, or is doing something, or wants to do something, do tell!

  “It is clear that without Obomsawin’s 1993 film, the history of Oka circa 1990 would be dominated by [Prime Minister Brian] Mulroney’s assertion, reproduced in the documentary, that the armed Mohawks were criminals and illegally wielding weapons.”– Brian McIlroy

 

“Fear Lulls Our Minds to Sleep”

Persepolis is the best movie of the year.  Just kidding.  But it is pretty damn good.

Anyway, I just, or I guess yesterday, watched it, and I really enjoyed it… watch it if you can.  If you don’t know, Persepolis is an animation following a little girl who leaves Iran to escape a, to put it lightly, toxic political atmosphere.  She then grows up in Europe (Venice?), then returns to Iran.  The animation is simple and to the point, and charming because of it.  The story is also semi-autobiogrophical I believe.

What I related to the most in the movie was that it articulated quite well a certain feeling I personally am very much struggling with.  That is, perspective.  Let me explain, the little girl, Chiara, leaves Iran to escape very real problems – war, violence, and some seemingly oppressive traditions (especially in regards to women). She leaves that, goes to Venice and is caught up in relatively lesser problems – relationships, philosophy, social meandering, etc..  But, during parts of the movie, it seems to be those lesser problems that trouble her most, even though she herself realizes there are bigger things to worry about.  She doesn’t necessarily become apathetic, but, rather distracted by these quibbles.

Murjanes Grandmother: “The first marriage is practice for the next one.”

And I relate, because being in Vancouver, where my problems, really, are fairly irrelevant, is like an anesthetic.  I feel numbed to the real troubles in our world, detached from the trenches, and what’s worse is that I’m aware of it.  If I analyze myself, I feel wretched, because I know I am giving priority to selfish endeavors, primarily because I’m afraid to face up to more daunting challenges. It’s like screaming, “look at this pebble” as a humungous boulder looms ominously over.  

150, 000 people die every day, that’s two people every second, what can I do? Why does it matter? What about human rights? Women’s rights? Racism? Politics? Horribly wrong social ethics?  Its insane! 

The immensity of the task is crushing, and I think lulls me, and people in general, to sleep.  We feel small.  A lot of really good people, with genuine thoughts, are, in effect, being termed irrelevant in the grand scheme of things because of this; whether they know it or not, they’re desperately afraid.  And, concurrently, the people in power often shouldn’t be, but are.

 What kills me is that I really believe in the goodness of people.  I really do.  I think they know what is right, but are so enamored with fear, that they let it make their decisions for them.  What’s really scary though is what we can convince ourselves of because of this.  I mean, I see it in my own very choices – in hindsight, I often seem to disregard things that are so obviously right, things that would’ve made me happier (though I’ve often convinced myself otherwise), in favor of things so obviously wrong.  Its weird, because in the moment, I’m so utterly convinced!  And I think its because failing the latter is so much easier – I would rather fail at something insignificant, because if I really cared and failed – Gosh, that would suck.  I am starting to believe that what I want is exactly the opposite of what I indeed want!

So, I’ll end with this, by watching Persepolis, and here writing about it, I realize what I think I actually want my goals to be.  I was talking to a friend, and we both agreed to write simplified lists.  Mine had only 2 things – one of them being to make the world a better place, hers was similar.  I know its quite laughably idealistic, in fact embarrassingly so, but I’m going to choose to believe in it and try to follow through – distractions be damned.  

 

 

“Thunder Cats are Go!”

    I just came back from watching “Juno,” and I have to say, without hesitation, it is MY favorite movie this year (and last).  The movie feels like an old friend, I can’t put it any other way.  I laughed, I cried (nearly), and it just felt, well, good.  I related to the humor, I related to the situations, everything just felt right; childish, irreverent, but irrevocably meaningful.  Yes, I could see how parts could be considered borderline cheese ball, but, really, that’s part of the charm.  In this sense, it reminds me of another one of my favorite films, “Before Sunrise,” in that the movie is aware of its adolescence, but runs with it.  And I like that playfulness, that childishness. I also love Kimya Dawson, who, coincidentally, is featured in the soundtrack, so that didn’t hurt.  Anyhow, if you’ve watched this movie, and also liked it, I’d maybe  recommend “King of California,” which is also good.

Juno: “Yeah, I’m a legend. You know. They call me the cautionary whale.”

    That said, I admit, some of the devices used were contrived, and the movie itself isn’t actually unique or groundbreaking.  If someone said “hey, that’s not the best movie of the year,” I wouldn’t disagree.  It’s not the best made movie of the year, or the best told, or the most “different,” it will not revolutionize film.  Were “No Country for Old Men” or “Sunshine” technically better? Will they be remembered more ten years from now?  In respect to the world as a whole, sure.  Did “Babel” and perhaps “Bamako” have more to say?  Yes.  Were “Atonement” and “Across the Universe” more visually pleasing? Of course.  Was “Zodiac” more intriguing?  Yup.   But I watch “Juno,” and, to be quite frank, I just don’t care. I will remember it more.  The movie just makes me feel good through and through, for no particular reason, I can’t explain it.  It’s super corny to say, but I’ll say it, because it makes sense in the context of the movie, it’s like love, none of that matters.   Juno is the best movie of the year.  Watch it.

I don’t know what I’d do without the internet.

9 times out of 10 people will pick the shortcut, the fastest possible route – see the microwave, the car, the television, the supermarket, the airplane.  The internet.  That’s what technology is all about – convenience, speed.  I think we forget that sometimes the means is as important as the ends, and every step we sacrifice, I think, cheats us of something really worthwhile.  Theirs this concept that one somehow always gains by doing things faster, but a minute is a minute is a minute, nothing is really lost, only negotiated.  We are so bloated, blinded, by the result, we forget that their is magic in the journey.  People like to call the internet an “information pipeline,” and I find that quite fitting.  The thing gushes and flows, giving whatever you want, whenever you want.  

It’s ironic that a little bit of the spontaneity, the adventure, of the now is relinquished in the ever persistent search of it.  I sometimes wonder if all this searching, all this information, serves merely as a distraction; perhaps it is just subterfuge of the mind for the mind.  After all, we pick what link to follow, we choose what article to read.  Are we getting more intelligent?  Or more ignorant?  Are we honestly searching, or, in fact, digging our heels further and further into our own established beliefs with minor gives and evolutions?  After all, there is strength in numbers, and our confidence in ourselves can only be strengthened by similar confidences – to know that somebody else cries “yes!” to our yes is comforting, empowering.  Yet, similarity sometimes breeds only more similarity, we see this in our family, in our friends, and in our cultures. 

People will argue that the internet signals the proliferation of choice, but I don’t know if I agree.  I don’t know if I agree, because I think groups tend to, in the long run, assimilate one another; monopoly, in an ideological sense, is almost always inevitable, and the same runs true with ideas; an original thought is not an original thought, it is an accumulated one.  A “pipeline” implies a source, what happens when we centralize it?  Cultural tyranny?  In the long run, what happens when everything is shared? Dilution or saturation? What happens to choice?  What’s happenned already?  The choice between democrat and republican, socialist and capitalist,  hell, mac and pc, google and yahoo, hd dvd and blu-ray, lcd and plasma, Mcdonalds and Burger King, Telus and Rogers, CNN and BBC,  you have to ask yourself, are these really choices?  I know they are choices, relative to each other, but is that enough?  I’m honestly not sure.  And, in the face of the internet, this scares me.  This scares me because the world is becoming more connected, differences are fading.  I know their are positive to this, such as minimized racism, perhaps greater potential for sympathy, but their are also negatives, because difference is uniqueness. Difference is choice.  Then again, perhaps a little sameness is what this world needs.  I don’t know.