Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Offensive Material In Movies
There is hardly a vulgarity which movies haven't touched. From sexuality to unspeakable violence. Morality is a set understanding of the way we understand right and wrong. So, the question is: what about movies? Is it immoral to watch certain movies?
Violence is one of the bigger topics among vulgarities in movies. If you watch it as a child there may be a case for not watching. After all the mind is still being formed, and is quick to absorb almost anything. Or take someone who is mentally impressionable. I would not show them a horror movie. However, if I watch say "Frankenstein." I'm not going to go grave robbing any time soon. If it doesn't influence my behavior, then it can be deemed as amoral.
Cursing is another piece that needs some thinking about. Our language can carry weight. Certain words can only do harm. The question is does the media we digest force us to curse? I don't think so. We are around other people all the time. At work, or at school we hear a mixed vocabulary. We hear these words in our world every day. So, why do we need to filter our movies, if we hear those words anyway?
Smoking, and drugs is another area. We see it all the time in movies. It can be argued that theses are destructive habits. It is the viewers that make decisions on whether they engage in them.
No one can argue that movies don't have vulgar elements. However, this doesn't mean we can't watch movies for moral reasons, necessarily. The viewer is free will, and free to choose what they do.
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I think some viewers have more self-control, but you're right in that younger viewers need to be taught to interpret and distance themselves sometimes from the content on the screen. I remember when I was a kid my mom forced me to watch "Bad Boys" with Sean Penn. I think she used it as a tool to not make me do anything that would send me to prison. So even violent movies can have a moral purpose.
ReplyDeleteWhat's tricky is deciphering what's moral. There is no one moral code, and it changes both within and among societies, right? What was "moral" 200 years ago would not be moral now; that is, slavery or wife-beating or child labor. But morality can get even trickier when considering sex, violence, and drugs.
What are the rules for violent movies on TV in the U.S. compared to other countries? Nudity? Is nudity immoral? Explore this topic in the context of how movies are viewed and rated. Use a few more examples.
Finally, I'd like to end this post by saying that I don't think that there's anything immoral about "Snakes on a motherf*cking plane!" (Thanks, as ever, to the great actor Samuel Jackson). As in most things, context is key.
I think it’s all in viewers discretion. I absolutely dislike my nieces watching horrors and drama for the fact that “what if they grow to like that stuff” then it might be a factor. I don’t think its just the media forcing us to curse, it can be who you choose to talk with or be around. The mixed vocabulary I hear, oh my.
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