The Gladiator Phenomenon

The Hunger Games for my wife and me was hard to watch. The film falls victim to what I have come to call "The Gladiator Phenomenon." Once while watching the movie Gladiator, which was made as far as I know to show the horror of gladiators, my brother said something like, ‘I can’t believe that people wanted to watch this.’ Meaning he could not believe that Romans would crowd the colosseum to watch as people would fight to the death. At the same moment that he said this, he realized that that is kind of what we were doing, watching death for pleasure. He said this aloud and it made me think, how can we watch Gladiator and stay Marcus Aurelius, who ended gladiators because of its heinous nature, and not become Commondus, who enjoyed watching men kill each other.  

In the Hunger Games we are supposed to hate the capital for taking these kids and having them fight to the death, but when I watched the movie it made me feel like I was the capital. When this movie came out, I did not want to see it but knew many people who lined up to see the midnight showing. I'm not sure why you would want to see children bash, beat, stab, and kill other children. Perhaps another example that must be mentioned is The Lord of the Flies. I read the book in high school and everyone is familiar with the clear message of murder and the turning of proper people to wild savages. Truly nothing is more traumatizing than reading about kids murdering each other and watching The Hunger Games only brought this horror to life. Perhaps I am just in denial, but I honestly believe that few to none of the kid would fight to the death. In fact I would say most people would rather die than become murders. Many people have claimed that The Dark Night, is just that, very dark. But even in this movie, when adults, both citizen and criminal alike, are asked to either kill each other or be killed, both ships choose to have clean hands then to live as murderers. I think this is not wishful thinking, but a realistic example of true human nature.

As far as our reading is concerned, I could not see myself making the same point that they did. Perhaps this is more of a commentary of what we talked about in class but I really wanted to say this and I never got a chance to in class. We said that there are so many remakes this summer. Perhaps but while most people ran off to see Star Trek, I was allowing Joseph Kosinski, a new director, to bring his story to life with Oblivion. Also, a book I was introduced to Architecture for the Poor talks about how none of us are totally original. We build off what others have done in the past. And that is not only okay, but it is good. One cannot show up to a plot of land and say ‘I will completely reinvent the building.’ Chances are if you are laying a foundation, and supporting your roof with walls, you are building off the knowledge of others who came before you. Another source for this idea is my first film professor Rick Moody; he told me perhaps the most useful information I have ever hear concerning film creation. He told us that what people want to see is “original, yet familiar.” Maybe it is a remake, but it has never been down this way before. We already love the hero and we have never seen him in this predicament before, and that is worth seeing.

The last thing I want to talk about connects what we talked about in class with The Hunger Games. We said in class that we only have a perceived choice. That when it really comes down to it we cannot influence what Hollywood makes. I have to agree with the young man at the beginning of The Hunger Games. This young man asks Katniss the question, what would happen if we all stopped watching? What he means is if there is no demand will there be a supply? Though capitalism has some problems, it does create some very cool phenomena. Supply and demand is real.  We do have a choice and I continue to make choices that I am proud of. I know that if we all choose not to buy a certain product, then the people who make it will have to stop making it, they will have no income. If we refuse to watch and pay for garbage, like Scary Movie and its sequels  then eventually they will have no means to make more movies, and no audience to support them. And on the contrary if we watch films that change hearts and minds, we will open the way for more glorious films.

It's only a matter of time before the machines take over

I perhaps have mislabeled my post but when watching The Digital Nation I felt a lot like John Connor sitting back and watching the announcement of Skynets newest advancement. Um, no thank you, please. But is it true that they only thing technology will eventually do for use will be destroying us? When I first left the movie that is what I felt like. I felt sick to my stomach and almost had my first real panic attack. Am I destine to live in a world were nothing I touch eat or see is real? I had a thought similar to this, ‘I am destine to be stuck in the matrix.’ I thought about the human world versus the computer world. If we treated people the same way we treat computers and their programs we would delete anyone who was too slow or had any kind of error. We don’t care at all about a computer system that won’t work exactly the way we want it to, we dump it and throw it out. But the human world, at least on the individual level, is not about efficiency, it is about love, something computers will never know. Was love destine to be digitalized?

Later, however, I realized that technology is not that scary for me. I was at work, on the computer I might add, when a friend of mine was looking at winter boots to buy online. I thought to myself this is what is really happening. Kids are not being stolen from parents and plugged into a 3D environment; we are just looking at boots and watches. Then later we go to the story and buy them. At least most of us are.

There still are big problems with this much power open to really anyone. I am glad I was able to see the part with the addicts from Korea because I know that it is a real thing. I see them in the library on Saturday nights playing computer games all the way until close, at 11:45 at night. I have actually known a person who after high school did not go to work, and did not go to school, but lived with his mom. He would sleep till noon or 1:00 in the afternoon, eat, rest and lay around, till 5 when he would play World or Warcraft till 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. He has since radically improved his life, but still there are those who may never drop the addiction of video games. The saddest thing about video games is they only give a false sense of accomplishment. In reality you gain nothing, and lose much, by “beating” or playing video games.

Let me switch to the reading just for a moment before I return to my favorite part about digital nation. The biggest thing that I am got out of the reading is that weather we like it or not most of the education that is happening is coming through the media. Rather than force the book and pencil on our children we should direct their journey through media so that they come in contact with the good that is out there. If we can gather all the good and all the truth, well then it starts sounding like a religion, and we see that internet, movies, and music are just a path in which information is relayed. Books do the same thing, you can get a book that lies or destroys or a book that is holy. Can’t movies provide us with the same thing? So we need to teach our children to read and write and search the internet. Media literacy can help people find their own way through the sea of technology and find their way, maybe not to an island, but islands of knowledge and wonder, and navigate between them.

The part that I actually liked the best from The Digital Nation was the end. In class the ending received some perhaps deserved criticism. The creator of the documentary comes into the room talks about what he likes and then says, “but the thing I love most of all is turning it off.” Some asked, what does that even mean, but I am pretty sure that I have said that before. My favorite part of technology is being able to turn it off. This is what it means, at least for me. I am a massive extravert and I need face to face communication. In order to “charge my battery” as it were I need time in the real world to talk and get immediate and personal interaction. But when we post something on the internet we ironically don’t get immediate feedback. And when I we do it can seem rushed, halfhearted, temporary, and anything but personal. I guess what I really want to say is no matter how theologically advance our world becomes what really matters are the same things that mattered thousands of years ago with zero technology, heart, soul, love, creativity, kindness, hobbies, and love.

The Enemy

Almost every story has two persons or groups that are enemies. And every story tells us something about how to treat our enemies, or perhaps how to handle or take care of them. I could not get Hairspray out of my mind when thinking about my social issue. I could see in my mind many other movie endings with a similar ‘ha, in your face.’ Just the other night I watched What a Girl Wants and was haunted by the main characters line ‘you are the evil step sister and let me clue you in, I win.’ I could already anticipate the ‘ha’ ending.

It is true that we must conquer our enemies or we will be subject to their desires, which are almost always to harm us or hinder us. But how to conquer them is done in different ways in different narratives.

I remember watching Beauty and the Beast for the second time and enjoying rooting for the heroes, Bell and the Beast. But, Gaston, who’s really only sin is been force fully flirtatious and jealous, and well he is as arrogant as a person can be, is killed. I understand that the Beast did not mean to kill him, but the people telling the story did. That seems to be the easiest way to get rid of your problem, kill it, in this case a person. One fantastically deep line comes from The Lord of the Rings when Gandalf says that “There are those who die but deserve life, and some who live but deserve to die, can you give that too them.” Death means that your enemy will never come back, which is a nice resolution for a good guy. But death is no trivial matter?

An alternative to killing our enemies is to give them what they deserve. In Hair Spray we sent home the bratty girl with her mom’s seared hair. In The Emperor’s New Groove we make Yzma become part of the squirrel talking patrol. In Casper we grin as the party crashers get scared stupid. We love we the bad guy falls in poop or ends up with a horrible job. We get cynical gratification watching them suffer. But that is what we think they deserve.

At last there may yet be a better way to handle a villain. Let us consider what an the Grand Master said about enemies.

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you: . . .

For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? . . .

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.             (1)

Being perfect is a tall order and we truly do get so much satisfaction with humiliating and destroying our enemies. Is it even possible? Here are some examples were one does extend a forgiving and welcoming hand to an enemy. In The Grinch Who Stole Christmas the little who girl only have love an trust for the Grinch, and it changes his whole heart. Even the Mayor is eventually consoled by the Grinch with a meaningful smile, a handshake, and the words “cheer up buddy its Christmas.”

Another practically perfect film, Wreak-It-Ralph, is the home to the lovable Vanellope, who is harassed mercilessly by the other racers until the end. But when the tables turn Vanellope does not behead them, although she jokes, and maybe even feels like it, she befriends them. By so doing she gets to watch as her new friends change their hearts.

Now it is true that in The Grinch the Mayor partly gets what he deserves, and in Wreak-It-Ralph we destroy by virtually death the main villain. So what is the balance? And is it even possible to befriend your enemy.

Warm Bodies for me becomes the ultimate example. Some can be loved back, others are as R putts it “too far gone” He even says I wish, I wish, we could have loved them back, but there is nothing we could do. Still, R’s heart is in the right place and longs for reconciliation.

Our job is to pay attention to what happens to enemies in films and learn from it, and pay attention to what happens to enemies in real life and change it. In the words of Abraham Lincoln "Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends." (2) Here is a shorter trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rxPOPMxDwA
1-Holy Bible (King James Version)
2-Abraham Lincoln

Hairspray

As soon as the movie started I could tell that there was a clear trend for society, what to look and act like. In the opening scene we see boys and girls using plenty of hairspray. The dress and style of dancing are important. It cries so loudly ‘if you don’t dance you are a square.’ Before the movie started we were told to see how media effects teens and all of society for that matter. It was not hard to see exactly what was being talked about as we see two teenage girls completely enchanted with a dancing TV show. The mother is disgusted and thinks the show is silly and does not need to be watched. It makes sense to me that the kids would want a show or ideal to hang onto in there early age where as the mother, with more life experience, understands that there is ironing to be done it life. My biggest surprise was when the mother is told to watch the show. I expected her not to care and even refuse to watch the show, which he, I mean she, does at first. Getting mom to sit in front of the TV seems impossible until she sees her own daughter on the show. Next thing you know, mom loves the show and is ready to make a fool of herself dancing in front of the TV, which she herself just yesterday thought was a waste of time. Now mom’s on board and wants to be famous too.

            The other thing that cannot be ignored is the fact that the main character is happy living her life and being a kid and not ‘going steady’ with anyone until she goes on the show. Suddenly there is this pressure to have a boyfriend and to kiss him. I don’t think having a crush or even boyfriend is bad, but I do find it ridiculously convenient that it is her dancing partner. Love? more like infatuation. It is the idea that is appealing and not necessarily the person.

            The could be lasting conversations about weight and violence, but I want to move on to the issue of segregation. The most poignant part for me is when the host of the TV show is told that there is a black girl outside who wants to come in. Without hesitation the host says, ‘well let her in already.’ But in this day it was not that easy. The officer reminds him that it could turn into a protest or demonstration. Also, the producer of the show, who is paying for the whole shebang, only wants one black day a month and today is not that day. I gained a lot of sympathy for the host because his heart wants to let her in, but there are bigger and badder powers at work her that he must please in order to keep order and possible his income for his family.

            I want to say that it was a happy ending for all, but really has is a happy ending for the people we are supposed to care about. One thing that this movie, and many movies I have seen, does is give the antagonist ‘what they deserve.’ Only who is to say that she deserves that, and even though the former dance queen is rude, how much better is the main characters if they just blast the enemy out of town. I think that there is a possible more powerful ending. Perhaps main character lets the bratty girl be co-queen and they both have a good time, or perhaps even better, what if the main character let her be the queen and became the bigger woman by understanding that the dance crown is not important.

            The movie is a great demonstration on how media affects us and the world around us and truly deserves some reflection.