Violence toward Children
In contrast to hand-wringing, pantywaist American directors, Brazillians - if the film City of God is any indication - do not seem overly worried about unsentimentally showing children murdered. Many features of American culture deeply annoy me, but none does so more than the "special child syndrome" meme or perhaps, instead of meme, I should refer to it as a virus of the mind. (As an aside, I find it unfortunate that using the word "meme" now might seem clichéd as a result of the scholarship of a bunch of muddle-headed halfwits who will remain nameless and who appear to have absolutely massacred Dawkins's idea.)
Unfortunately for the misanthropic, cynical members of society, this meme has infected several prominent filmmakers. One, as you surely guessed, is Steven Spielberg, who cannot resist cloyingly aggrandizing children and maternal and paternal bonds. The most conspicuous example of such nonsense was AI, a film the last 20 minutes of which drove me to ponder various possible self-inflicted deaths. AI starred the villainous child actor Haley Joel Osment, who's squinty-eyed, nauseous countenance seems perfectly designed for propagating the virus. Mr. Osment also starred in the Sixth Sense, the director of which is similarly fatally infected with the virus. I think it was N.Y. Times critic A.O. Scott who saw Sixth Sense for what it truly was: gaggingly mawkish supernatural kitsch.
These movies glorify children and vastly overestimate their worth to society. Protagonists in movies bend over backwards for machine versions of kids, or mentally retarded kids, or normal kids with paranoid delusions. No matter the cost to society, the life of some useless, worthless brat must be preserved, and we're supposed to cheer the lead on as he unreasonably beats back the baddies who are trying to harm the child. See, e.g., Mercury Rising starring Bruce Willis (an actor who's apparently infected with the virus). George Carlan once (roughly) remarked that the children whose wondrous gifts we celebrate today will grow up to be the same ugly, stupid people we currently loathe. I couldn't have said it better myself or agree more strongly.
If you wanted to see children treated like adults, you'd really have to search. One movie that treats children equally is Citizen Toxie, which was produced by Troma, I believe - so consider yourself warned.
What was I talking about? . . . City of God has to be one of the most unsentimental, unpreachy film dealing with gang violence, murder, robbery and poverty ever. Even without the child-slayings, City of God is a fine film. It even managed to have non-cheesy narration. Not many films do that well and when done poorly it can really hurt a film - see, Y tu Mama Tambien. Without question the best voice over narration had to be American Psycho - ("I'm on the verge of tears by the time we arrive at Espace since I'm positive we won't have a decent table, but we do, and relief washes over me in an awesome wave.").
Anyway, this was an outstanding film. Check it out if you have a chance.
Unfortunately for the misanthropic, cynical members of society, this meme has infected several prominent filmmakers. One, as you surely guessed, is Steven Spielberg, who cannot resist cloyingly aggrandizing children and maternal and paternal bonds. The most conspicuous example of such nonsense was AI, a film the last 20 minutes of which drove me to ponder various possible self-inflicted deaths. AI starred the villainous child actor Haley Joel Osment, who's squinty-eyed, nauseous countenance seems perfectly designed for propagating the virus. Mr. Osment also starred in the Sixth Sense, the director of which is similarly fatally infected with the virus. I think it was N.Y. Times critic A.O. Scott who saw Sixth Sense for what it truly was: gaggingly mawkish supernatural kitsch.
These movies glorify children and vastly overestimate their worth to society. Protagonists in movies bend over backwards for machine versions of kids, or mentally retarded kids, or normal kids with paranoid delusions. No matter the cost to society, the life of some useless, worthless brat must be preserved, and we're supposed to cheer the lead on as he unreasonably beats back the baddies who are trying to harm the child. See, e.g., Mercury Rising starring Bruce Willis (an actor who's apparently infected with the virus). George Carlan once (roughly) remarked that the children whose wondrous gifts we celebrate today will grow up to be the same ugly, stupid people we currently loathe. I couldn't have said it better myself or agree more strongly.
If you wanted to see children treated like adults, you'd really have to search. One movie that treats children equally is Citizen Toxie, which was produced by Troma, I believe - so consider yourself warned.
What was I talking about? . . . City of God has to be one of the most unsentimental, unpreachy film dealing with gang violence, murder, robbery and poverty ever. Even without the child-slayings, City of God is a fine film. It even managed to have non-cheesy narration. Not many films do that well and when done poorly it can really hurt a film - see, Y tu Mama Tambien. Without question the best voice over narration had to be American Psycho - ("I'm on the verge of tears by the time we arrive at Espace since I'm positive we won't have a decent table, but we do, and relief washes over me in an awesome wave.").
Anyway, this was an outstanding film. Check it out if you have a chance.
posted by Mr. Misanthropic at 12:57 PM
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