A Rant About "Family" Movies

Now that I have that off my chest let me address the issue in a more civil manner. To put this in a context we just completed watching "The Musketeer". This is not about the movie, the movie was merely a catalyst to this rant, for it displayed something I have long hated. I admit I assume I know the reason for the behavior I find so deplorable, but lack any evidence of it. That said let me come to the issue and deal with what is bothering me. I am tired of seeing lethal battles end with immortality. Perhaps you guess my assumed reason for this is the salvation of our youth from the perils of the tyrant called Violence.

Throughout my youth I engaged myself in stories. I preferred them in the written fashion, but I also enjoyed a fair share of stories disseminated through my television (and a few from the golden age of radio). The books dealt with me fairly. The villain was usually killed, and his cohorts died without a moment of sorrow at their passing. Mercy was sometimes displayed, but justice seemed to be the prevailing wind. Strangely the stories dramatized for my view pleasure lacked this quality, and it drove me nuts. Cartoon characters would face their nemesis again and again, always locked in a mortal duel that somehow ended with them both leaving unscathed. Live drama presented the same pathetic heroes; they could fire off a truckload of ammo at the enemy and never hit a thing, not even a minor wound, let alone killing someone. All my life I have been presented with this semi-violent crap, and I was expected to somehow believe the world would be okay as long as these two sides kept fighting without killing anyone.

The idea is purely insane. I lost respect for the characters. I turned my back on most of these shows because they were out of touch with reality. To see movies continue the pacification of our heroes is going too far. In the real world, people who attack you with intent to kill will not stop until either they have killed you or they are dead. There is no middle ground. Granted, I have overstated the case as given time some will calm down and realize their error. However, I for one would not take that chance if I were in a sword fight, a fire fight, or faced some other struggle for my life. I would recognize I need to kill my opponent or suffer death. Why is it Hollywood thinks we cannot live that way? I grant you it does not seem appropriate in our society today, but if we make a film depicting a time when these situations happened, by all means demonstrate the reality of such an event! Deal with an audience fairly and they will return your good faith.

Much has been said on the topic of our children and violence. I will grant you that I do not want to see gang wars, and needless fights. I do not like killings, beatings, mobbings, muggings, or anything of these sorts. I do not advocate such behavior, and never will. However, I find it sadly irresponsible to counteract this with pacifism. Too many are too concerned with sheltering our children that we forget to teach them about the real world. The real world is populated with evil men (and women) and these evil people will not play by "the rules". Violence exists in our world because evil exists in men, and that evil exists because man has a sin nature (more can be said on this but it is not within the scope of this rant). Children are aware of violence, and we must acknowledge that our children will come into contact with violent, even evil people. If we continue to place impotent heroes in their lives they will not know how to deal with these problems. If we try to shield them from violence we will only frustrate them. I speak as one who was a child and had these issues!

I for one am not against allowing my children (granted I have non as of yet) to see, feel, read, understand, and otherwise come into contact with real struggles of life and death. These things are not games. I do not want to see needless violence, that is not what I am concerned with. I do not like violence. I do not like to see innocent people hurt. But I like to see criminals brought to justice, and that often means death. We need this in our society, and our children need to understand the severity of these situations. We cannot let people go hoping they will repent and change their ways; we cannot rely on their ability to abide by the law to protect us. We need to allow our children to understand history, to understand human nature, to understand life as it is, not as we want it to be. We must acknowledge the world we live in before we can change it.

Hollywood, quit trying to sugar coat the world, and fight for justice instead!