Family Entertainment

Apple Baby Rant

Family Entertainment

Wife, Connie, and I went to a movie today. It’s the first movie we’ve been to in a long time. Oh, we’ll see movies from time to time, but we’ve gotten into the habit of waiting for the DVD’s. These days going to a movie can cost as much as monthly rent on your cell phone. By the time we get the popcorn and a drink, with the cost of the admission, we’re talking about at least a twenty dollar bill. And if I need to use the bathroom I’ve missed part of the action. With a DVD I’ve got my food, my bathroom, and the greatest invention in cinema, the PAUSE button. But today, Sunday, the day before Labor Day, we decided to splurge. And I was delighted. We saw “Invincible” with Mark Wahlberg and Greg Kinear. This movie is based on the true story of Vince Papale from south Philadelphia. He played one year of high school football. He was a thirty year old bar tender and sometime substitute teacher. In 1975 the Philadelphia Eagles hired a new coach, Dick Vermeil, who was fresh from coaching college ball and was the last hope to save the Eagles after several embarrassing seasons. He decided to have an open tryout inviting whoever thought they could help the team. Hundreds showed up. Only one was called back. Vince Papale. The movie goes on to show how hard it is to be a pro football player and how an underling can rise above the heap in spite of great opposition.

Maybe some of it was formulaic. There were some things in it you could see coming from a mile away. All that didn’t matter to me. They left out lot of the stuff that a lesser producer would have wanted in it and they came up with a pithy version of a win win situation. There was opportunity for some sex. They suggested it but did not show it. There was opportunity for more violence. Suggested, understood, but thankfully not shown. The story and the point were driven home in flying colors and nobody had to use super-foul language, show boobs, or cut anybody up.

Just a few short years ago one would have been shocked to hear someone curse in the movies or on TV. Then it was even more shocking to see naked unmentionable parts of the human body. Now we get to see body parts flying all over the place in an explosion (using the latest high tech special effects) which may have, at one time, been difficult to watch but is now normal fare for cinematic entertainment. The drift towards violence and depravity in our tastes in movies and other forms of expression merely reflects who we are as a society. Movie makers take advantage of this and they’ve been hitting it hard ever since. But this stuff is becoming humdrum. Boring. Seen it. Got the proverbial tee shirt.

I’m no prude. Believe me. I’m not against naked people or even pornography. If folks want to show their wares and submit to behavior which lowers them to the sub-human level that’s their business. I believe that all of us have curiosity which, if left untamed, can lead us down that dark path. But I think most folks really want to think of themselves as above that filth. And, too, most folks don’t need to see super violent images to understand how horrific an accident or an explosion is. So why do we keep patronizing this type of ‘entertainment’? Is it morbid curiosity? Is it the same kind of thing that slows the freeway down to a crawl because everyone has to crane their necks at the possible gore in an accident? Are things like wars and political corruption adding fuel to the fire? Or are we cresting this wave, heading towards a more temperate moral climate? And the biggest question is…why should I even care? It’s a free country. That’s what makes us so great. You don’t like the station? Change it. You don’t like the movie? Don’t watch it. Don’t like the leadership? Vote ’em out. Man,”it’s great to be an American” (Randy Newman).