I'm not the only one wondering: "What the heck is going on?"
I saw my friend Hugh last weekend at his brother’s annual Australia Day Party. Every year I go through this ritual of hauling out sunny, summery clothes in the dead of winter and it always shocks me out of my lily-white skin. When summer finally does roll around, though, it’s easier to handle the wardrobe transition. Best to get the shock out of the way early in the year.
Anyway, I was talking to my friend who runs several Landmark theatres in the Upper Midwest and I asked him, “What is going on with all these torture movies lately? The levels of violence for entertainment purposes is ratcheting up to really alarming levels. Can you please explain to me how something like Hostel gets booked into the local cineplex?”
“Oh, “ he chuckled, “I know the director. He’s a nice guy. Hostel’s not so bad, now. It’s got some redeeming qualities.”
“You saw it?” I asked, incredulously. “You [a friend of mine?!]? And the redeeming qualities are. . .?
“Well, now, you see, it’s not just dumb teenage girls getting slaughtered. It’s actually privileged frat boy types getting slaughtered.”
“I see. So it’s some sort of geek boy revenge fantasy then?” I asked.
“Yeah, I dunno. I didn’t see the whole thing. During the part where this girl was getting her eyeballs blowtorched, I covered my eyes with my hand, 'cause, you know, I didn't want to watch, and I accidentally popped out my contact lens.” (This is a typical Hugh anecdote.)
“But you said girls didn’t get tortured!”
“Okay, well” he mumbled, “I guess a couple did. I didn’t get to see much after the blowtorch bit.”
I bring up this subject because Arts & Letters Daily linked to an article about the phenomenon of Torture Porn in the movies. I have not seen Hostel, or Saw, or any of their ilk, nor do I intend to. I think that level of gore has always been with us, but just like the special effects in Star Wars has improved, so have the horror effects. And now it’s more accessible, whereas before you maybe had to go to a video store and rent from the low-budget bottom shelf.
I remember one evening back when I was a sophomore in college. I lived in a co-ed dorm and this group of guys we knew had rented some scary movies. A few of my girlfriends and I were invited down to watch. I don’t remember the name of the film; all I remember was some scene in which a young woman’s entire alimentary canal came oozing back up out of her mouth. That was enough for me. The movie scene I could dismiss as so much latex, but what really sickened me was this group of guys who seemed to be enjoying themselves. Critics can blather on all they want about ‘catharsis’, but to me it seemed more like the pathetic end of the genetic line for those fellows, as far as I, a female of their species, was concerned.
4:45:39 PM 
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