Walton brings up an interesting discussion in this week’s reading about whether or not an audience will enjoy a movie that supports morally questionable themes. For example, is it appropriate to enjoy a movie that claims slavery is just? Walton brings up this topic when discussing coordination between individuals during a mimetic experience. More specifically, he is talking about how we must align with the mutual beliefs of the time period during which the mimetic work was present. However, this question is relevant even for modern films. For example, Funny Games is about a family held hostage by two young men. Throughout the movie, the family is forced into physical and mental torture. In the end, the young men kill the entire family and dispose of their bodies in a nearby lake. The last scene shows the two men entering another family’s house to repeat their mayhem. This movie depicts a variety of morally questionable themes, such as the general theme of evil prevailing. As Walton mentions, to truly enjoy a story like this, one must be willing to accept these morally compromised themes while watching the film. Yet, will the audience enjoy this film? In regards to Funny Games, my feelings are mixed. I enjoyed that the film didn’t have the atypical happy ending that similar films had. At the same time, I felt unsettled after watching it.
Walton suggests that we should avoid such films that exhibit vicious or perverse conduct. Yet, there is a huge market for movies like Hostel that exhibit “torture porn.” Perhaps, like I when I was watching Funny Games, people get enjoyment from watching such violent acts, but at the same time feel unsettled when watching them. This coule be why, though there is a large market for torture porn, these movies are not the norm. People enjoy these kinds of movies on occasion, but generally like to see movies with good moral values.
I'm glad you raised this -- we'll be talking about it in class soon. Does anyone else have an example of a mimetic work that seemed to want you to take a moral attitude you found distasteful?
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting post. I was just thinking of something like this. That is, because a particular film was recently brought to my attention. You may have heard of the film. It is called The Human Centipede. It is an incredibly graphic and cruel film. I have not actually seen the film yet, but I can tell you that just watching the trailer for the film was rather disturbing. Anyhow, it seems that movies like that are the type of thing you are talking about. Actually, I may have not seen the movie yet for the reason you were stating--i.e. that I did not accept the film's moral attitude, because I found it to be distasteful. Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteYeah I also saw the trailer for The Human Centipede and it is definitely similar to movies like Hostel and Saw. Going back to Socrates' point about corrupting the youth, he might have a point that graphic movies like these can corrupt the moral attitudes of a young mind.
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