{"id":283,"date":"2012-06-23T14:42:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-23T14:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2012\/06\/on-violence-in-films-and-whether-young-teens-should-view-it-the-book-of-eli-as-an-example.html"},"modified":"2017-05-28T18:22:42","modified_gmt":"2017-05-28T22:22:42","slug":"on-violence-in-films-and-whether-young-teens-should-view-it-the-book-of-eli-as-an-example","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2012\/06\/on-violence-in-films-and-whether-young-teens-should-view-it-the-book-of-eli-as-an-example.html","title":{"rendered":"On Violence in Films & Young Teens (The Book of Eli)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
(The Book of Eli<\/em>\u00a0as an Example)<\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"Drive-in\"<\/a><\/div>\n
[source<\/a>]\n

***<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

(6-23-12)<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Recently, my wife Judy and I decided that our 15-year-old son shouldn\u2019t watch the movie, The Book of Eli<\/i> (rated R) at a \u201cmovie night\u201d with his friends. We came to that conclusion after reading a Christian movie review<\/a>. Many Christians seem to think it is okay for viewing, presumably because of the strong Christian themes (also praised in this same film review). That may be for adults, but with young teens I think it is a different story. We cannot agree that such an amount of violence, sex, and language in a film is appropriate for a 15-year-old.<\/p>\n

The review, even after praising Christian elements in the film, notes:<\/p>\n

Regrettably, extreme caution is advised for the movie\u2019s excessive amount of extreme, brutal violence as well as some scenes of implied rape and attempted rape, and an unnecessary amount of foul language. It may be difficult for many viewers to sit through a few of the scenes because the violence is at times so abrupt and unexpected, almost shocking. Please see the content section for a more complete explanation of the objectionable material.<\/div>\n

Personally, I don\u2019t think these things need to be included. It could easily have been a PG-13 without all this explicit stuff. It\u2019s not necessary. But that\u2019s my opinion from an artistic perspective, of how to do a film. I know that reasonable and good folks can differ on that. The question comes down to what is gratuitous<\/i>, unnecessary<\/i> sex, violence, and language in a movie.<\/p>\n

Even Hollywood recognizes that there is an appropriate age differential for movies (hence the rating system); it\u2019s not like it is some novel concept. Nor do we apply it absolutely or legalistically. Our son has seen The Passion of the Christ<\/i>; I have no problem with him watching For Greater Glory<\/i>, or the older Glory<\/i>; possibly even Saving Private Ryan<\/i>, if he can stomach it: all R-rated. I don\u2019t think those have gratuitous<\/i> violence or sex or bad language. That\u2019s the key to the discussion. Those movies are also all about real events, and a discussion can be had about the propriety of showing things as they really occurred.<\/p>\n

If The Book of Eli<\/i> had been made in 1960 it could have been just as good without the foul language, sexual innuendoes, gory violence, etc. That\u2019s unnecessary to the plot or the impact, in my opinion. The movie doesn\u2019t have<\/i> to be made that way. I could construct a reductio ad absurdum<\/i> argument about a film about the woman caught in adultery in the Bible or Bathsheba, which includes a half-hour scene of graphic intercourse, in order to show \u201crealistically\u201d what these women (or their lovers) went through. I think that illustrates the flaws in that sort of reasoning.<\/p>\n

There are lines that can be drawn, in rational Christian (or even purely secular) argument, and opposition to such things is not mere (or necessarily) prudery or excessive \u201cpuritanical\u201d legalism. Beyond this, I would contend that our culture continues to become more and more coarse and permissive as to what is fit in public. We\u2019ve seen that in all these ways: language, sexuality, and portrayals of violence. It\u2019s not silly or \u201cold-fashioned\u201d to engage in sensible philosophical, Christian-influenced discussion as to how far is too far. It\u2019s not about \u201ccensorship\u201d; it\u2019s about intelligent and moral choices concerning how we spend our time with entertainment or reading \/ viewing materials. Reasonable and good people can differ (very good friends of ours do). I\u2019m just saying that a discussion<\/i> about it is helpful and should take place, and that my view on this can be fully defended on several levels.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think The Passion<\/i> has gratuitous <\/i>violence. I think a cogent argument can be made for that, and I agree with it. The same applies to Saving Private Ryan<\/i>. It was, I think, necessary to the plot to give viewers a jarring idea of the actual traumatic, horrifying experience of D-Day. Thus, we can experience in some sense \u201cexactly\u201d what Jesus went through and what the brave soldiers in Normandy endured, in order to preserve our freedoms. I personally appreciated that very much, for the purpose of empathy and better understanding. Schindler\u2019s List<\/i> falls into this category, too, though bottomless<\/i> scenes in Auschwitz were gratuitous, in my opinion, and I remember a single friend of mine objecting strongly to that at the time (with full justification, I think).<\/p>\n

My wife Judy would never watch The Passion <\/i>(nor The Book of Eli<\/i>) because she is too sensitive to that. She\u2019d have nightmares for weeks. I\u2019m not sensitive or opposed in that<\/i> sense (squeamishness or \u201cfragility\u201d); I\u2019m simultaneously making both an artistic (filmmaking philosophies and techniques) and \u201cparental\u201d argument.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a second evangelical review<\/a> of The Book of Eli<\/i> with the same sorts of concerns:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s got loads of violence, and we know violence isn\u2019t exactly the healthiest stuff to consume in a media diet. But evangelicals have always been a bit more at peace with violence in film than, say, bare bosoms, . . .<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And I understand the appeal: Washington\u2019s Eli is, literally, on a mission from God\u2014protecting the last Bible on earth with all the vim and vigor his gun-toting, blade-thwacking self can muster. It\u2019s got just scads of really powerful, really positive messages and lots of ideas to discuss. . . .<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
It has the sort of spiritual themes I\u2019d love to show and discuss with my teenage kids\u2014if it wasn\u2019t for all the flying blood and hacked limbs and cannibalism and such.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In my review, I essentially said that Eli<\/i>\u2018s violence doesn\u2019t nullify Eli<\/i>\u2018s message. But neither does Eli<\/i>\u2018s message excuse its violence. The tension between these two elements made it a particularly tricky film for me to review.<\/div>\n

Another one<\/a> praises the Christian theme, details the violence to the nth degree, and concludes:<\/p>\n

Despite the heavy violence<\/a>, mature thematic content, and offensive language, \u201cThe Book of Eli\u201d is a thought-provoking film that has much to offer mature<\/b> audiences, as it asks viewers to reflect upon their own commitment to Christ<\/a>. [my bolding]<\/div>\n

Exactly, \u201cmature\u201d audiences . . . he doesn\u2019t get into my more philosophical argument about how much violence is necessary in a film to get the point across, but does recognize that it is for \u201cmature\u201d viewers.<\/p>\n

I saw a reference where Steven Greydanus, the respected Catholic reviewer, simply called the film<\/a> a \u201cdim-witted quasi-religious apocalyptic thriller . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

Common Sense Media<\/a> offers parental reviews, and notes that out of 21, 81% thought language was an issue, and violence, 67%. One says that it is \u201ccertainly not appropriate for younger children and younger teens.\u201d Another called his review, \u201c17 and up.\u201d A parent of a 15-year-old wrote:<\/p>\n

I made the mistake of going into this movie without checking the reviews and I regret taking my son to it. He kept his eyes covered and 30 minutes into it, asked if we could leave. I completely agreed. Extreme violence\/gore, nudity, vulgar language, etc. As much as I love Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman, I really couldn\u2019t stomach this one.<\/div>\n

Wikipedia<\/a> notes that reviews were highly mixed. Entertainment Weekly<\/i><\/a>, e.g., rated it as a \u201cD\u201d \u2014 without any overt anti-Christian bias that I could see.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve gone back and forth as to whether I will watch The Book of Eli<\/i> myself. At first I was inclined to; now I am leaning against watching it, based on several reviews I have read. But I haven\u2019t fully decided yet. If someone says that it is silly to judge a movie without watching it (should I decide not to), I reply that this is what movie reviews (like book or music album reviews) are for<\/i>: to help potential customers make an intelligent choice as to how to spend their time, up to and including a refusal to watch \/ read \/ listen.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a big fan of \u201caction\u201d flicks, anyway (what I derisively refer to as \u201ccars overturning and flying around every minute\u201d movies). A product has to earn the \u201cright\u201d (so to speak) to be experienced: for folks to spend money enjoying it. Otherwise, who cares about a review, if it has no effect on our decision, pro-or con? They would be perfectly irrelevant: like one person preferring vanilla in ice cream, and another chocolate (me!).<\/p>\n

I agree that it is quite obvious that a person will know more <\/i>about a film by watching it rather than not <\/i>doing so, but I disagree with some who think that it is irrational to refrain from watching, based on reviews, or to come to a negative conclusion based on same; because this is the purpose<\/i> of a review: to help people make wise choices as to how to spend their time.<\/p>\n

As an author myself, I have to do my best and work hard in order to write a book that earns a good review (and I do<\/i> get good reviews most of the time on amazon and elsewhere), thus causing relatively more people to purchase and buy. I can\u2019t just sit here and say that everyone must <\/i>read my book to have any informed opinion about it at all (if reviews exist and can be accessed), if it is not a quality work. No! Quality and worthwhile (in my case, educational and edifying) material has to be present, and that comes by hard work and earning approval. It\u2019s not automatic. No one is required<\/i> to read any of my books anymore than I am \u201crequired\u201d to watch The Book of Eli<\/i>.<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(The Book of Eli\u00a0as an Example) [source] *** (6-23-12) *** Recently, my wife Judy and I decided that our 15-year-old son shouldn\u2019t watch the movie, The Book of Eli (rated R) at a \u201cmovie night\u201d with his friends. We came to that conclusion after reading a Christian movie review. Many Christians seem to think it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":5566,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[289],"tags":[934,1873,1872,1868,1874,1871,1870,1867,1869],"class_list":["post-283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-ethical-moral-issues","tag-aesthetics","tag-art","tag-drama","tag-film","tag-gratuitous-violence","tag-literature","tag-storytelling","tag-tv","tag-violence-in-entertainment"],"yoast_head":"\nOn Violence in Films & Young Teens (The Book of Eli)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Even Hollywood recognizes that there is an appropriate age differential for movies (hence the rating system). 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Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \\\"Surprised by Truth\\\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \\\"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\\\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \\\"The Catholic Verses\\\" (2004), \\\"The One-Minute Apologist\\\" (2007), \\\"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\\\" (2009), \\\"The Quotable Newman\\\" (editor: 2012), and \\\"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\\\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \\\"The New Catholic Answer Bible\\\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \\\"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\\\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \\\"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\\\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \\\"Quotable Wesley\\\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"On Violence in Films & Young Teens (The Book of Eli)","description":"Even Hollywood recognizes that there is an appropriate age differential for movies (hence the rating system). 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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).","sameAs":["https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}