Over the holidays, while you have dozens of relatives staying in your home, you feel obligated to amuse them, no? With hours to kill, you load up your minivan and take everyone to the movies. You fork over an entire mortgage payment to the ticket seller and pay almost as much to stock up on the giant-sized tubs of popcorn and gallons of soda. You scrounge for an empty row that seats your gaggle of family members and finally settle in for wholesome family entertainment. Or so you think.
I cringed over Thanksgiving watching a historically celebrated president portrayed saying “g–d—“ this and “g–d—” that, especially because my 71-year-old grandmother was sitting beside me. There were several more awkward moments in this multi-million dollar film. And it was rated PG-13!
So while Golden Globe nominations abound in your movie choices this Christmas, we warn you to choose with care. Among them is Django: Unchained, starring Jamie Foxx. Directed by Quentin Tarantino, this film utters the N-word more than 100 times and features extreme violence. Not exactly the family entertainment many Americans care to see, especially in the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy. Still, Tarantino and Foxx remain unapologetic for the movie’s content.
So why is it necessary for Hollywood directors and screen writers to include nudity, drug use, and foul language in a film? And why is this content now rated as PG-13? And more importantly, why is it accepted by audiences?
Denzel Washington’s latest film, Flight, was nothing but a crash-and-burn of American morals. Within the first two minutes, there was full frontal female nudity and cocaine use. Not a good start. So I let it go, thinking that it could only get better, right? Wrong. The movie got worse. Continued degrading of women, cocaine use, weed, and alcohol.
The scariest part was the audience’s reaction. While I sat there with my head shaking and contemplating leaving at any moment, those around me laughed and cheered on Denzel every time he picked up the bottle. Every time he cursed out his female friend and each and every time he did a line of coke. In hindsight, I wish I had left. I would have rather sat in the car alone. As a woman and as a Christian, my time and money could have been better spent. I had foolishly hoped that the film would pull itself out of the gutter, but as I now know, once a movie has started there it’s shown its true colors.
Last night showed me that I need to do my research before spending $12.50 on another movie, because that’s an hour-and-a-half I won’t get back … and images I just can’t shake.
Where do you draw the line?
Does art mimic life? Or does life mimic art? Should we be shocked when our children pick up the same language and behavior? What movies have you walked out on?
Today’s guest blogger is actually two women. This piece was authored by Alison Howard, Concerned Women for America’s (CWA) Executive Assistant to the CEO, and Chelsen Vicari, CWA’s Online Communications Strategist.