MAYBE OLD, BUT STILL TRUE

As one in the Senior Set (actually 65 + 10) it is a common thought those of my age to reminisce, “Old is better.” After looking through one of George F. Will’s books I consider classics. I like reading Will as long as I can keep a dictionary at arm’s reach but there were no big words in the article George Will wrote in “The Morning After” (American Successes and Excesses 1981-1986), specifically the essay entitled, “Movies As Child Abuse”. Copyright 1986, The Free Press, A Division of Macmillan, Inc., New York.

“Gory is great” – or at least that must be the criteria for many movies, TV or theater because there is so much of it. I have to admit the cowboy shoot-em-ups of the 1940’s were a little on the fake side but how much reality of “blood and guts” do you have to see to be content? When someone is shot today you not only hear the guns (and the impact of the bullet on the victim) you also see the blood from the exiting bullet splatter on the wall or a nearby piece of furniture. The detail editors occasionally “clean it up” by not showing the actual body being shot, but rather showing the blood splattering a mirror near the victim—great work for the gory details without seeing the victim getting shot.

George Will recounted the time he went to see Marathon Man (torture with a dental drill was involved) and he nearly ran from the theater. “The rest of the audience—like most movie audiences, mostly young, was unfazed.” George Will, is no child psychiatrist to my knowledge, but what he wrote deserves the attention of parents: “ The principal worry is not that repeated exposure to depictions of cruelty will make persons act cruelly. Rather, it is that it will produce persons who can respond only to depictions of excess. A generation raised on what are known as ‘slash films’ (Prom Night, Halloween, Friday the Thirteenth, etc.) may become unable to enjoy subtlety, nuance or delicacy. That is, they may be rendered immune to art.”

Be reminded, these quotes and observations are from the writings of George Will in the years 1981-1986. What’s happened since then? Do you remember Columbine High School, near Denver, Colorado, 1999; Heath High School, Paducah, Ky, 1997; Pearl High School, Pearl, Mississippi, 1997; an Amish school in Lancaster County, Pa., 2006, just to name a few. While these school shootings were going on in the U.S., Canada, Scotland, Sanaa (Yeman), were experiencing similar shootings. Could it be George Will is not only a great essayist but more like a prophet – what is it that drives such killers as we have seen in the last twenty-one years since Will wrote: “The Morning After”. Yes, we’re there (21 years later) and is it really appropriate that we are able to group “successes” with “excesses”? And, has the diet of excesses of gore and bloody details been good for young minds? And how could such an overall exposure to such mindless gore be presented or imbedded into so many minds in so many states and countries in the same period of time -- other than through television, video “games” and theaters — how else? Read George Will’s thoughts for the second time:

“The principal worry is not that repeated exposure to depictions of cruelty will make persons act cruelly. Rather, it is that it will produce persons who can respond only to depictions of excess. A generation raised on what are known as ‘slash films’ (Prom Night, Halloween, Friday the Thirteenth, etc.) may become unable to enjoy subtlety, nuance or delicacy. That is, they may be rendered immune to art.”

And what about a civilized society, respect for others and individual responsibility traded off with such immunity, George? Any questions?

THE WORDWRIGHT