Films/DVD Asylum

"Glorify means putting the violence is a positive light."

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Donald

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In Reply to: Re: It's extremely overrated. posted by jamesgarvin on May 23, 2005 at 09:49:48:

Yes, and this is exactly what the filmmakers have done. They've made the violence cool and attractive, rather than horrible. The style of the undermines its message.

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Re: "Glorify means putting the violence is a positive light." - jamesgarvin 10:05:23 05/23/05 (2)
I am not sure we saw the same picture. I have seen many westerns. In my youth, and in my weaker moments as an adult, I have wanted to be Clint Eastwood. Free. No responsibility. And of course, being the fast draw and accurate shot. Killing the other guy before he kills you. And there is never a body to clean up. There is never any grieving mother, wives, or children. There is never any blood. Kill em' and move on.
Can't say I wanted to be any of the characters in City of God. Can't say that I would have enjoyed growing up in a place like that. The former is a clear glorification of violence because there are no consequences, but because it happens in another time and place, we give it a pass.
What positive spin does City of God make on violence? What benefit does the film tell us that violence accomplishes? Who are the bad guys that are portrayed as good guys? I see City of God, and I see despair, and violent people getting their just rewards, and getting it rather unpleasantly, not merely a quick shot, then keel over. Hardly a sales pitch to join that fraternity.
Surely, you feel that it glorifies violence, you must have some scenes in mind, or what or how, specifically, it glorifies violence.
- It's the way it's filmed. - Donald 10:48:00 05/23/05 (1)
  The violence is filmed in a seductive, attractive, hyper-stylized fashion that lends it an aura of hipness. The absurd, gigantic fight at the film's climax is a perfect example, as is the scene with the postal worker (I think he was a postal worker) giving the gang members they're come-uppance.
  The filmmakers surely intend to say the violence is nothing but tragic, but again, the stylized gloss they use to frame it simply obscures the point.
  - Re: It's the way it's filmed. - jamesgarvin 11:04:22 05/23/05 (0)
    I must say that I saw through the "gloss." I liked the style, but it did not obscure the message, for me. One could argue that the message of anti-violence is lost if told in the same tried and true formulas of cinema past. Why go to see another film in a style that has been done to death. Hard to get the message when no one wants to see the film. See bad guy shoot. See bad guy get shot. The style, I think, is designed to upgrade the film for the modern audience. I have seen many James Cagney films, and am not sure that the style would play well here. Or even a seventies style. Perhaps the modern audience is still smart enough the get the message underlying the style.
    Certainly, I have not heard from groups whose job it is to protect us from ourselves complaining that the film was glorifying violence. The photography on an album cover does not change the music inside, for me. I suspect that the demographic for this film, and say, The Fast and the Furious, for whom style is everything, was a little different.

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