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In Reply to: Re: vicious? You mean it was made to offend you? Swank knew about you posted by Victor Khomenko on February 22, 2005 at 08:08:43:
I think the first question to ask yourself is why you see films. There are many reasons to see films. To be educated on an event or issue that you were not aware of. To simply be entertained. To laugh. To cry. To escape into another world. To see other cultures and learn about other people. To see "art", much as one listens to a symphony.Have you seen the documentary "The Brandon Teena Story?" You write that the violence was "gratuitous." Gratuitous violence is violence that was unnecessary to tell the story, placed there merely to titillate. If one of the purposes of seeing a film is to educate oneself to the actual event, when that film is based upon the actual event, then the violence in Boys Don't Cry was certainly not gratuitous, because the point of the film was to depict what she endured. The violence was there to educate, not to titillate. Frankly, I do not want a story sugarcoated. Tell me the way it was.
Had the violence not been in the film, then the film could have been ten minutes: she pretended to be a boy in rural America, she hooked up with another girl who thought she was a boy, and she was killed by some rabble. But that was not the point of the film. The point of the film was to educate you as to what she endured, from beginning to end, which could not have been accomplished had the violence not been shown. It was very necessary to the story. If you are not interested in the violence, do not watch the film. But because you did not appreciate the importance of the violence does not make it gratuitous. I suspect that despite your distaste for violence, you know more about Teena Brandon and her life after seeing the film than before. Not pleasant. Not necessarily entertaining. But certainly educational.
If you want to be entertained, view films that are presumably high art, cause you to laugh, cry, etc., then look elsewhere. But to blame a film because it did not satisfy the purpose you watched in the first place is at best unfair, at worst arrogant. You chose the film, it did not choose you. Review the film that was made, not the film you would have made.
If you watched the documentary, you would realize that the events as depicted in the film are very close to the real life events. The documentary included real interrogations by the local law enforcement of the physical beatings she endured. Local law enforcement was not very sympathetic, to say the least. Does this make it necessarily a great film, or a better film? No. But it makes it more educational than one which did not depict the real events as they actually happened. The subject matter of the film is unpleasant. Why cop out?
I personally see films for all the above reasons. Sometimes I like to eat ice cream, even though it provides little nutritional value, and sometimes even when I am not hungry. I appreciated Boys Don't Cry because it allowed me see an event, warts and all, that I would not have been able to see otherwise. Why? Because there are times I am curious to see things, even bad things, that others must go through. You apparently have little interest in seeing things that other people must experience and endure as long as it has no direct impact on you or your life. That is fine. But then, why see the film in the first place. Since Friday, I have seen Kill Bill, Vol.II, Good Bye, Lenin!, Bon Voyage, Shrek II, and am in the process of watching Scooby Doo II. Very different films different reasons for watching. I do not see all for the same reasons, and do not expect the same reasons for watching to be satisfied.
Lastly, I am not sure what you mean by "lame directing." The purpose of directing is to communicate the story, which was most clearly accomplished. Was it the best directed film of 1999? Probably not. What should the director have done differently?
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Follow Ups
- Re: vicious? You mean it was made to offend you? Swank knew about you - jamesgarvin 15:45:59 02/22/05 (0)
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