movies and genocide...
I just overheard a couple women talking at my gym. I couldn't see them; they were behind a partition in the locker room, and I just heard snippets of their conversation.
They were talking about movies and TV shows. I overheard some comment about Hilary Swank, and "I hope she wins," so I'm guessing it was about a reality show. Then one woman said, "We went and saw 'Hotel Rwanda.' That was sad! I cried like a baby."
"Yeah," the other woman agreed. "But he survived." (Must have been about the main character, the hotel owner -- I haven't seen the movie.)
Then they went on to talk about Saturday Night Live.
And that was kind of stunning. I had expected more discussion. How come it happened? Would it happen again? What could we do? Who are we, as a species, that we are capable of mass murder like that? And it's certainly not an isolated incident...
But then it occurred to me that to these women, it probably wasn't real. It was just a story. A movie like any other movie.
So maybe we are doing stories and events like that a disservice by turning them into movies for "entertainment." They become stories, yes. But they're still not real for people. Or, worse, facts get twisted and "rewritten" to make the plot flow better.
But if it isn't filmed and turned into a movie, most Americans would probably forget about it in an instant, if they ever even knew about it in the first place. Then again, hey. Why do we need to care what goes on in the rest of the world?
Ah, cynicism is such a loyal friend! :)
They were talking about movies and TV shows. I overheard some comment about Hilary Swank, and "I hope she wins," so I'm guessing it was about a reality show. Then one woman said, "We went and saw 'Hotel Rwanda.' That was sad! I cried like a baby."
"Yeah," the other woman agreed. "But he survived." (Must have been about the main character, the hotel owner -- I haven't seen the movie.)
Then they went on to talk about Saturday Night Live.
And that was kind of stunning. I had expected more discussion. How come it happened? Would it happen again? What could we do? Who are we, as a species, that we are capable of mass murder like that? And it's certainly not an isolated incident...
But then it occurred to me that to these women, it probably wasn't real. It was just a story. A movie like any other movie.
So maybe we are doing stories and events like that a disservice by turning them into movies for "entertainment." They become stories, yes. But they're still not real for people. Or, worse, facts get twisted and "rewritten" to make the plot flow better.
But if it isn't filmed and turned into a movie, most Americans would probably forget about it in an instant, if they ever even knew about it in the first place. Then again, hey. Why do we need to care what goes on in the rest of the world?
Ah, cynicism is such a loyal friend! :)