Movies and Killing

We were listening to Pandora Radio this afternoon. The Wife was on the way home, dinner was marinating on the counter and the kids were playing World of Goo on my Nook. More on that in another post. Pandora changed songs and the soundtrack from Gladiator started to play.

For whatever reason, the boy noted the music and then looked at the artwork floating on the screen. We listen to Pandora through Tivo and they put up a graphic of the cover art for the album and it floats around the screen. The kids like to check it out. He noted the word “Gladiator” and asked me about it. I told him it was a movie, but not one he could watch.

“Because it has a lot of killing in it?” he asked.

“Yeah, that’s part of if.”

“Ah man. Killing in movies is cool.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. My tone remained neutral. I was genuinely curious as to where this would go. I knew if I came on too strong, he’d clam up and get defensive.

“I don’t know. Killing wouldn’t be cool in real life, but in movies it’s cool the way the do it.”

Interesting. Without any prompting he distinguished between reality and fantasy. Now, I was actually curious about something else- perhaps he was ready for a movie like Gladiator?

“Why do you think killing in movies is cool?”

“I don’t know,” he answered and started to fidget. He was getting a little defensive.

“Well, what movies have you seen with killing that make you say it’s cool?” Off the top of my head, the only movie I could think of was Avengers. I was having a tough time thinking of any other movies he’d seen like that.

“Avengers,” he started “and that other one…” He was trying to remember. Nothing came to my mind. Then he blurted out “Oh, the one we just saw… Les Mis.”

Ah yes, Les Miserables. We’d let the kids stay up and start watching it one Saturday night, not expecting either of them to watch the whole thing. The lass didn’t make it, but the boy did. He was particularly interested in the battle scenes towards the end of the film.

Thinking about it, I realized he was likely swept up by the emotion of the movie. The singing and the music are very powerful in Les Miserables, even if the lyrics are a bit beyond his understanding. The fighting and death likely seemed glamorous because of the skillful portrayal done by the movie. Plus, as he’d alluded to earlier, he understood no one was really dieing so there was no consequence, no sense of loss.

I then went into an abbreviated discussion of what Gladiator was about. Explaining the basic plot, without getting into too much detail. I also talked about the violence in the movie, how it was all hand-to-hand with swords and shields. He was perplexed that there were no guns or explosions in the movie. At one point, he wondered why they didn’t just use gas. I had to keep explaining that the story took place at a point in time where there was no gas or other explosive technology.

By the end of the discussion, I was convinced he wasn’t ready to watch it yet. It’s one thing if he could pick up on the themes involved in such a story. It’s another to just be swept up by the emotion brought out by a film. Some other time.