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THE DAILY COLLEGIAN Wednesday, October 22, 1997 Opinion Telephone: (209) 278-5732 Violence in movie goes beyond reason By Rod Dreher While watching the film "Kiss the Girls," I fought off the urge to leave the theater. The movie stars Morgan Freeman as a police psy¬ chiatrist tracking a serial killer who kidnaps young women and sexually tortures them, savagely murdering those who fail to participate prop¬ erly in his psychosexual rituals. Of course, a film critic is profession¬ ally obliged to watch a film through till the end, and I did. Initially believing that my repul¬ sion arose strictly from personal taste. I ultimately gave "Kiss the Girls" a so-so rating. It wasn't ar¬ tistically distinguished, but it was technically competent, and even though the movie was thematically unpleasant, at least it wasn't as gory as many films of the genre. But I couldn't get distaste for the movie off my mind. Then I read the cover story in the September issue of the Atlantic Monthly. It's a loifg piece about the suffering of mur¬ der victims' families. Noting the "extraordinarily high" U.S. murder rate, and the rise of mass murders and serial killings over the past few decades. Eric Schlosser writes: "In¬ stead of producing widespread re¬ vulsion toward violence... ' America's murder rate has inspired an altogether different response: a culture of murder, with the mur¬ derer at its core." Crime fiction and crime journalism have long been a staple of public life, he says, "but only in recent years has the serial killer become a national icon, end¬ lessly portrayed in movies, books, and popular music." Schlosser con¬ cludes that "a culture of murder now surrounds us. like a dark, poi¬ sonous fog." It's a fog, so thick and disorient¬ ing, that many of us fail to see what would have been plain as day to someone from a less homicidal time or a more civilized place. "Kiss the Girls" is a movie that, to entertain its audience, rehes on the idea of helpless women being sexually tor¬ tured and executed. Naturally, wc are meant to root for Morgan Free¬ man to catch the mysterious villain, but scenes of the killer's sadistic treatment of these imprisoned women are shown to evoke a sense of fearful fascination with his sick mind. The use of grim, sexualizcd violence in "Kiss the Girls" is barely distinguishable from the use of sex in pornography: It exists solely to exploit base, dehumaniz¬ ing impulses for the sake of kinky titillation. And that is immoral, worthy not of our indifference, but our condemnation. Why? How do we decide when the cinematic depiction of evil is morally acceptable and artistically permissible? This is not meant as a legal question: Aside from snuff films and child pornography, these days an adult can sec just about anything he wants to without arous¬ ing the ire of the state. The ques¬ tion is not one of "May I see this?" but "Ought I see this?" Start with the idea that film, like all representative art, by its very nature reflects certain viewpoints. Just as we make moral judgments of events and actions in the real world, we tend to do the same thing with the scenarios presented to us in film (Hannibal Lectcr is a villain, Clarice Starling is a heroine). Fol¬ lowing the classical definition, se¬ rious films, like all serious art, have two functions: to please, and to in¬ struct. (Even movies not intended to be ethically didactic can't help reflecting certain assumptions, about right and wrong, and are thus instructive by default). What a film tells us about vio¬ lence, both in the drama and the accompanying visuals, relates to us the filmmaker's vision of the place of violence in our world. The truth is not always readily apparent: In the slasher film, the killers are al¬ ways depicted as monsters, but the Please see GORY page 5. •*¥* » - —- -. ^^^unv^mt/n**^ ^ shot ve&cw&s WHO €&& KIDS D^N'T LEARN ANYTHING IK SO400UR.. Term disabled gives group a false, 'handicapping' label By Robert Orozco . I believe people have a common misconception about one group of students on campus. The Disabled. I mean really, when I mention the word disability, the most common thought is of someone in a wheel¬ chair, or blind, or deaf. The stereo¬ type "handicapped" comes to mind rather quickly. Did you ever really begin to think that this thought is not completely correct? I went around campus and asked this ques¬ tion, and the above assumption was the answer given seven out of 10 times. Well, I was proven incorrecr by a couple of people I spoke with. "A student with a disability can be anyone who is blind, deaf, in a wheelchair, or someone who may have a learning disability, and even someone who has temporarily been disabled due to an accident," said Ruth Saludes, director of testing for the Services for Students with Dis¬ abilities Office. The SSD office is located in the Henry Madden Library, Room 1049. next to the government docu¬ ments section. October is National Disability Awareness month, with activities planned for the 20th through the 24th. The week will give students here at Fresno State the opportunity to find out what "being disabled" is all about. The week will also feature the artwork of ClaytonTumcr. who is an Artist in ResidencV^ith the Foot and Mouth Painters. Being disabled is not about be¬ ing stuck in a wheelchair or being blind. Being disabled is about not being able to perform tasks with¬ out the aid of something else. The disabled are not separate from so¬ ciety, they are normal people like you and I who just cannot do the same things as most people Rebecca Monies, a graduate stu¬ dent assistant, reported that the SSD office offers many services to siu dents. These services include: test ing (to determine it you have a learning disability), a reading pro¬ gram, computer labs, closcd-cap- (ioned television labs, note takers*both paid and voluntary), and sign language interpreters. "Ac¬ tively, there are approximately 6(X) students using our services." said Monies. "This number does not in elude the students who don't utili/e our services." If you or anyone you know is having a learning problems or sim¬ ply has been temporarily disabled, encourage them to utilize the ser¬ vices that are there for them. As National Disability Aware¬ ness month dawns upon us, think about how much harder it is for a disabled person to perform "nor¬ mal"'everyday tasks that we take for granted. Daily Collegian California State University, Fresno Business Manager Ginger Terstegcn Copy Editors Cheramie Taylor Terry Koeppel Production Manager Matthew Hart Editor in Chief Derek Walter Managing Editor Luis Hernandez Assignment Editor David Childers Ad Manager Judy Yhnell Photo Editor Ryan Weber Web Production Jason Maggini StafT Writers: Kimberly Barber. Timothy Bragg. Jeff Criesi. Nakisha Dickens. Chcrie Arambel, Yvonne Marline/., Cheryl Ensom Sports Writers: Kyoko Hoshino, John Sanders, Toni A. Garcia-Delgado. Phil Kakligian. Stephen Case. Rvan Estrada Columnists: Hakim Allen. Manuel Annear, Joel'Eanes. Larry Famsworth Ad Reps: Amy Yhnell Circulation: Sam Robles The Daily Collegian is pub¬ lished five times a week for and by the students of California State University. Fresno. Opinions expressed in the Collegian are not necessarily those of the entire Daily Colle¬ gian staff. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for length and clarity. To be considered for publication, letters must be typed1 and should not exceed 250 words. Telephone Directory: Editor: (209)278-5732 News: (209)278-2486 Sports: (209)278-5733 Advertising: (209)278-5731 FAX: (209)278-2679 Email us at: collegian@csufresno.edu . ^
Object Description
Title | 1997_10 The Daily Collegian October 1997 |
Alternative Title | Daily Collegian (California State University, Fresno) |
Publisher | Associated Students of Fresno State, Fresno, Calif. |
Publication Date | 1997 |
Description | Daily (except weedends) during the school year. Microfilm. Palo Alto, Calif.: BMI Library Microfilms, 1986- microfilm reels; 35 mm. Vol.1, no.1 (Feb 8, 1922)- |
Subject | California State University, Fresno -- Periodicals. |
Contributors | Associated Students of Fresno State. |
Coverage | Vol.1 no.1 (Feb 8, 1922)- to present |
Format | Microfilm reels, 35 mm. |
Technical Information | Scanned at 600 dpi; TIFF; Microfilm ScanPro 2000 "E-image data" |
Language | eng |
Description
Title | October 22, 1997, Page 2 |
Alternative Title | Daily Collegian (California State University, Fresno) |
Publisher | Associated Students of Fresno State, Fresno, Calif. |
Publication Date | 1997 |
Description | Daily (except weedends) during the school year. Microfilm. Palo Alto, Calif.: BMI Library Microfilms, 1986- microfilm reels; 35 mm. Vol.1, no.1 (Feb 8, 1922)- |
Subject | California State University, Fresno -- Periodicals. |
Contributors | Associated Students of Fresno State. |
Coverage | Vol.1 no.1 (Feb 8, 1922)- to present |
Format | Microfilm reels, 35 mm. |
Technical Information | Scanned at 600 dpi; TIFF; Microfilm ScanPro 2000 "E-image data" |
Language | eng |
Full-Text-Search | THE DAILY COLLEGIAN Wednesday, October 22, 1997 Opinion Telephone: (209) 278-5732 Violence in movie goes beyond reason By Rod Dreher While watching the film "Kiss the Girls," I fought off the urge to leave the theater. The movie stars Morgan Freeman as a police psy¬ chiatrist tracking a serial killer who kidnaps young women and sexually tortures them, savagely murdering those who fail to participate prop¬ erly in his psychosexual rituals. Of course, a film critic is profession¬ ally obliged to watch a film through till the end, and I did. Initially believing that my repul¬ sion arose strictly from personal taste. I ultimately gave "Kiss the Girls" a so-so rating. It wasn't ar¬ tistically distinguished, but it was technically competent, and even though the movie was thematically unpleasant, at least it wasn't as gory as many films of the genre. But I couldn't get distaste for the movie off my mind. Then I read the cover story in the September issue of the Atlantic Monthly. It's a loifg piece about the suffering of mur¬ der victims' families. Noting the "extraordinarily high" U.S. murder rate, and the rise of mass murders and serial killings over the past few decades. Eric Schlosser writes: "In¬ stead of producing widespread re¬ vulsion toward violence... ' America's murder rate has inspired an altogether different response: a culture of murder, with the mur¬ derer at its core." Crime fiction and crime journalism have long been a staple of public life, he says, "but only in recent years has the serial killer become a national icon, end¬ lessly portrayed in movies, books, and popular music." Schlosser con¬ cludes that "a culture of murder now surrounds us. like a dark, poi¬ sonous fog." It's a fog, so thick and disorient¬ ing, that many of us fail to see what would have been plain as day to someone from a less homicidal time or a more civilized place. "Kiss the Girls" is a movie that, to entertain its audience, rehes on the idea of helpless women being sexually tor¬ tured and executed. Naturally, wc are meant to root for Morgan Free¬ man to catch the mysterious villain, but scenes of the killer's sadistic treatment of these imprisoned women are shown to evoke a sense of fearful fascination with his sick mind. The use of grim, sexualizcd violence in "Kiss the Girls" is barely distinguishable from the use of sex in pornography: It exists solely to exploit base, dehumaniz¬ ing impulses for the sake of kinky titillation. And that is immoral, worthy not of our indifference, but our condemnation. Why? How do we decide when the cinematic depiction of evil is morally acceptable and artistically permissible? This is not meant as a legal question: Aside from snuff films and child pornography, these days an adult can sec just about anything he wants to without arous¬ ing the ire of the state. The ques¬ tion is not one of "May I see this?" but "Ought I see this?" Start with the idea that film, like all representative art, by its very nature reflects certain viewpoints. Just as we make moral judgments of events and actions in the real world, we tend to do the same thing with the scenarios presented to us in film (Hannibal Lectcr is a villain, Clarice Starling is a heroine). Fol¬ lowing the classical definition, se¬ rious films, like all serious art, have two functions: to please, and to in¬ struct. (Even movies not intended to be ethically didactic can't help reflecting certain assumptions, about right and wrong, and are thus instructive by default). What a film tells us about vio¬ lence, both in the drama and the accompanying visuals, relates to us the filmmaker's vision of the place of violence in our world. The truth is not always readily apparent: In the slasher film, the killers are al¬ ways depicted as monsters, but the Please see GORY page 5. •*¥* » - —- -. ^^^unv^mt/n**^ ^ shot ve&cw&s WHO €&& KIDS D^N'T LEARN ANYTHING IK SO400UR.. Term disabled gives group a false, 'handicapping' label By Robert Orozco . I believe people have a common misconception about one group of students on campus. The Disabled. I mean really, when I mention the word disability, the most common thought is of someone in a wheel¬ chair, or blind, or deaf. The stereo¬ type "handicapped" comes to mind rather quickly. Did you ever really begin to think that this thought is not completely correct? I went around campus and asked this ques¬ tion, and the above assumption was the answer given seven out of 10 times. Well, I was proven incorrecr by a couple of people I spoke with. "A student with a disability can be anyone who is blind, deaf, in a wheelchair, or someone who may have a learning disability, and even someone who has temporarily been disabled due to an accident," said Ruth Saludes, director of testing for the Services for Students with Dis¬ abilities Office. The SSD office is located in the Henry Madden Library, Room 1049. next to the government docu¬ ments section. October is National Disability Awareness month, with activities planned for the 20th through the 24th. The week will give students here at Fresno State the opportunity to find out what "being disabled" is all about. The week will also feature the artwork of ClaytonTumcr. who is an Artist in ResidencV^ith the Foot and Mouth Painters. Being disabled is not about be¬ ing stuck in a wheelchair or being blind. Being disabled is about not being able to perform tasks with¬ out the aid of something else. The disabled are not separate from so¬ ciety, they are normal people like you and I who just cannot do the same things as most people Rebecca Monies, a graduate stu¬ dent assistant, reported that the SSD office offers many services to siu dents. These services include: test ing (to determine it you have a learning disability), a reading pro¬ gram, computer labs, closcd-cap- (ioned television labs, note takers*both paid and voluntary), and sign language interpreters. "Ac¬ tively, there are approximately 6(X) students using our services." said Monies. "This number does not in elude the students who don't utili/e our services." If you or anyone you know is having a learning problems or sim¬ ply has been temporarily disabled, encourage them to utilize the ser¬ vices that are there for them. As National Disability Aware¬ ness month dawns upon us, think about how much harder it is for a disabled person to perform "nor¬ mal"'everyday tasks that we take for granted. Daily Collegian California State University, Fresno Business Manager Ginger Terstegcn Copy Editors Cheramie Taylor Terry Koeppel Production Manager Matthew Hart Editor in Chief Derek Walter Managing Editor Luis Hernandez Assignment Editor David Childers Ad Manager Judy Yhnell Photo Editor Ryan Weber Web Production Jason Maggini StafT Writers: Kimberly Barber. Timothy Bragg. Jeff Criesi. Nakisha Dickens. Chcrie Arambel, Yvonne Marline/., Cheryl Ensom Sports Writers: Kyoko Hoshino, John Sanders, Toni A. Garcia-Delgado. Phil Kakligian. Stephen Case. Rvan Estrada Columnists: Hakim Allen. Manuel Annear, Joel'Eanes. Larry Famsworth Ad Reps: Amy Yhnell Circulation: Sam Robles The Daily Collegian is pub¬ lished five times a week for and by the students of California State University. Fresno. Opinions expressed in the Collegian are not necessarily those of the entire Daily Colle¬ gian staff. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for length and clarity. To be considered for publication, letters must be typed1 and should not exceed 250 words. Telephone Directory: Editor: (209)278-5732 News: (209)278-2486 Sports: (209)278-5733 Advertising: (209)278-5731 FAX: (209)278-2679 Email us at: collegian@csufresno.edu . ^ |