Growing Older

I can remember sitting in the theatre thinking that the movie just wasn't doing it for me. There was too much violence. Too much simple bloodshed.

The movie was "Casino Royale," and while I think it's a pretty good Bond film, all things considered, my days of enjoying Bond films were gone. I looked at these movies and saw a culture that idolized and fetishized violence, guns, death, power, and didn't really like what I saw. I can't say for certain when it all happened, but it did. I had grown tired of "middle-aged men doing violent things" as a movie genre.

That's not to say I can't enjoy violent movies, but I find myself increasingly perturbed at movies that toss around mass casualties like a feather. Movies and media don't inherently make people violent, but we do know that kids have a higher propensity to, say, drink or smoke, if they get to consume media in which people do regularly.

I still don't know what it says about us all that all of our most popular movies involves explosions, guns, and death. I realize the power fantasies some have, even if I don't really understand them. What I don't get is how this kind of thing is "cool" or "sexy." There's nothing cool about lots and lots of violence and death.

Or maybe I'm just getting old.