How much should we tolerate in movies?

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My wife and I look at the overall point of the film (or TV show) rather than certain objectionable content within the film. For example, one of my favorite recent movies is Gran Torino, with Clint Eastwood. Now, the movie is filled with profanity and racial slurs, but anyone who has seen the film knows its moral is anything but racist, and Eastwood's character is simply a mean guy with a bad mouth - he's not to be praised so much as pitied.

I could have avoided the film because of the language, but I hear as bad or worse walking down the streets of Manhattan going to the theater. Should I missed out on a moving film simply because the language is what I hear on the street every single day? I didn't pay to hear the language, I paid to see a great movie with a touching story - the language was incidental.

The same applies to any other objectionable content, in my opinion. This where conscience and Christian liberty come into play in many cases. Should we not read Hamlet because of the violence and sexual innuendo? Or Crime and Punishment because it features an ax murder and a prostitute? Or C.S. Lewis' Till We Have Faces because of the fornication (not explicit) and violence? We would be missing out on a lot of God-given talent and edifying art if we skipped on everything with an iota of objectionable content. I don't know that there's an absolute place where we draw the line - I suppose it's up to the individual to decide.

Mason makes some good points here - though I haven't seen Gran Torino. But I think you could make a similar point with Changeling. There is a scene in that movie it would be nice to perpetually forget. But while the horror there may be too much for some (and I mean no disrespect by that; some people are more sensitive to certain things than others), I am not sorry I saw it, any more than I'm sorry that I read reports about a man who killed his wife and son, or about a German cannibal. While we need to be careful about tolerating moral ugliness on the grounds that it's "authentic" or "artistic" or "profound" or whatever (because we have an appetite for certain kinds of moral ugliness already, and because new appetites can be cultivated), we also need to remember that telling a tale that involves moral ugliness is not necessarily a morally ugly thing to do.
 
we also need to remember that telling a tale that involves moral ugliness is not necessarily a morally ugly thing to do.

Agreed, brother, as long as it is profitable to the hearer. Is a movie like that really profitable to the viewer? Where does the motivation, the appetite, for such a thing come from? I just can't understand it.
 
I think it's a matter of knowing yourself and your own temptations. One needs to know that if watching a movie is going to cause them to sin in any way. I find that I'm better off watching comedies than dramas.

Drama-type films tend to make me mad and lose my temper at all the propoganda whereas with a comedy I can laugh and relax. I really need to work on my nasty temper, so I stay away from films with themes that make me rant. There are some dramas that I like, but I really like comedies. I take life so seriously that I need to laugh. I also like suspense thrillers because I like the bad guy getting what he deserves in the end.

I agree. For instance, I could watch movies about robbery and theft all day. I've never had the unction to steal. It's just never been one of my weaknesses. On the other hand, if the movie was about... well... something else, OK? LOL In other words, I agree that knowing yourself and your own temptations has a lot to do with what type of movie you should watch.
 
we also need to remember that telling a tale that involves moral ugliness is not necessarily a morally ugly thing to do.

Agreed, brother, as long as it is profitable to the hearer. Is a movie like that really profitable to the viewer? Where does the motivation, the appetite, for such a thing come from? I just can't understand it.

I'm not sure what movie you're talking about, Kevin. Appetites for moral ugliness come from our depravity. We appear to be constructed with an appetite for stories that have meaning, and an enjoyment of picking up facts. Stories that are profound often have moral ugliness as a factor in them.
 
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