Remember, Remember...

I saw the movie V for Vendetta yesterday, and I admit I was quite riveted by it. I definitely recommend it. It's not the action-packed thriller the studio seems to make it out to be, but it's got layers that make it interesting. Seems to me it's one of those types of movies where the themes and imagery could be picked apart for years to come. I certainly am thinking about seeing it again.

For those who don't know what it's about, I'll give you a brief summary: it's the near future, Britain is under totalitarian rule, and there is a man called "V" who is instigating a plot to overthrow the government.

In the movie, the government deems V a "terrorist." And there are those calling the movie anti-American, and perhaps promoting terrorism.

Huh?

A talk show host on MSNBC, whose name rhymes with Marlboro, discussed the movie briefly the other night. I normally steer 50 miles in the other direction of this show, but hey, I wanted to see what they were saying about the movie. "anti-American, blah-blah, anti-Christian, blah blah.." He even went on to say that people will walk away from the movie thinking terrorism is good. It was quite an amazing performance, I think.

Natalie Portman stars in the movie, and she grew up in Israel, and has mentioned how she grew up around terrorism. I remember reading in an interview that she says she doesn't believe the movie glorifies violence, but rather raises questions about it and (hopefully) makes us put violence in a harsher light.

People like these talk show hosts and certain religious shows wonder why people look at them strangely or judge their shows harshly. They're going around saying that movies like this are anti-American, and that movies like Harry Potter are going to "destroy your family." These people must not have a very high opinion of the American public's intelligence. I certainly didn't run out of the theater going, "woo hoo! terrorism rocks! I'm gonna go blow @#$%$@ up!!" I doubt very many people are going to do the same.

A couple of things I found funny about the "discussion" I witnessed. One was how he was saying that the movie is sending a terrible message to children and how he took his boys to go see it. The movie is rated R. It's not intended for children. You can't blame the movie when parents are taking underage kids to go see a movie not intended for them.

Secondly, was a theme from the movie. In the film, the government uses the media to basically enforce their point of view and make people think a certain way. In this particular discussion, on a media program, the man was discussing how bad the movie was, how not to go see it, how it had a negative impact.

Hmmm....