Very Sad Day for Mankind
Just wanted to say something about how I am feeling. Yesterday I was working next to the Montreal shootings at a local junior college. It is of course very upsetting for everyone, especially the family and friends of the dead or wounded.
I am not quite sure why there are people, primarily men, that wish to kill and maime other people, as opposed to taking their own lives, when they feel bored and useless. There will of course be further discussion about the role of violence in our film and games.
That made me start to think about my own love for the spaghetti western. It seems that it is just part of the evolution in the media and entertainment which I was exposed to when I was a young pre-adolescent and adolescent. My fascination with these movies and works by Leoni or westerns could be not much unlike the man's who decided yesterday to kill perfect strangers. I of course enjoyed the killing in these movies, perhaps in some higher art form, but then again murder by any other name. Maybe it is the difference between 30+ years or it is no different. I suppose there are many reasons while one person can manage the images and feelings it arouses and others can not and wish to act them out.
I remember when my fascination for these films changed. It was at a screening of El Topo which I went to see with my father. I do not think I stayed through the whole thing. It was too much like what happened yesterday here in Montreal. To random without a plot. If that should really matter.
It is interesting, as most people would say that I am one of the most gentle people they know. I guess I need to thank El Topo or perhaps my father was providing me with a valuable lesson and I was not aware until this day.
Perhaps it is the ancient clash of good and evil that appeals to me in these films. I just wish that film did not have to often mimic real life. Yesterday it appears to have in Montreal.
Truly Lamenting Today
I am not quite sure why there are people, primarily men, that wish to kill and maime other people, as opposed to taking their own lives, when they feel bored and useless. There will of course be further discussion about the role of violence in our film and games.
That made me start to think about my own love for the spaghetti western. It seems that it is just part of the evolution in the media and entertainment which I was exposed to when I was a young pre-adolescent and adolescent. My fascination with these movies and works by Leoni or westerns could be not much unlike the man's who decided yesterday to kill perfect strangers. I of course enjoyed the killing in these movies, perhaps in some higher art form, but then again murder by any other name. Maybe it is the difference between 30+ years or it is no different. I suppose there are many reasons while one person can manage the images and feelings it arouses and others can not and wish to act them out.
I remember when my fascination for these films changed. It was at a screening of El Topo which I went to see with my father. I do not think I stayed through the whole thing. It was too much like what happened yesterday here in Montreal. To random without a plot. If that should really matter.
It is interesting, as most people would say that I am one of the most gentle people they know. I guess I need to thank El Topo or perhaps my father was providing me with a valuable lesson and I was not aware until this day.
Perhaps it is the ancient clash of good and evil that appeals to me in these films. I just wish that film did not have to often mimic real life. Yesterday it appears to have in Montreal.
Truly Lamenting Today
posted by Lament at 4:33 AM
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