Even though I had already seen Lord of War in the theater, I was just as disturbed the second time that I saw it here last week. I don’t even know where to begin. First of all, I really hate it when I can’t distinguish between the protagonist and the antagonist in movies. As a viewer, it’s endlessly frustrating to feel torn between loving and hating a character. Since we knew Nicholas Cage’s character, Yuri, the most in the movie and followed him on his journeys, I felt like I should be cheering for him but at the same time he was a “bad guy” for trading weapons so maliciously. The viewers also felt like they should hate Ethan Hawke’s character, Jack Valentine, because he was trying to bring down Yuri but he was actually the “good guy” trying to do the right thing by stopping Yuri. I realize that this is often the best kind of movie – the ones that tear you up emotionally and morally. I realize there is a strategy behind the way this kind of movie is produced because it has such an impact on the viewer. However, I just get so uncomfortable watching movies like Lord of War that I can’t fully enjoy them. (Having said that, I think the movie was very well done.)
The idea of weapon trade as portrayed in the movie makes me absolutely sick. Yuri often uses the excuse that if he weren’t trading these killing machines then somebody else would be. I hate that we just accept this statement as true because of human nature. We all know that killing is inevitable, but there are ways to minimize it and limiting access to weapons would be an enormous improvement. Our country’s massive production and distribution of weapons is something to be ashamed of, but at the same time it is what brings us our power. Without our power, we wouldn’t have the liberties that we enjoy. So I am endlessly conflicted. There is no way that I could possibly say that I believe we should stop producing and distributing weapons because I know that could never happen… but if I could choose then I would do away with the whole thing. Without weapons in the hands of so many troubled, greedy humans, it would be much harder to kill and it would be much easier to live.
The worst part for me, and probably many of you, was seeing young boys with guns in their hands. It actually brought me close to tears because it’s just so unfair. We send our American sons to therapy and put them on medications for the slightest of reasons like anger management or aggression. Imagine how much more mental damage these young African boys must be coping with. It’s not just a shame for right now, but it’s a danger for the future. What is going to happen when these boys become men and by then are practically robotic killing machines? I’m not only distraught out of sympathy for these boys, but also scared for the future of the world population.
I’d like to say one last thing, not related to the movie. In class we were talking about marginalized groups and how they fit into the political scheme of things. Many American men and women disregard the need for these movements, like feminism, because in our country these problems are becoming less apparent. I have met many people who challenge me in my feminist beliefs arguing that feminism isn’t relevant anymore. We think that we are progressing past sexism, which, to a certain extent, is true; we are a very progressive country. But, there is SOOO much need for progression in the rest of the world that feminists and other groups can’t possibly give up yet. As long as there are still headlines in the New York Times about the extreme rape problems in Congo (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/18/world/africa/18congo.html?_r=1&ref=africa&oref=slogin) where hundreds of thousands of women are brutally raped in one country within the time span of a few years, there is work for feminists to do. If you can’t seem to grasp why feminism is still so important to our country AND the rest of the world then you need to read more articles like this. Personally, they are all the inspiration I need to keep fighting.
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2 comments:
Feminism is certainly needed in the Congo, as your anecdote illustrates. Feminism is probably needed in the United States as well. Sexism isn't entirely dead in the United States, and probably never will be within our lifetime; I'm sure you could find many anecdotes detailing bias against women in the USA. But at the same time, I think many so-called feminists insist on viewing everything through a prism of sexism and dramatizing the relatively minor struggles of most women in the contemporary United States.
For example, while I'm certainly in favor of abortion rights on mostly economic grounds (unwanted children and childbirths are often a drain on resources), I think feminist and pro-abortion groups sometimes unfairly characterize their opponents as sexist. Pro-choice groups don't see themselves as restricting just women's rights, and they don't favor restricting women's rights relative to men's rights. They begin with a simple view that life begins at conception, which leads to the logical conclusion that nobody, regardless of sex, should have the right to terminate a pregnancy. Likewise, even most of the real issues women face, like lower pay, aren't endemic primarily of sexism. The opponents of Lily Ledbetter didn't want to marginalize women -- they simply wanted to maximize profits, which meant paying everyone as little as they could get away with doing. In many ways, the effect of the feminist movement has been to simply favor women over men rather than promote true egalitarianism. Women have effective interest groups, but counter-feminist male interst groups often get branded as sexist. In education, for example, plenty of attention (and resource) gets paid to the achievement gap between males and females in the sciences science, and to standardized tests' bias towards males, but very little attention is paid to the American educational system's much larger systematic bias against males.
baracus; this is also something that I wanted to touch upon in my blog post, but i couldn't come up with anything better than 'melodramatic'. I think that a lot of 'feminists' give the movement a bad name because they are so opinionated and create issues where they don't exist. Thanks for being able to put this into words!
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