So I was watching the tube the other day and I saw an advertisement for a new movie. Keep in mind this was during prime time. The title was "Zach and Miri Make a Porno". As I sat and watched the commercial, feeling somewhat dumbfounded, I couldn't help but be a little shocked as to what now passes as fair game for mainstream comedy. IMDB has this for the synopsis:
Lifelong platonic friends Zack and Miri look to solve their respective cash-flow problems by making an adult film together. As the cameras roll, however, the duo begin to sense that they may have more feelings for each other than they previously thought.
Now, I wouldn't be surprised that if you sat down and watched this movie (which I am not recommending, by the way), that you might actually find a few funny scenes, and probably even some heart-warming moments. After all, they are almost billing it as a romantic comedy. But the basic premise of the movie just steps over another line. It's been the practice of the movie industry for years to throw a smattering of bad language, a little nudity, and a couple of bedroom scenes into their "Rated R" comedies for years, but it this just seems to be a new low.
I understand that this movie has an "R" rating, and is therefore intended for "adults". I've never been accused of being a prude (at least not to my face), but it just feels like ANYTHING and EVERYTHING is now fair game for the media in songs, movies, and television. There's no longer any sense of the sacred or profane. Nothing is too holy that it can't be made fun of, and nothing is too profane that it can't be slathered all over prime-time television.
In my opinion, and that's all it is, this just reeks of the media latest attempt to find something new and provocative, to push the envelope, and to be the one that breaks new ground "artistically".
But, for me personally, this was ground that I would have love to have left unbroken.
2 comments:
A few years ago, during one of my family's famous cash crunches, we decided to disconnect the cable TV. All I watched was VH1Classic and baseball anyway. This year, I told Tonya I would stop our subscription to the newspaper (a morning ritual for me) and use that money to get her cable internet. Well, with the cable internet hookup, it was only a couple dollars more for basic cable TV, so she added it.
Frankly, I really liked not having TV. I read. I watched old Hitchcock movies and cartoons on DVD. But mostly, I sat comfortable in my little coccoon thinking the world hadn't changed so much from "my day".
Besides, we have that scariest of all possible entities in our household: a thirteen year old daughter. I've decided to lock her away until she's ... I dunno, thirty or so.
And...by the way - I have been called a prude to my face.
Zeroman -
We are about to kill our cable and go with an antenna. Still burning hours on bubble-gum for the brain, but at least we'll have fewer choices. So that means we'll either watch less, or watch worse...
And, just for the record, I don't consider you prudish. :)
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