flipp525 wrote:rolotomasi99 wrote:torture porn
"You're obsessed with that phrase, Martha."
i emphasize the word porn because i truly believe it to be an accurate description. i have always believed the violence in a movie should be directly proportionate to the intelligence of the film. i know determining the intelligence of a film is a very subjective process, but i use the supreme court's defininition of porn as a model. in the case roth v united states, a decision about the constitutional protections of obscenity defined porn as speech which "to the average person, applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material, taken as a whole, appeals to prurient interest [and is] utterly without redeeming social importance."
this has been taken to mean porn is anything sexual which aims to titilate without any artistically redeeming qualities. i do not believe there is anything wrong with porn, but i feel this definition is fair. so movies like HENRY & JUNE, MIDNIGHT COWBOY, DON'T LOOK NOW, etc. are films with sex while DEEP THROAT, etc. are sex films (aka porn). again, no judgement, just a definition to differentiate the two.
coming back to movie violence, i do think there is a difference between a movie like GOODFELLAS where the violence helps tell the story, and HOSTEL where the story (much like the flimsy plots found in porn) only exist for an excuse to show people having their eyeballs cut out. to me it truly is just pornographic violence. it does not service the story. it is the only reason for the movie to exist. i know oscarguy you say the first two SAW movies and the first HOSTEL actually try to tell a story, but to me the intelligence of those films and the stories they are telling do not justify the extreme violence they titilate their audience with.
that is why i love the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. that movie is scary as hell, but there is very little actual violence. the violence depicted is more implied since they did not have the budget to show body parts being destroyed.
watching scary movies is thrilling. it is similar to sitting around a fire and telling ghost stories. watching these torture porn flicks is more like sitting in the colosseum watching people being fed to the lions. that is just not for me.
Edited By rolotomasi99 on 1225299367