Train Wrecks and Culture

I will spare you all the grisly details. During dinner my daughter recounted the plot of a movie about the holocaust. The main character feels guilt for not saving her brother and ends her life by leaping in front of a train. The way the brother died is dark and depressing. The mood of the movie stuck with me though I’d not seen it. The ultimately tragic thing is that the girl felt she had to commit suicide rather than find redemption and forgiveness. In current culture there is no redemption offered because the characters react as animals rather than being proactive as human beings.

If you read the titles at your local Redbox or video store you will see that the heros are being acted on by sex, violence or monsters. It is as though they are acted upon more than they do the action. There is no God or clear-cut morality that guides these poor souls. The best they can do is kill the monster or give in to the urges. I just tuned in to the season finale of Castle which ABC describes like this: “after four seasons of “will they” or “won’t they,” Richard Castle and Kate Beckett finally gave in to their feelings for each other in the much anticipated Season 4 finale. Season 5 picks up on the proverbial morning after…:” In this instance it is not guilt that causes our heroes to throw themselves in front of the train but their sexual urges.

When Hollywood heroes fulfill their human potential the movie is guaranteed success. Think of a movie you fully enjoyed and see if I’m not right. The characters chose to respond to a higher moral law and stepped up to the plate in the fullest of their humanness. Still they keep making those other movies where poor souls are helpless to their urges, feelings or beings outside themselves. Oh that Castle and Beckett would have chosen to act as adults and dealt with their feelings and hearts rather than acting as mating animals. Oh that the girl wouldn’t have thrown herself at the train but would have cried out to a friend, counselor or God. That is a movie I would be much more likely to see.