Entertainment: The Next Generation

BE WARNED: There's a major spoiler below for the movie Fast & Furious. If you haven't watched it yet and don't want the story told to you, now's the time to skip this post.

A few nights ago I went to the cinema to watch Fast & Furious. I enjoyed it very much. It was even a little better than I expected.

Now if you've watched any movie in the franchise, you know Dom (played by Vin Diesel) and Letty (played by Michelle Rodriguez). The two share an intimate relationship throughout the franchise. Now very early in the movie, Letty is murdered by a drug dealer's cronie, Fenix, while she was attempting to help the FBI nab the drug dealer as he carried out his illegal activities. Dom had fled to Panama to hide from the FBI who were also trying to catch him, but, having heard about Letty's death, he returns to the U.S. to avenge her death. Now as a viewer, I watched for the entire movie waiting anxiously for the part where Dom would find Fenix and kill him. Of course, just before the movie ended, Dom delivered, crushing Fenix with his car.

The audience felt a sense of satisfaction on two fronts- firstly, because Dom had gotten his man, and secondly, because of the manner - the 'cool' manner, dare I say - in which Fenix was killed. I had the same feelings... I was happy to see the end of Fenix too. But by the time I got home, I pondered those feelings (not for the first time) and found them a little sad...

We watch murder on TV and on the big screen all the time... It hasn't been taboo for many a decade. But isn't it kinda sad? I suppose one of the purposes of television is to take you away from the reality of the real world, but is it ever OK to be OK with murder... even in an artificial world?

I imagined sitting by the side of the road watching a car maul a human being much in the way Dom's car slammed into Fenix... The thought made me queasy. How did we end making murder into entertainment?

And even more critically, how can I expect those who aren't as mentally firm, or as financially sound, or as emotionally secure as the average person to not be adversely affected by some of these things we now find entertaining?

What will my children consider entertaining?