#55951 Morally Objectionable Movie Themes?

[mic0]

So, when I first saw this question I had a conversation with my boyfriend about objectionable movie themes. He said he didn't believe there was such a thing, that all good movies have "objectionable morals."

In a way I agree with that. One way to judge a good movie is see how it affects your worldview. I like watching movies that make me wonder about life, and give me a new perspective, even when the content is objectionable. Requiem For A Dream is the first one that comes to mind. I wouldn't necessarily suggest watching it, but take out a few over-the-top scenes and I think the movie, while morally degenerate, is a good one. The Godfather is another one that I honestly love, but I realize it doesn't have positive morals. Some movies present things the opposite of what they ought to be. But I don't consider that to be a bad movie that no one should see, just one that needs to be seen with an open mind.

I was a little surprised Sky Bones said Transamerica was this type of movie. While I haven't actually seen it, I always thought it would be an interesting movie, with more of a liberal "We need to just let people be who they are and enjoy life" theme than anything else. I guess I might be biased since my good friend is trans, but I had never thought that that movie would be totally objectionable.

Any thoughts?

[Damasta]

I was a little surprised Sky Bones said Transamerica was this type of movie. While I haven't actually seen it, I always thought it would be an interesting movie, with more of a liberal "We need to just let people be who they are and enjoy life" theme than anything else. I guess I might be biased since my good friend is trans, but I had never thought that that movie would be totally objectionable.

I think that "we need to just let people be who they are and enjoy life" can be morally objectionable. It sounds a lot like 2 Ne. 28:7–8 (eat, drink, and be merry). It supposes that enjoying ~70 years of mortal life is more important than enjoying an eternity as a saved being. It suggests that morality is a personal thing with no factual basis, and that the only moral which should be vigorously proselyted and defended is itself ("live and let live"). In that sense it's a particularly pernicious meme.

Turns out that God himself has commanded the opposite:

Behold, I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor.
Therefore, they are left without excuse, and their sins are upon their own heads.

If we know someone is doing wrong and we don't warn them, we are sinning. And by keeping our mouths shut (cf. D&C 60:2) we are denying them access to the Atonement and salvation. (Note: I'm not construing this to mean that we should go out and browbeat every other person we can find; we should still use tact). Loving someone enough to correct them is a greater love than being permissive. Take the same theory and apply it to parenting: "we just need to let children be who they are and enjoy life". If your child bites people and pees on your couch, and you just let them, you're a terrible parent. Some behaviors have to be corrected and stopped. The same is true for adults. People who enjoy life by molesting children or murdering their neighbor, shouldn't be left to "be who they are". They need to be stopped and corrected—both for their own sake and for the sake of others. The line between acceptable behaviors and unacceptable behaviors has to be drawn. Buying into the philosophy "we need to just let people be who they are and enjoy life" doesn't eliminate the existence of that line; it just means that you're letting someone else decide where it is.

But none of those are reasons to avoid watching the movie. Disagreeing with a moral doesn't make it worth avoiding. How can we properly respond to them if we're too busy avoiding them? I haven't seen Transamerica, either, but I suspect that it had content that was objectionable to Sky Bones.

Movies that I regret seeing because they were ugly (both in theme and content) were: Scary Movie 3, Fargo, and The Ring. And maybe Pleasantville—I'm still not sure how I feel about that one.

[Sky Bones]

While part of the theme of Transamerica is to encourage others to be more accepting of those that might be different, it had plenty of questionable material in it. First off, it had far too much nudity and sexually explicit material in it. It made me feel dirty and icky. And a lot of these things revolved around a character who was supposed to be a minor. It was just completely and utterly wrong. Perhaps I feel so strongly about this because of past, personal experiences, but either way, I refused to finish watching the movie and I wish I had never seen it.