TORTURE PORN
There is no mistaking the intensity of reaction and the backlash against the current wave of what has been labelled as cinematic torture porn. Films such as those in the Saw franchise and Hostel parts 1 and 2 have been accused of promoting sickness and depravity and undermining the moral fabric – the latter always rolls around from time to time. The soon to be released Captivity starring Elisha Cuthbert (Fox’s 24) caused a reaction amonst America’s moral elite when the promo one sheets for the film showed Cuthbert’s character in states of distress and what appeared to be hooked up to various torturous appliances.
Why then is it wrong to show these images and make films like this when really it is only an extension of the normal artistic and creative pulse within today’s horror? I really see nothing wrong with making a movie like 8mm for example which depicted scenes and a story involving the infamous snuff cinema. It is fantasy and only a poor and twisted soul could actually believe that what they were seeing on screen was actually happening or were they to interpret the film as some kind of secret message to go out and do the same.
This is really nothing more than artistic expression. I feel that the traps and the story in Saw and subsequent sequels really included clever, cunning and twisted plot devices and part of the thrill was seeing just how the character would get out of their predicament or if they would end up as coating on the wallpaper.
If films like this were to be banned then it would set a very dangerous precedent and open the floodgates for the moral and Christian elite who claim that is their right and role to decide what the rest get to watch. I won’t let some anonymous and pious prick determine what I fill my hours with.
There will always be extremities and underground aspects to any artform or expressionistic activity, film being one of the most lauded and lambasted creative forms of the last hundred years. Personally, I find Disney offensive, their efforts to control your viewing and content through hidden moralistic messages within its media has practically raised numerous generations into thinking that this is right or that is wrong. Some fuckwit dancing around in a Mickey suit at a theme park does not an example make.
Legislation was passed recently which made it illegal to possess media, pictures and any other kind of document which is deemed morally and pornographic in the extreme sense. This could include images of bondage and other related activities and interests. In all respects – you could find your door being kicked down because they suspected that you had certain images or potentially offensive material in your possession – A disturbing Orwellian vision but one which is not so impossible to imagine.
I won’t hide my interests and fascination with horror from anyone. I am a devotee of the form and have read extensively into just why and what makes horror a modern form within our time. It doesn’t sit easy with me the idea that I could be persecuted for my interests and hobbies…..now that would be something the British government has probably done for the last…ummm….five minutes while I have been writing this. My government has a long, long history of violating the civil and legal rights of others – they can now see you wherever you go and now they want to monitor what you watch and if they think it isn’t right then you are ghosted to some facility. Come and get me, you fuckers, I’m ready.
