Written by: Meridith Reed at meridithwrites.blogspot.com
Let me preface this by saying that I'm one of the biggest wimps I know when it comes to handling uncomfortable content in films. Ever since September 11, explosions and realistic violence of any kind on film shake me up. If I listed here the films I walked out of, been offended by, or won't watch because of their content, many of you would probably accuse me of being ridiculously sensitive.
And I'm okay with you feeling that way. I'm even willing to admit that sometimes I probably have been ridiculously sensitive.
What makes me queasy and uncomfortable might not make you queasy and uncomfortable. I've had friends that have had powerful artistic and even spiritual experiences with books or films that I couldn't stomach. I respect them for that. But I also recognize my own threshold and try not to step too far outside of what content allows me to still feel the Spirit. At the same time, I can see that content that offended me as a teenager no longer offends me in the same way. Certain story lines require maturity in the viewer or reader to appreciate.
We're all unique in how media affects us. The Church's statements on entertainment choices recognize this uniqueness and encourage young members of the Church to choose media that uplifts them and helps them have "good thoughts and make righteous choices." The For the Strength of Youth pamphlet goes on to counsel youth to "not participate in entertainment that in any way presents immorality or violent behavior as acceptable. . . . Depictions of violence often glamorize vicious behavior. They offend the Spirit and make you less able to respond to others in a sensitive, caring way. They contradict the Savior’s message of love for one another."
To me, the point here is that the way media affects your thoughts, feelings, and actions is the most important indicator of whether or not the entertainment is worth your time. The Book of Mormon is full of stories about hate, gore, violence, rape, dishonesty, family dysfunction and other unpleasant topics. The Bible is even worse. But these books uplift me, don't glamorize vicious behavior, and make me a more sensitive and caring person. It is not the presence of difficult content alone that makes something good or bad--it's what it adds or takes away from my life.
So this is my standard: does the media I encounter allow me to maintain the Spirit in my life and encourage me "to respond to others in a sensitive, caring way"?
With that preface in mind, let me proceed to explain why I loved the new film adaptation of Les Misérables. I saw the film with six of my family members, some of whom are equally sensitive to questionable content as I am, and all seven of us left feeling uplifted and more sensitive to the world around us.
I was surprised then to discover that several of my friends and my family members' friends were extremely offended by the film.
(If you haven't seen the film and want a straightforward rundown of the difficult content in the film so you can make your own decision, see this Parental Advisory Guide on IMDB. I'll be discussing this content below, so if you don't want any moment of the film spoiled, stop reading now.)
At first, I wondered if I'm just desensitized. There were moments in the film where I cringed and there are a lot of uncomfortable topics addressed in the film (vulgarity, prostitution, suicide, degrading poverty, among many other things), but overall I felt it was a beautiful adaptation of a beautiful story. I wondered what was wrong with me and reconsidered what I should have been offended by.
But after thinking carefully about it and talking it through with many people, I still feel the same about the film. In the "Master of the House" scene, there is, I think, some gratuitous vulgarity that wasn't necessary to get across how vile the Thenardiers are. I also was bothered by the loud and gruesome cracking noise when Javert commits suicide, which also, I think, didn't add anything to the story or make his death at all more impacting.
But I was not offended by the scene of Fantine with a sailor, and I actually think the scene added a lot to the film. This moment of prostitution is extremely brief, there is no nudity, and the act is portrayed as vile and disgusting--it's offensive to watch because it's offensive that this happened (and still happens) to women all the time. In this scene, Fantine is lying in a small boat that resembles a coffin--it symbolizes that this woman's light is brutally killed by what she's driven to. It doesn't glamorize or gratuitously play anything. It just shows (pretty tastefully) the pure hell of this woman's life and how debasing this society was to its citizens.
I've had a long love affair with the story of Les Misérables. I've seen many film adaptations, read the book multiple times, and seen the musical on stage three times. But I have never been more powerfully moved by Fantine's story as I was in this film adaptation. It was one of the most moving parts of the film for me. Anne Hathaway gave a tremendous performance. But her story was also powerful to me because it shows the moment where Fantine falls into prostitution. This scene drives home how degrading and awful this woman's situation is. The song "I Dreamed a Dream" touched me in this film in a way it never has before because it comes immediately after that moment of watching Fantine's dreams being destroyed.
The later moments of Valjean recognizing what a mistake he has made by not protecting Fantine from this fate, the later beauty and purity of Cosette's life in contrast to her mother's nightmarish life, the moment when Fantine returns to take Valjean to heaven are all more powerful because of this moment in the film where we are given a glimpse into the hell of a prostitute's life.
Brigham Young wrote, "Upon the stage of a theater can be represented in character, evil and its consequences, good and its happy results and rewards; the weakness and the follies of man, the magnanimity of virtue and the greatness of truth. The stage can be made to aid the pulpit in impressing upon the minds of a community an enlightened sense of a virtuous life, also a proper horror of the enormity of sin and a just dread of its consequences. The path of sin with its thorns and pitfalls, its gins and snares can be revealed, and how to shun it" (emphasis added).
This scene in the film gave me a proper horror of the enormity of sin in a tactful but powerful way.
I wrote my thesis on how works of art allow us to imaginatively inhabit lives and experiences that we would never experience on our own, leading us to be more sensitive, compassionate, and empathetic human beings. In this scene with Fantine, we are brought into the horror of her life for just a moment and I left the film feeling more sensitized to God and humanity, not less so.
My younger sister commented that she felt it was a bigger sin to watch a "clean" but completely inane and brainless movie than it was to watch the difficult moments in Les Misérables. I'd have to agree, and I feel her comment is supported by the principles in the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet. I'd also add that there are many films that show people sleeping with whomever they want and committing criminal, crude, or violent acts without any demonstration of the moral consequences of those actions. These films are at best morally neutral and at worst crude, rude, or offensive, but many religiously conservative people don't comment on them because it's "only" innuendo or they don't "show" anything bad.
The film taught me more about what it means to be Christian. It would not be exaggerating to say that this story over the years has changed my life. In my opinion, it reaches to the root of Christianity: what it truly means to keep the two great commandments to love God and love your neighbor. Hugo looks at humanity in its seediest and most vile forms and in its most noble and inspiring incarnations. It's the spectrum of human suffering, cruelty, degradation, and divine transcendence in the story that makes it so transformative. As Lehi teaches in The Book of Mormon, there must needs be an opposition in all things.
Again, I respect that we are all unique when it comes to how entertainment affects us. I'm not trying to persuade anyone not to pay attention to feelings of discomfort or offense. But I would encourage those who might initially be turned off by the content of this film to look a little more closely at its powerful Christian message. If you genuinely feel that the film is having a negative effect on your spirit, by all means, walk away. But if it offends you because it accurately and compassionately portrays how offensive prostitution is, then I'd say it's doing its job in making you a more compassionate, more sensitive human being. If it encourages you, as it did me, to be a little less judgmental of those in difficult circumstances and a little more loving, then I'd say it's time and money well spent.
ADSENSE HERE