Let Go To The Movies...

Does anyone remember that song from Annie? That was so fresh! When Daddy Warbucks brought all the tickets so that they could have the theatre to themselves...

I've noticed that in the Orthodox community, the general minhag is no "centrally located TV". Just about every home I've been to (and as a single ger who's a newbie around, I've been to a lot!), I can count on one hand the number of televisions I've seen in living rooms. My understanding that many frum families do in fact have a television; but a smallish one in some back area of the home; not so much in the forefront. Now that I think about it, the homes that did have a "living-room television" were Modern Orthodox homes. Understand that the shul I attend is yeshivish so that probably biases my view a bit.

I grew up, not really a TV junkie, but there were some shows I just had to see. Let's see, my Grandmother was into Young and the Restless which was followed by Bold and the Beautiful which I liked more because it was shorter and the setting was hipper (LA fashion designers vs. Rich Old Cranks from the Midwest). I remember the Saturday cartoon circuit (which surely my FFB peers missed) with Thundercats, The Snorks, etc. Weekdays there were The X-Men, Jem, etc. Prime time there was New York Undercover, A Different World, MacGyver, etc. Watching TV was no worse than going to the mall. Sure there were better things to do with you time, but even my relgious Grandmother had no problems with the vast majority of television programs.

Now movies were a whole new ballgame. I'm sure television has changed (yep, I am absolutely appalled by the language and innuendos I hear on sitcoms; and it's not like I've never been exposed to profanity!), but even in the 80s and 90s my Grandparents had a tangible problem with movies. Sure we had a VHS (and now they have a DVD) player; but the vast majority of the tapes we had were movies from the 1940s - 1970s. I remember when my Grandfather brought Robocop because he thought it looked cool. My Grandmother had a fit when she heard the dialogue: "That movie has way too much cussing in it. Why did you buy it?" But neither one of them would tolerate nudity. My mother (during one of the stints where she had left her boyfriend and moved back in with my Grandparents) rented Fatal Attraction and when the sex scenes came off my Grandparents promptly told her (and she must have been 27 at the time!) to fast forward through that part ("we don't need to see all that"). Although they've always had the largest possible cable package, they never "invested" in the pay movie channels (except for HBO - there was a reason they got HBO, but now I can't remember).

My Grandmother has also never, ever gone to the actual movie theatre. I still can't understand why, for even if it's a Disney movie being shown, she thinks it's highly inappriopate setting to be in. Quite contrary to the lessons she taught, I found myself appreciate movies as artistic works; especially infamous films such as A Clockwork Orange, Reefer Madness, Foxxy Brown, Christine, Scarface, The Color Purple, and Quadrophenia. I suppose this is my schtick lately in that I've explored many avenues of entertainment in my recent blog posts.

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I must say that I assume the "frum outlook" towards movies is the same as towards television. But I somehow feel a soft spot in regards to movies (similar towards my feeling towards books). I guess like my Grandparents, I see (and am sensitive to) gross displays of sex and violence (but we can keep the rock 'n' roll! Hahahaha) as uneccessary. But film is such a unique, incomparable medium. For example, the other night I drove over to my Father's place to watch I DVD I brought (I don't have a television at all - just a DVD player on computer; but I'm a sucker for the Dolby Digital Surround he has so if possible, I like to watch my DVDs there). The movie was Countryman, a film that 99% of the world probably never heard of (it's a Jamaican film from the early 80s). I watched almost the whole thing in pleasant, relaxed bliss. There was one portion in which the Americans, after coming to terms with being stranded in the Jamaican wilderness, that I sort of furrowed my brow at. Ok, so here they are trying out breadfruit and fresh fish and smoking big spliffs of Jamaican collie weed - fine. But they also took liberty to show the woman, who just "happened to be" quite well endowed topless several times. Showering in the waterfall, giving her shirt to wrap around the alligator, hover over her injured boyfriend in the morning. Ok, we get the point! I remember distinctly wishing I had a DVD editing program so those scenes could just be removed - with nothing lost from the film overall. And I would too. Because I love how the Jamaicans and the country are portrayed in the film. Sure I go to Jamaica and maybe even when, (if Hashem wills it) I have children I'll take them there. But trips are one thing; while compiled portrayals of culture are another. In Jamaica, I don't sit and reason with fishermen on the beach (I usually catch taxis all over creation and carry goods that my family asked us to buy "uppa foreign". I also get stuck watching children all the time while my cousins go out "fi catch dance". Not that I mind; but I don't think there are too many Americans who fly all the way to Jamaica just to babysit!). But in the movie, those Rasta fisherman say a lot with both speech and body language - things that I learned over years by just absortion. Because I have cousin and uncles that are or were those Rasta fisherman!


So many movies are like that. Sure the overall picture is severly twisted by the bias of the screenwriters and directors (i.e., I personally find Countryman a much better conveyance of Jamaican culture than The Harder They Come which is more entertaining to reggae enthusiasts and has a better storyline; but if it's a reggae-movie you're looking for, just go see Rockers which trumps them all); but it something. And the same goes for movies like Amistad, Citizen Kane, The King & I (the one with Yule Brenner) To Kill A Mockingbird, Mary Poppins, Boyz in the Hood, Deliverance. Hey, I even think that White Chr!stmas is a great movie! But just about all of those movies have scenes that a relgious Jewish parent might squirm at on the basis of chinuch (even in Mary Poppins, a seemingly "harmless" film, you have the children speaking to adults in pretty chutzpidik ways) .

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I oppose the generality that secular, non-relgious people are lacking in morals and spirituality (they have spirituality, but it manifests itself it different ways; like in Fung Chi decorating). I will say though, that it is a predominent view that to be well-rounded and knowledgable about various cultures and experiences is a good thing. Of course, many will probably harbor biases (oh I'm so into furniture from the Far East, but could care less about the hardships that Black Men experience in the ghetto 5 miles from here {I'm being ficticious of course!}). Jews find themselves naturally at odds with this. Jews are a persecuted minority that struggles to hold fast to their lifeline; the mode of living outlined by the Torah. And the Torah has proven to be key for those who have forsaken it eventually fall off the Jewish bandwagon (but can hop back on - or at least catch it when it circles over again). Not to mention the very values frum Jews work so very hard towards instilling in themselves and their families are utterly butchered by movies (a good Rabbinic response is here from the Chabad perspective). On the other hand, for the non-religious, to watch an "artsy" film with a graphic sex scene or cannibalism without a hint of a grimace is a sign that you're "with it". When I lived in Pittsburgh and went to many indie film festivals, I remember meeting the director for this one film that highlighted the advances that "pro-feminists" were making in the pornography industry. Every gave accolades that this woman was "keen" to recognize that there were porn actresses who embraced "their craft" and writing scripts which placed women into the dominant role in the sex scenes. (I apologize for getting to graphic for some; but my past is what it is). I bring this up in order to not beat around the bush. To not sugarcoat the difficulties that come from casting off one mode of thinking and replacing it with a totally different one. I wish I could say that back then, I was somewhat flabbergasted by the notion of a film that praised progression of a feminist agenda in the porn industry - but I can't. I was clapping along with everyone else!

So that's the path. Moving from ^that^ to forgoing movies like Speed .

So yeah, I'm interested in learning more about the movie-viewing habits of my frum counterparts. How many have seen The Shawshank Redemption - really? It's true there is probably very little in that film that a religious Jew can take value from - but it's such a "good" film. I admit I don't miss the TV; or watching a new moview everyweek. But I also feel like I'm "cheating" because I've seen so much already - I've had my fill. If you wade through all the "junk & gunk", I've also learned quite a bit. Rather or not it was worth it, I would probably need to investigate - film by film. The majority would lose out, but many would still seem valuable in my eyes; maybe too many. In addition, I still will hit the theatre every now and then. The last one a saw (about a month ago) was Madea's Family Reunion and I laughed my head off. Not only that, but I felt good about the fact that Tyler Perry kept the cursing to a minimum and there was no nudity. Maybe I am "getting there" - slowly but surely!