A New Plague

A new plague has been unleashed. More insidious than cancer or AIDs. It’s a plague of the mind. Degradation paraded as progress. Evil paraded as good. Its handmaid? Television. From time to time, I search for a decent movie to help calm my spirits, unfocus my mind. Lately, I’ve become increasingly disillusioned at the choices with which I’m presented. Yesterday, I hit rock bottom (Perhaps I would have hit it earlier if I watched movies like Saw I, II, or III, etc). I watched Visioneers, a 2008 film starring Zach Galifianakis, Judy Greer and Mia Maestro. (I mention Mr. Galifianakis especially because he has recently been part of many grievous travesties against film and general human thought.) This movie was stupid. Not because of the acting, directing, scenery, casting, or any of the other things people tend to consider when rating a movie, but because of the stupid ideas it was based on. Those were incomplete and juvenile. Now, I realize it was supposed to be a comedy, and I also realize I’m not here to be a movie critic. Fair enough. However, as I watched the movie on Hulu.com, I happened to check the comments made by other viewers. Enough of them took it seriously to be disturbing. A “dystopian thriller”, some called it, a “retelling of 1984”. One commenter said that Zach Galifianakis “hits coal and makes diamonds”. Basically the idea is this: Some immature people get together and make a movie that says “companies suck the life out of you because of their f-you attitude and myopic focus on productivity. To be happy, you have to step outside of them and do what makes you happy.” Quelle surprise. Hardly a new idea. (Check Office Space, Dilbert, The Drew Carey Show, and the list goes on…) But the fact that Hollywood hasn’t come up with a new idea in years is not my problem with this movie. This is my problem: At what point did we become incapable of making a statement, whether comedic or serious, without being vulgar? To show that companies don’t care about their employees, must we flip each other off? When did sex become the sole/main substance of our happiness? Why is it that we now accept and even encourage these degrading and frivolous ideas? Ah, my friend. The answer is television.