Zombie Dreams

Just watched "Cabin in the Woods" last night and I had a night filled with zombie-killing dreams, mostly with people being eaten or brutally killed.

For the movie, have to say, not impressed like I thought I would be. I wanted to be impressed and was at some parts, but wow...won't ruin the movie for those who actually want to see it, but I'd say it's worth watching just for the end. Ridiculous. And sometimes ridiculous is worth it. Although, I recommend fast-fowarding the blood and guts scenes. Not a fan. It sincerely bothers me that torturing people is entertainment. I get it - it's fiction, it's not real, it's "just for fun." But shouldn't we ask ourselves why our brains find it fun? While we're not watching real torture, isn't the enjoyment of it the same? A student of mine said he loved the Saw movies and I just mentioned how I hate torture for entertainment. He said, "Oh, I love it." Part of me gets it - seeing characters acting out horrible situations where you go, "Oh, man, no way that just happened!" but when you really think about it, people really do LOVE watching others suffer

With that said, I think we forget the power of "mindless" entertainment. It's all "for fun" or "just a joke," but there are definite reactions in our lives whether we admit it or not. I used to say that what I watched didn't affect me. I mean, I'm not going to go out to some cabin in the woods and butcher up a group of teenage college students by impaling them with knives and bear traps connected to ropes. But if I'm honest with myself, it makes me devalue human life. And enjoy suffering.

I was watching a news clip of some woman from a baptist church in some southern state who, with her entire church of about 100 members, taunted family members at the funerals of their sons who died in Afghanistan or Iraq. They were soldiers who fought for our country...but were also gay. So this woman and her church thought it was honoring God to stand with signs that read, "God hates you" and "Thank God for dead soldiers" to get across their hateful belief that God hates gay people. How does this connect to Cabin in the Woods? Because, listening to that woman talk on the news, she ENJOYED human suffering. She wasn't cackling as they were stabbed to death, but in a way, wasn't it about the same? She smiled and laughed as the news anchor literally asked, "What is wrong with you? You should be ashamed", and ranted about "why won't you just obey the Lord your God? Repent, dummies." She ignored the obvious fact that she was enjoying and bringing about suffering to grieving family and friends. Instead of responding to that point made by the anchor, she kept ranting about why God hates them...as if she is the authority on God.

So I see a connection in the simple fact of suffering producing pleasure. We don't value other humans - which ironically the movie actually seemed to point out, while following the same "cut 'em, slice 'em" type of filmmaking. So, no, watching these movies doesn't make me want to go out and torture people, but they DO create an apathy or, even worse, enjoyment of watching suffering.