Wednesday, September 5, 2007

National Review Online shows porn-friendly Hollywood flicks some McLovin

National Review editor Rich Lowry, in his syndicated column published on National Review Online, has joined the small army of journalists who claim that prurient slapstick flicks like "Knocked Up" and "Superbad" are redeemed by their moral messages.

Color me skeptical. I haven't seen either film, but even if they do include subtle or not-so-subtle messages favoring abstinence-'til-marriage or the pro-life movement (like the ultrasound in "Knocked Up"), I'm not so sure the ends justify the means.

The reason is not just because of the films' multiple "F-word[s]" that Lowry notes, but because of the sexual images contained in the films. Never mind dialogue or plot; films' sexual images stick with viewers apart from what is said in connection with them. And, while not all nudity in film may be pornographic, there's no question that many images in both "Knocked Up" and "Superbad" are intended to resemble pornography.

According to the Web site Kids-in-Mind, which gives detailed information on sex and violence in films, "Superbad" includes numerous images from pornographic magazines. It has teenage girls in various states of undress. It has a man performing a sadomasochistic act on two women. And the list goes on.

Look, I don't care if, at the end of "Superbad," the message is, "Save sex for marriage — everybody go home." There is no question that the film imprints pornographic sexual imagery in viewers' brains, and a little moralizing isn't going to change that.

The psychological effects of viewing such imagery are not to be taken lightly. Dr. Judith Reisman, who has written extensively on the subject,  told a Senate subcommittee investigating "The Science Behind Pornography Addiction,"

Thanks to the latest advances in neuroscience, we now know that emotionally arousing images imprint and alter the brain, triggering an instant, involuntary, but lasting, biochemical memory trail. This applies to so-called "soft-core" and "hard-core" pornography ...

Once our neurochemical pathways are established they are difficult or impossible to delete. ... These media erotic fantasies become deeply embedded, commonly coarsening, confusing, motivating and addicting many of those exposed.

How does this "brain sabotage" occur? Brain scientists tell us that "in 3/10 of a second a visual image passes from the eye through the brain, and whether or not one wants to, the brain is structurally changed and memories are created 'we literally 'grow new brain' with each visual experience."
So, "Superbad" mixes pornography with its comedy — but what does Kids-in-Mind have to say about "Knocked Up," that sweet little pro-life flick? Oh, there's a bouncy little fetus in there — after the naked lap dancers. javascript:void(0)

More insidiously, according to Kids-in-Mind, "Knocked Up" includes a discussion of a pornographic Web site. The name of the Web site in the film is fictitious, but the site is in fact a real one that anyone could easily find after hearing it described in the film. Why the thinly fictionalized site is in the script at all is beyond me — unless the filmmakers wanted to draw traffic to the real thing.

I'm really not sure what critics expect to accomplish by praising the "moral messages" in otherwise immoral films. Perhaps they hope to effect positive change by praising the good. In effect, however, they seem only to encourage Hollywood to pay lip service to morality while filling screens with nekkid centerfold girls. Pardon me if I do not rejoice.