The hypocrisy of film works like this… in an epic for example… a peaceful society… suddenly gets attacked by an evil society (usually one-dimensional evil society).

We as an audience always follow a group of people from the peaceful society who chose to fight the evil society; this is Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Beowulf, etc.

Why this format? Well, we as human beings want to live vicariously through a story full of action (read violence), but we have to rationalize this by adding black and white elements… The good guys are always the one-dimensional peaceful guys (who don’t want to fight, but you know, have to), the bad guys aren’t.

This makes it possible to enjoy a violent story. If the story were about the bad guys or simply two hours of people attacking each other, only a few of the odder people out there could stomach it.

The hypocrisy is that the reason why we are in the theater at all is because we like violence. That’s just how it works; another example…

I remember seeing a movie poster for a documentary about the Asian sex slave trade. The poster was of a scantily clad Asian girl chained in the corner of a room.

HOT!

That’s entertainment (hypocrisy)! Who doesn’t want a sex slave?

You show me a scantily clad Asian girl in chains, and depending on my current level of self-esteem, I’ll show you the price of admission.

What makes all this hot subject matter possible in mixed company is by putting it in the context of a documentary about white slavery.

It is just drama; pure hypocrisy.

The black and white elements need to be present, for the story to be stomach-able.

I have noticed recently that Hollywood is “f”ing this up, a la the new James Bond, Quantum of Solace and the newest Batman, The Dark Knight.

Hollywood in an attempt to address complicated modern times (George W. Bush’s mess) is trying to soften the black & white (good & evil) elements needed in violent storytelling.

The story then falls apart.

I like Hollywood because with MOST multi-million dollar stories, at least 100 really talented storytellers look at the story from 100 different angles and fix it.

James Bond and Batman fail.

In Quantum of Solace, James Bond is presented with an elder retired spy who tells James how difficult it is sometimes to know the difference between the good guys and the bad guys.

Then that spy is killed leaving James… the archetype of the grim fighting hero whose troubles are always private.

This is bullsh!t. James Bond can’t drive from point A to point B without causing four fatalities. You put him in a gray world and he is a common murder.

In the film, I think it’s telling that they have to make the Latin American dictator a rapist. It makes no sense in the grand scheme of the film, but otherwise the audience would feel bad him when James Bond’s chicky kills him.

He’s just a pawn in a game, and why am I watching a story about an entire spy network needed to take down one South American rapist?

I hate James Bond. I present him as the character, who has had the most negative impact in the real world.

Spy networks don’t work. Spy vs. spy doesn’t work. Fcuk the CIA. Worldwide Intelligence in real life is a fraud.

James Bond is a throw back to the Cold War and needs to be retired. Modern world politics has moved on, and James Bond is a liability.

I resent most, the people in power, who think James Bond is real i.e. effeminate males trying to play him, such as Henry Kissinger, Donald Rumsfeld, George W., etc.

James Bond your services are no longer needed. Bugger off.

The thesis of this entire rant is that the black & white elements of storytelling need to be present for violent (action) stories.

Batman: The Dark Knight was also a story that fell apart when they storytellers went from black & white to grey.

In the film, the Joker gives Batman a choice between saving his love interest, or the prosecuting attorney in Gotham for all the bad guys.

Batman chooses the lawyer (never save a lawyer), the girl dies, the lawyer goes on a killing spree because his love interest was the same dead girl, then Batman takes the heat for the prosecuting attorney and goes into a hunted exile, because he believes that Gotham needs to believe that the prosecuting attorney was a hero.

Damn, who is this self sacrificing Jesus who won’t die? They call him Batman.

If Batman just chose to save his girlfriend (never save a lawyer) then the prosecuting attorney would have died a hero’s death, and all of this could have been avoided. Or, he could have simply told the truth and got credit for the capturing the Joker.

This is a terrible story. The irony is not lost on me that The Dark Knight has been one of the more financially successful Batman films, do to the untimely death of Heath Ledger.

Still, it is bad storytelling.

Hollywood, lately feels it can violate 3000 years of storytelling structure because of the political failure of one presidential administration. It can’t.

Hollywood, recognize.

-J Roland Kelly