So I just wrote this on Amanda's Facebook Wall and realized that I just need to get out some thoughts after watching the riveting, question-filled, disturbing piece of cinematic genius that is "Gone Baby Gone":
I am so frickin sad right now. I just watched "Gone Baby Gone." I... dang... I dunno, I just feel so conflicted. Which was absolutely the point, right? I mean, great job Ben Affleck, I will officially stop making fun of him now. lol. But, holy mother of crapity crapkins, saaaad sad movie. Or really: saaaad, sad world.
Let me first just say: see the movie. It is great. Just because something makes you uncomfortable doesn't mean it is not wholly worth watching. Like any good piece of art, it should make you question at the very least.
There are so many things I appreciate about the movie that I want to hash out, but I'm going to stick with one main idea: What is our responsibility, singularly and collectively, to do something about the rampant child abuse occurring worldwide?
The point, and the whole piece of the disturbing pie is that the movie is not just a movie - it is a reflection of real life events and ongoing problems we have in this world. I feel like a lot of people will just walk away from seeing something like "Gone Baby Gone" and feel like they are not big enough, powerful enough, significant enough to make a difference in relation to an enormous problem like child kidnapping/abuse/molestation/rape/mistreatment/abduction/etc. And I feel like that is honestly the wrong response. It's just like the "my one vote doesn't count" mentality, that one voice is not significant or capable of achieving anything versus the ethereal idea of some sort of predestined election outcome outside of one's control.
Am I making any sense? Whatever.
The point is: we have a short time on this planet and we ARE responsible. For everything. I don't care what you believe, but most people pretty much agree that God is not gunna reach his Almighty hand down and influence anything happening on Earth anytime soon. So if I don't do anything, life is basically going to be the same or worse for my children and all the other precious lives that were started after mine. Now, I'm not talking about taking on the weight of the world, shouldering all the responsibility/guilt/burden for every mistreated child in the world, but if we don't allow some of our shame and discomfiture to do it's work and take SOME responsibility, nothing will get better. Women did not get the vote (disgustingly less than 100 years ago), people of color did not get the vote (disturbingly slightly over 100 years), the Civil Rights Act prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin did not come about (LESS than 44 frakking years ago!) because people sat on their bums and did nothing.
We are still sitting on our bums and doing nothing about all sorts of inequalities in our own "free" nation, not to mention seriously disturbing atrocities like child abuse that I'm pretty sure we can all agree on despite race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin or any damned other feature.
Dammit, I don't know what to do at this time in my life. Maybe I am just going to have to be a hell of a lot more informed voter, adopt our next kid, donate to worthy charities, and run for office when I'm sixty years old and have more time. lol. Nobody would vote for me, I'm so damn liberal. What can we do? I dunno. Something. I'll figure it out.
There are so many things I appreciate about the movie that I want to hash out, but I'm going to stick with one main idea: What is our responsibility, singularly and collectively, to do something about the rampant child abuse occurring worldwide?
The point, and the whole piece of the disturbing pie is that the movie is not just a movie - it is a reflection of real life events and ongoing problems we have in this world. I feel like a lot of people will just walk away from seeing something like "Gone Baby Gone" and feel like they are not big enough, powerful enough, significant enough to make a difference in relation to an enormous problem like child kidnapping/abuse/molestation/rape/mistreatment/abduction/etc. And I feel like that is honestly the wrong response. It's just like the "my one vote doesn't count" mentality, that one voice is not significant or capable of achieving anything versus the ethereal idea of some sort of predestined election outcome outside of one's control.
Am I making any sense? Whatever.
The point is: we have a short time on this planet and we ARE responsible. For everything. I don't care what you believe, but most people pretty much agree that God is not gunna reach his Almighty hand down and influence anything happening on Earth anytime soon. So if I don't do anything, life is basically going to be the same or worse for my children and all the other precious lives that were started after mine. Now, I'm not talking about taking on the weight of the world, shouldering all the responsibility/guilt/burden for every mistreated child in the world, but if we don't allow some of our shame and discomfiture to do it's work and take SOME responsibility, nothing will get better. Women did not get the vote (disgustingly less than 100 years ago), people of color did not get the vote (disturbingly slightly over 100 years), the Civil Rights Act prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin did not come about (LESS than 44 frakking years ago!) because people sat on their bums and did nothing.
We are still sitting on our bums and doing nothing about all sorts of inequalities in our own "free" nation, not to mention seriously disturbing atrocities like child abuse that I'm pretty sure we can all agree on despite race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin or any damned other feature.
Dammit, I don't know what to do at this time in my life. Maybe I am just going to have to be a hell of a lot more informed voter, adopt our next kid, donate to worthy charities, and run for office when I'm sixty years old and have more time. lol. Nobody would vote for me, I'm so damn liberal. What can we do? I dunno. Something. I'll figure it out.
2 comments:
Maybe what is troubling you is that abuse can be both pervasive and elusive at the same time. This can be true with abuse of power or abuse based on gender and class, for instance, even though there are hard-fought battles that have been won for gender and race inequality, the policies do not stop racism or the glass ceiling. It is hard to craft policies to end domestic violence and child abuse, and that is the hardest thing to swallow, it can always be hidden, especially in a society that values privacy and individual rights so much. I think one important thing we can do is advocate for reform of the American adoption process, which is really atrocious... not to mention how truly disgustingly underpaid, underfunded and under-resourced social workers are, as one of the few groups of people who can help kids. And of course, in my very liberal opinion, this reflective policy is just a band-aid on an ulcer until you remedy mightily destructive disease of poverty. More children (20% of all children and 40% of black children) live in poverty than any other age group... I feel like they are absolutely abandoned by society because people feel uncomfortable because the can't blame the kid for being poor (does that make sense?). I am doing a photo project on a young woman (18) who lives in public housing on her own. She is one of six, her mom (and other female householders in her family) is absentee, flits from place to place, so this girl houses her younger family members, feeds them ramen noodles and buys them shoes at Wal-Mart, she lives in a drug infested neighborhood and says she wants to move before the summertime, when things "heat up" and the violence really starts to break out. It is simply no place for these tiny, beautiful kids. It's sad, I should show you my pictures sometimes. As a journalist, I can definitely say that it is really hard to get people to care about these issues, but it is to their detriment, because you have to live in the society you create. Anyway as far as personal agency goes, check out these people, I got to spend a bit of time with them for a story in Massachusetts, and they have one in CoMo... http://www.nationalcasa.org/. It could cheer you up to know that some people are doing something. Even a little.
Post a Comment