Greetings! Due to our thursday class consisting of blog readings and Tarantino rants, I almost couldn't think of anything to write about. Then I remembered Leeper saying he didn't believe in the profane, and I thought that might be interesting to explore.
Profane
transitive verb
1
: to treat (something sacred) with abuse, irreverence, or contempt
2
: to debase by a wrong, unworthy, or vulgar use
It would seem, to me, that in order for something to be profaned, it would depend on whether you believe something sacred could be abused. Let's start with the obvious thing that could be profaned... sex... We see this all the time in our culture. On today's tv shows and movies, sex is often treated not as something sacred at all, but as something nonchalant. But is there any place for this? Could their possibly be a use for profaning sex in movies? In my opinion, yes. I believe it depends on what its use is. Is it there just for the sake of entertainment, or is it there to send a message? An example that I can think of is in the latest movie adaption of Les Miserables. In it, Fantine resorts to prostitution in order to support her daughter. The directors could have simply implied what was going on with Fantine rather than show her go through the trauma she did, but I think they purposely kept those scenes in to show how horrible it was. Fantine ends up dying because of this, only adding to the painful message that was burned into our heads.
Another thing that the film industry loves... Violence! And lots of it. It's because of the violent action that we go to see many movies. Now, violence has its place, and its often critical to the plot. Saving Private Ryan wouldn't be much of a war movie without the violence. But there are situations where violence is either unnecessary or too much. The movie that comes to mind at the moment is the third installment of The Hobbit. As excited as I was to see the battle of five armies, I did not need a three hour blood and gore fest where every other death was a decapitation. It took focus away from the story.
So much media today has no restraint on its content. That is one area of the spectrum where I would say something is profane. On the other side are those who are offended by ANY use of such things. "That movie is bad because it has a sex scene." "You can't watch that. It's violent." I also believe this to be profane. By avoiding these things, you treat them with contempt. If there's a purpose for it, and it has a message behind it, the "profane" really isn't mistreated at all.
1.
ReplyDeleterelating or devoted to that which is not sacred or biblical; secular rather than religious.
"a talk that tackled topics both sacred and profane"
synonyms: secular, lay, nonreligious, temporal; formallaic
"subjects both sacred and profane"