VIEWPOINTS
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■ OUR OMM* U S can't
afford to get friendly with
Big Brother or his
technological trappings
Boon to your bank or an
automatic teller mai hm«
lately?
Smile. you're prolwbly on
candid camera,
Mow aUiui parking
garages, grocary atoms,
malls or your favorite
restaurant? These and many
office buildings, hospitals,
airport*, hotels, storage
facilities, apartment com
plexes. retail clothing dress
ing rooms and other places
where you'd least expect
them, all have something in
common
Video cameras taping
your adorable mug
The reason, of i nurse, is
to catch notso-adorahle
|reople in the ai t of commit
ting unkind and illegal act*
Anti the cameras do cap
ture. at least on tape, hank
robber* and other criminals
who have a higher chance
of Unrig apprehended than
if thoy hadn't boon taped
What the video camera
c au l see is often Manned
and noticed by another
pue « of lei h no logy, the
metal dofnctor.
Iasi vviw'k. fat twin Mid
dle S« bool students in
Southwest Portland had to
|Ntss through jHirlable metal
detectors as they entered
their school
The detectors are par! of a
new plan worked out by
police end school officials
to discourage students from
bringing weapon* In school
Five tn 10 year* ago, we
would have all been horri
fied at the thought of video
camera* in so many public
places, and metal detectors
at any location except the
airpon
Today, it apjnsar* society
not only atxvpli ait thiwc
electronic intrusions, but it
vwiltomei thorn with open
arm#
Are we giving Big Brother
a warm end fuiuty hug?
To a point, yea A society
will always tie willing to
sacrifice certain freedoms to
maintain social order ami
(tersonal safety.
liven though violent crime
Iras recently declined in the
U S., criminals still hold us
hostage through fear.
We are afraid of criminals
and crime
We are afraid of misfits
like )ame« M. Kinder, the
disgruntled terrorist who
shot two people and took
hostages at Burl land's KOIN
Canter on Jan 4.
We are horrified by
humans who abduct f» year
old girls and viciously take
their lives
We are outraged and par
pleated when three teenagers
are taken to a remote hill
side in Springfield and slug
in death
Yes, we do tufVe a crime
problem And yes. we need
video cameras and metal
detectors ami police officers
and taws.
But we need to careful not
to overreact on the side of
caution and security.
Put up the cameras and
the detectors only where
they are needed, and when
and if the crime's frequency
drops off. contemplate
removing them.
Meanwhile, we should be
'miking a! other solution* to
our mine problems We
need tougher law s fur vio
lent offenders We should
also start holding the media
and entertainment industry
responsible for violent pro
gramming
The alternative is an
America that looks more
like a police state, and less
like a democracy.
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Tarantino: value-free violence of the lambs
”W*» » their eve* ihai kji» me the ro<**t Men
I turn the movie Pulp Fidtttn to the fen* of
I title kk*!M "triumph." and you'll see
JLwhat I nw»n. At if transfixed fey the mtuk
ofthe Pled Ihper helixes turn in then eye* as
mwi as the film it mentioned
They *ai that Pulp Pu lton it • work of art. fat
ton important to he ignored They iabel writer
end director Quentin Tarantino a gen Hit whose
talent* make him « force to be rw Tuned with
Sim* Tarantino s first major project. ficservtwr
Doga. was released in t*W2. Fli tlon Affliction
ha* spread no rapidly that it has reached epi
demic proportions
Howwrt. contrary to the c laims <»( the fash
ionahle masse*. the worship of Pulp Fiction
does not reveal a critical human eye hut a blood
thirsty human taste
Toward the end of the muvie. Samuel Jackson
tremble* with emotion as he cries. "I'm trying
real hard to he the shepherd.” The actor utters
the intentions of the writer whose ability to pre
sent sadism and savagery in a stylish fashion
has made him the shepherd of moldabte movie
But T arantino it a false shepherd He lead* his
dock to die slaughter by disguising brutality
with comedy, crudeness with sophistication and
degenetai y w ith enlightenment
While the rufferors of Fiction Affliction claim
to be proohet* of cinematic vision, they are in
fact sightless marc hers, no different than the
hypnotized children of tfamaltn.
last week l decided to throw caution lo the
wind and expose myself to the disease I rented
and reviewed Tarantino's past film*, and even
plopped down sis buc ks to sit through his latest
release, From Dock Til Down.
Cuing into the experiment. I possessed only a
skeletal knowledge of F'iction Affliction 1 knew
it* sufferers lauded the Tarantino "style” of
film making The sick sheep said that Tarantino
reveals the underworld like no other, that he
preaents a complex plot that doubles back on
itself, that his mastery of fast-pace dialogue is
like mi other and, moat important, that the
director never, ever ever, shows gratuitous vio
lence
This last aspect requires tome delicate
expounding
Oh sure there's murder and mayhem in Taran
tino's movies, but he does it all "artistically ”
You'll see the knife about to split the jugular
vein, but you Won't see the actual cutting You'll
hear the screaming and tee the blood, but the
literal dying will be left off camera This is the
genius, the nouveau violence. This is Terenti
no's event gore.
lest 1 forget that this is all supposed to be
funny One scene in Tarantino's first film shows
a policeman howling as his ear is severed by a
psychopath Right niter that, a joke is told while
gasoline is (Kiumd an tire squirming victim. Roy,
is that funny.
fhilp Fiction show s an exaggerated hypoder
ink needle being forced into the heart of Uma
Thurman, who is emitting mucus and blood
while convulsing as a result of a heroin over
dose The jokes keep coming as Thurman imme
diately rises with the needle lodged in her
sternum
We can't help but laugh as John Travolta and
Jackson pick piece* of brain and skull from their
hair after accidentally shooting an African
American teenager Included in the fun are
Rooks, wetbacks, lews, niggers and bitches, all of
whom are targets of this uproarious humor
During my viewing of From
Dmk Til Dawn. I was lucky
«<nougn to im in an auruaru a
(Hat wan jam pm ked with die
hard Tarantino fan*. Before the
credit* are finished, a man i»
imntiKi alive i n# inninlwr* 01
flock couldn't help but slap
their chairs A M««xn an bourn
«r with greasy, long hair is
kicked in the rib* repeatedly
and mercilessly by Tarantino himself. The
«uwd l*a h.» baaa* wilh joy Movi# critic i,vn*
Siskei concludes "You will not uw a morn vio
lent film this year."
Sadly though, my Fiction Affliction expen
moot ha* boon a failure
l am atilt unable to understand tbe magnetism
of these Rim* Why do those who claim to be
humanists flock to this pupsavagary? How do
people disregard their moral culpability lor the
purpose of enjoying brutality at it* rawest com?
I understand that there U something very
human about needing to experience violence
either literally or vicariously But Tarantino
goo* far beyond this "human" need by inundat
ing. indulging and inoculating his audience
with a savage overdose
So desensitized, the audience calls the inhu
inanity "art." So submerged, the bloodshed is
dubbed "genius."
If Fiction Affliction strikes, and you simply
can't resist watching a Tarantino film, ask your
self from wbat sources the filmmaker elicits
your laughter Try and uncover the path Taranti
no leads the masses through.
It you become a fawning sheep searching for
cathartic carnage, remember that movies should
n't fort e you to plat e your values on hold
Remember that violence is violence and that
cruelty is never chic
keith Cunningham, a senior ma/orlng in English,
in a columnist for the Emerald. E mail:
kmthcdkmrgon uoregon edu