Happy One, my peoples! It's the first day of a new month, the first day of a new business quarter, the first day of a new commission cycle...everything starts all over, like Groundhog Day. And, in keeping with that mindset comes an ad campaign for a new movie, "Kick-Ass". Think "Fight Club" meets "Watchmen". The premise (from what I can gather from the previews and ads -- and you know they just about give everything away in those things) is that a small group of Ordinary Joes take it upon themselves to become vigilant Ordinary Joe superheroes, thereby taking the time to disguise themselves in full costume to go out and fight the bad guys, albeit with absolutely no superpowers, all (it seems) just for the thrill of it, as well as for justice. Don't know if there's an intention sublimial message involved, but it got me to thinking about one anyway: just what are we trying to say here? Are we all fed up with too much petty crime and not enough justice (i.e. car thefts, burglaries, etc.) because the Po-Po is more interested in the bigger fish? And if law enforcement denies it, does this mean we are disappointed in the results we see in bringing these petty criminals to justice in a timely and effective manner? If you saw "Watchmen", you would have seen how this street-level crime-fighting ended up in a corruptive state, because it's only human nature that we eventually lose sight of the forest from the trees. I liked what they did there -- it exposed our fallibility, our weaknesses, our All-Too-Human nature. And in the end, is that a bad thing? We know that we are not perfect, but we also know we are driven (most of the time) to fight for justice and to see good win over evil. It doesn't always go our way in the end, but it takes a lot for most of us to get overwhelmed by continual disappointment. We love to see the good guys win -- but please hold the sappiness, after all, we're watching calories!
My other question is, what is Hollywood trying to convey via this topic? I realize it's all for entertainment purposes only (no wagering), but it still begs for some discussion of the prevailing social mores within our society. I wonder if there are other trends or movements that the general public would like to see "cleansed" by do-gooders fighting for the common man -- maybe Washington political stalemate unclogged by Captain Drano? Or global religious zealots crushed by Major Reason? I'd like to see that -- along with child abusers physically eliminated from the face of the earth by General Consensus. What would you like to see?
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