Revenge Fantasies

I just watched The Help with my wife. It was enjoyable. But that does not mean it was good.

Entertaining? Yes. Heart-warming? Frequently. The movie also shone a spotlight on hatred — mostly of the racial sort. To the extent it reminds us all of our common humanity, and of our need to steer our hearts clear of hating others (especially others who gain that distinction by means of skin color or such), so much the better. But when all is said and done, I left the movie feeling that I had been watching a female revenge fantasy.

Many years ago (whenever it was that Air Force One came out...) I made a mental commitment to avoid male revenge fantasies at the movie theater. Male revenge fantasies are typically violent. Extremely. The simple formula is, "You took something good from me. Now I will rip your limbs off, one by one. But I won't move too fast because I don't want you to die too quickly."

Needless to say, this is not the life God calls us to, and it scares me that so many of us have allowed ourselves the secret pleasure of watching someone else engage in violent revenge, and to ourselves vicariously savor the agony inflicted upon the original offender.

I'm reading a great book right now, titled What's So Amazing About Grace. Perhaps that has made me momentarily more sensitive on the topic. Perhaps it'd be best if my sensitivity became permanently. Grace is underrated. Grace is the forgotten word. To the point that many people in common society would struggle to define the word with any clarity.

But I digress. To our movie. The Help. It's a female revenge fantasy. By and large, the good characters are good. The bad characters are bad. Really bad. And the worst character of all? Well, by the end of the movie she gets what she deserves. A female revenge fantasy. Like sugar, it tastes sweet. And when consumed in a theater, it doesn't turn sour in your stomach. You leave the theater feeling great.

But it rots your soul.

I mean that. If we savor revenge fantasies, we'll live them out too — to the extent we can. For we, to greater or lesser extent, become what we worship. If we worship revenge in the theater, we'll appreciate it well enough in the home. And at work. And at church.

Most of what Hollywood produces includes a slice of revenge fantasy, which is to justice what pornography is to sex. But Hollywood does sometimes get it right. To see what revenge does in real life, I'd recommend Mystic River.

Most movies don't tell the true story of revenge. Revenge destroys the souls of those who engage in it. Its destructive power is guaranteed to backfire. Mystic River captures this subtle truth, though perhaps too subtly. I suspect many never see how revenge backfires so tragically in that story's telling.

It's because revenge destroys those who pursue it that God calls us to love our enemies. Ironically, this commandment from God is noted, word for word, in the movie The Help. Several times. The words are celebrated.

I was reminded of Gladiator, a horribly violent movie which,  near the end of the movie, offered up Russell Crowe (with bloody hands) ask his own amphitheater audience when they would stop taking pleasure in violence. Wait! Isn't that what we Americans just did in this theater? Have we come so far since the Romans?

The Help engaged in this same sort of hypocrisy. Love your enemies. Wait! The high point of the movie was when pie (laced with fecal matter) got served up to the unsuspecting enemy! Her just desserts? Fine. But call it what it is. The bad woman ate shit in a pie that tasted great? How fitting, since anybody who left The Help with no misgivings probably did the same.