An Orgy Of Violence

Violence (role-playing game) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We often complain that violent video games are corrupting our children. That may or may not be true, depending on whether you believe studies or your scornful teenager; but it occurred to me on Wednesday night that entertainment has been corrupting our children forever.

On Wednesday night I watched a man be torn apart by his own mother, and his bodiless head put on display.  Women cavorted, naked, in the hills.  A pregnant woman was killed by lightning.  A male surrogate mother carried the baby to full term.  There was earthquake, fire, a razing. Crazed women ripped to shreds a herd of cows and beat frightened men with sticks.  Talk about your video nasty.

Only, it wasn’t nasty at all; it was art.  You can’t whack a good Greek tragedy: yes, the Hub and I watched Spud and his friends act out Euripides’ The Bacchae.  

It was set in the 1970s.  If that isn’t the perfect era for excess and lack of self-restraint, I don’t know what is.

Apart from the mother who chopped up her son (if I’m honest, an act with which I can empathise), which was done symbolically, the rest of it was mostly related as speech.  By my own son, but we’ll let that slide; he’s fairly well-balanced thanks to having two parental extremes.

Talking of which…the Hub had his camera, of course, and took photos throughout.  That would have been fine if it was a point-and-shoot, but he has an excellent camera.  Nothing kills the tension like the tuk-tuk-tuk of a flash being moved into another position; followed by a light which temporarily blinds the cast (admittedly, making the one blind character’s acting incredibly realistic); and the whiiiiiiiiiiine of the flash warming up again.

I always wondered what it was like to be the annoying person on the bus; now I know.  Mortifying.  For me, anyway; the Hub was too busy taking photos to notice.

The play was about eighty minutes long and I must have shushed the Hub enough to make him turn off his flash at some point, because the later photos are not as good, he reckons.  

I want to enjoy Spud’s starring role in The Tempest, so I have ordered the Hub to request permission to photograph the dress rehearsal.  The Hub says ‘no.’  He flat refuses to sit through Shakespeare twice.

Here is a sample of what they’re teaching our kids in school these days:

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