Kestrawling has written a very thought provoking post (http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=86051) that I felt I had to respond to with my own post concerning the depiction of cruelty and violence in movies, art, and literature.

I don’t enjoy watching movies that depict torture or violence.  I often have to turn off the DVD and try to continue watching later in the evening or the next day to make it through the violent scenes because they make me so uncomfortable.  But unlike you, violent movies such as Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, Standard Operating Procedure, The Wild Bunch, A Clockwork Orange and a History of Violence are some of my favorite movies.  When portrayed by a good director (Peckinpaw), a good writer (Orwell), or a brilliant painter (Picasso) the depiction of cruelty and violence can make us question our own behavior and society and wonder what it is in us that allows such things to happen.

Similarly, I have been following the discussions of torture that have been committed under the tenure of the Bush Administration in Salon, OS, and The New York Times and it has made me think that we need to do something as a nation to say we abhor this type of behavior, especially when it is committed by and supported members of our government.  What can we do as a nation to reduce the chances of this behavior in future administrations without it looking like it is vengeance and spite on the part of the Democrats to the Republicans?  Glenn Grenwald’s post in Salon today (http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/01/20/turley/index.html) is an excellent discussion of this issue.

For me, art, including movies, literature, and other media, has made me more sensitive to violence and cruelty in the real world.  Good art can move the abstract descriptions of this behavior into something that you feel in your very gut and moves you change your perspective of the world and how you behave.  It is no longer a statistic, but a tragedy.   I can only applaud these artists, writers, and directors  and the fact that they make me feel so uncomfortable.  And, yes, I have written my congressman and senators asking that they do investigate the torture that was committed during the tenure of the Bush Administration.