Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 11, 1999)
Battalion Page 9 • Thursday, March 11, 1999 PINION will look veil' you will seeJ pionships,' j, ihe top team: ompete in iti;j he Univeisil University cil r University, and Kansas imong other lovies should not center bound immoral plots I Hollywood morality y Fobbs, tbA is high time the movie indus- utdoor 1ft®ry received a make over. The and senio;®]uality of movies today is de- ’00-meter nftsing steadily as sex, drugs will lead the jnl box-office dollars become the sprints. Fobbjtajidard for cinema entertain- >ya Jones,! ne t> rema!Mj n f ortunate iy t he area targeted men1 ' heaviest is also the most dan- k the I 1 ' Nali l t han tiovies with ready-made television stars entices ee; agers and frightens parents. But far worse are the tomes where teens have no decent role models and tolenforced family values. see i 1 level e: tus: teenagers. Phis new wave of steamy teen Christina BARROWS ®kfter observing several teenagers, it is clear adoles- ;erts admire, imitate and relate to the stars they watch )h television weekly. It is disgusting these “role mod- meet "Th ;ls ’ choose movie roles that influence teens in the forth: looks # l0vlt very )ar ' nls ,‘ ng direction. ovies themselves should not be blamed directly, if allow their children to attend these movies it is iejar where the finger should be pointed, although ^Hny times part of the thrill is to sneak into the theater, m's team an adolescent is taught strong moral values, or Detrichl Mv are * ess likely to be influenced by what they see iff of a fou: ,r > the big screen, and will probably not even wish to ? women’s ktend these movies. CAA Indoor'MFwo recently-released teen movies with a blatant lomore -{isregard for morals are Cruel Intentions and Jaw- :he 1997 \maker. ampion. Jifl In the movie Cruel Intentions, the character er, who q (athryn offers her stepbrother Sebastian a wager that i Outdoor iteBuld cause any advocate of family values to cringe, i A&M intlieBie deflowers a virgin, he receives the opportunity to .Migthen the lleep with his almost-sister, Kathryn. ■What might shock parents most about these new ack and fiek movies is the almost absolute absence of parents, said he expecwn the movie Cruel Intentions, the two leading char- 'sults from his cters spend the whole summer without seeing their an the men’sharents at all and do not seem to care. Sebastian asks »#■ stepsister, “How is your gold-digging whore of a aphen Erath nothef enjoying Bali?” d are expecte'i r [' 0 which Kathryn responds, “She suspects that tries in the i/our impotent, alcoholic father is diddling the maid.” ce and junior |y^i s disgusting banter might be amusing to some, be a scoring t%T provides teenagers with a very poor example of s 800 meter 10w (0 speak 0 f their parents. Such disrespect for par- season , mts is very wrong but some argue the lack of parental LengelelQ ^ ig^ res j s the reason for their bad behavior. ^ aTtman '^Although this could be a noble attempt to tell par- flts they need to spend more time with their children, ft movie’s possible message is lost to the immature 0,1 sald the iudience it targets. Rose McGowan, the star of the new high school h fvie Jawbreaker, is a sad role model for teenage im ;ir|ls. Her character Courtney, a snobby high school ■c fiend, accidentally kills the prom queen and de- :icfes to stage a homicidal rape to cover it up. ■McGowan said this about her character, “She may 1 (lot have a lot of morals, but what’s wrong vyith being Roral?” This is the wrong message to send to the :e^n generation. ■ Every generation does have its teen-exploitation JI B )v i es . designed to tap the adolescent’s wallets. Ac- jrC pfOulMpling to Newsweek, recent teen movie She’s All * Mat made $16.5 million its opening weekend and >r AiflV^flMly cost about $10 million to make. It is very clear is struck Cl ere she’s at.” left town. )od teams coij aid. “So the interesting.” ■ Nash suffeii en got the flu. — 1 R MAIL CALL dric c Keader questions basis for irive wiinjWriters’ creation statements vrists. H ick Dirk NoifH 1 reac) - wi t h interest, the readers’ opinions ad- lerman, hasi^csd in The Battalion regarding creationism, to a spot pT 1 was not sur P risecl by the pro-creationism reac- juestion NeM ns published in the Mail Call, given the well- rookie-of-theM own religious leaning of southern United States Pierce of i :C i|izens. The main pillar of social conservatism in ims ofSacrahpman history has been religion, hence the forceful Mnial of scientific thought and attitudes, chance to di| The real source of concern was the inability of the Mave: 130 ^ writers of the Mar. 3 column, and the mail upon it. lr ers Mar - 5 ’ to b ack U P any of their state- n up the pi. Merits with closed premises of the sound kind. ■am Nelsoo« The pro-creationist writer tried to adduce mathe- to keep ontrff tical reasons that were way out of her depth better. ]t’s w |il e pro-evolutionist, realizing the intellectual time Of dishonesty of delving too deeply into the philoso- ■eded a trails re 'igi° n m one edition of a newspaper col- at the topoftn- stuck to a more logical, but also unrefer- ? have so r e hced, argument. 1 Ditto for the mailcallers, as the impulse to de fend creed sprung to the surface and manifested it- sllf most unwholesomely. - i! I do not quite understand why unreason should . pervade an academic environment such as Texas kM’s. Those who choose to shy away from the irmth of truth’s fire will forever dwell in the harsh list of cultural fallacy. v : in ion? ioff, s to say ding. Ayokunle Ogunshola Class of '00 Builders The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be 300 words or less and include the author’s name, class and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style, id accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at 013 Reed McDon- with a valid student ID. Letters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - IVIail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 Campus Mail: 1111 Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: batt@tamvml.tamu.edu teenagers are a profitable market. Cruel Intentions director Roger Kumble expressed his hope teens would find a way to attend the rated R movie stating, “I can’t do a PG-13 Dangerous Liaisons — it’s going to be fluff.” Did it occur to Kumble Dangerous Liaisons was an adult film adapted in 1988 from the 18th century nov el, Les Liaison Dangereuses by Choderlos De Laclos? These teen stars are hardly Glenn Close, John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer and this movie does not stand a chance at winning three Oscars because of its inconceivable adaptation with a cast too old for their parts playing characters too young for their be havior and dialogue. So, for those with the desire to attend motion pic tures which strive for excellency instead of the fast hormonal buck, it is time to demand more, especially for the more impressionable youth. This is not to say critically acclaimed movies might not contain sex and drugs, but these movies will not imply certain amoral activities as acceptable, or even normal. Christina Barrows is a sophomore English major. EDITORIAL Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the views of the editorials board members. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other Bat talion staff members, the Texas A&M student body, regents, administra tion, faculty or staff. Columns, guest columns, cartoons and letters express the opinions of the authors. Editorial Board AARON MEIER Editor in Chief KASIE BYERS Managing Editor MANISHA PAREKH Opinion Editor BETH MILLER City Editor Railroaded University must address railroad situation while options available For years, the railroad tracks along Wellborn Road were an umbilical cord for A&M students. Trains took students home to cities such as Dallas or Houston. And before the development of the Northgate area, a trolley shuttled students to downtown Bryan. However, with the changing times bringing the Texas 6 bypass and Easter- wood Airport to the area, the train is no longer a primary as a transportation for A&M students. Due to the changing landscape and the continued growth of the community, it is imperative that the rail road tracks be relocated within the next three years. With the proposed doubling of traffic on the track and the addition of a second track, this need is even more ap parent. With the proposed increase from 24 trains traveling through the area per day to 45 per day, the traffic delays throughout the community, not just on campus, would be horrendous. This would mean a train bringing the Bryan-College Station community to a halt every half hour. While the University’s proposed overpass for the train is a start, there is still the remaining portions of the Bryan-College Station area that will be affected by the train traffic. Whether late at night when a train blows its whistle or when the trains crawl along crossings and sometimes come to a complete stop, blocking traffic, the trains represent a major disturbance for area residents. Last spring. The Battalion published photos of stu dents climbing between train cars when a train stopped cutting them off from West Campus. University officials explained the danger that could be presented if the train started moving again causing an injury or death if some one was caught between the cars. The proposed traffic in crease would only make such an accident more eminent. The University’s proposal to build an overpass for the trains at the intersection of Wellborn Road and Joe Routt Boulevard is simply not enough. The intersection at Well born Road and Old Main is also a major thoroughfare for student traffic and needs to be addressed. Also, with the proposed addition of a second set of tracks, the possibili ty of a third or even fourth set of tracks would quickly make such an overpass obsolete. Railroad officials have said that moving the tracks would only cause more trucks to come into the area to deliver goods that would have been delivered via rail. At least these trucks would not block traffic or pose such a high danger to pedestrian students trying to get to West Campus. The University needs to take a firm stand to relocate the railroad tracks. With the constant expansion the Uni versity is experiencing into West Campus, it is best the administration act now and avert further problems the train traffic could pose. Luke SAUGIER Cinema does not cause immorality, only reflects it I t is no secret that the recent trend in movies has been towards ever more sexually ex plicit and violent plot lines. Perfect examples of this trend are the new movies Cruel Intentions, 200 Cigarettes and Jawbreaker. These movies are at best amoral and at worst truly perverse. They should not, how ever, be blamed for the lack of morals in society as a whole. Those who assert that movies, tele vision and video games are to blame for the increasing violence and lack of morals in America, particularly among the youth, have confused the symptom with the disease. While it has been satisfactorily proven that there is a connection be tween violent behavior and violence seen in movies, there is not a proven connection to the level of violence. Dick Rolfe, the head of The Dove Foundation, said he remains uncon vinced of the connection between vio lence in movies and in real life. He goes on to note that the reaction of the public in the 1930s to a movie which contained eight murders, all off camera, was the same as the modern reaction to movies such as Pulp Fic tion, indicating that it is not the pres ence of violence which is to blame, but the presence of more violence than the audience is accustomed to. Society only becomes more violent when the violence in movies is raised to a new level. This level is now ap parently at a maximum, and as people become desensitized, it may not affect them adversely. The fact is that people go to the movies to be entertained. Thus, they do not want to see personalities and situations that they see and hear about every day. As real life becomes more bizarre and violent, the filmmakers must be come ever-more graphic and explicit in their depictions of the same topics that have been the subject of human inter est and storytelling since the begin ning of time: sex and violence. One of parents main complaints about the movie Cruel Intentions is its extremely explicit language, usually in reference to sex. But after the Starr Re port what should we expect? The Clinton scandal is a perfect ex ample of real life, not movies, expand ing the limit of what is standard fare for mass media. To keep their material novel enough to be entertaining moviemakers must keep their plots and characters always one step beyond culturally accepted norms. Filmmakers are now beginning to realize there is little that is outside the experience of most adults. This is the reason so many of the movies to come out lately deal with sexuality, violence and drug use among teens. With the lowering of the characters’ ages, material that would not be ex ceptional were it a movie about adults becomes vastly more provocative. In addition, many movies such as Varsity Blues are calculated to appeal to, and advertised to, a younger audience. As box-office figures show, targeting a young audience with adult material is just as effective as targeting an adult audience with more graphic material. As Newsweek pointed out, movies that deal with teen sexuality, drug use and violence are nothing new. In the past, movies such as Fast Times at Ridgemont High have covered the same subject matter as more recent movies like Varsity Blues but in a less explicit manner. Again the point is made that what is changed is not the subject matter, but rather the manner in which it is de picted. Graphic movies should not be blamed for a degradation of societal mores. The fact that the movies our culture produces are increasingly vio lent and sexual is an indicator of where our culture is headed, not what is forcing our culture in a certain direc tion. Blaming movies for the ills of soci ety is the same as blaming the gas gauge for making your car run out of gas. Luke Saugier is a sophomore petroleum engineering major.