by I_Like_Plants » Mon 19 Feb 2007, 02:39:55
Yep it continually puzzles foreigners, that the US is very prude about things like women's skin exposed but horrible violence is considered perfectly OK, even good, to show to children. Typical US movie has a murder or 3 and several car crashes, lots of bullets flying, etc.
What's the quintessential European movie? I don't know European cinema very well, being an American and insulated from most of it, but I'll submit 2 examples Americans may have heard of. One is "My Life As A Dog" about a kid who has to move to a different family situation, it's in Cold War Europe and the Russians have sent a dog, Laika, into space. The kid considers his situation to be strange like the dog's situation is strange, and feels a kinship and draws some strength from Laika. And that's it. Unthinkable for a movie like that to come out of the US. My other example is an Italian film, The Bicycle Thief. A man and his son in postwar Italy go out for the day and have pizza. They have a wonderful time in a small, somewhat grimy pizza shop, just being with each other. But, when they leave, they find the father's bicycle is stolen. This is a calamity because the father depends on the bike for his livelihood, hanging movie posters. They look all over for it, and he loses his job. Finally in desperation, he steals a bike, and is immediately arrested. The end. Again, impossible for a film like this to come out of the US - it sympathizes with the little guy. There were a few, a very few, films that sympathized with the little guy right around WWII when the machine needed the little guy to go fight. But not since, and besides, there are no car crashes or rape scenes. The guy doesn't even diddle his son because he's a Liberal. Nope, impossible for non-Amurrikan films to come out of the Empire.