I recently watched the film "Waitress." It's marketed as a cute, quirky romantic comedy which centers around a young waitress at a roadside cafe who dreams of bigger things than her small-town life is giving her. I remember it getting good reviews when it came out, so when my wife sent me to Blockbuster with the request of bringing home something light-hearted and funny, "Waitress" seemed to fit the bill. We were both a little disappointed by what we ended up with.
Though the movie does have its redeeming qualities, a central story line of the film is about the main character having an affair on her loser husband. What makes it worse is that she's pregnant. Kick it up a notch and she's sleeping with her doctor, the very OBGYN who's checking her regularly during her pregnancy. There are numerous scenes of them all over each other... in his front yard, in the car, in the patient room in one of his offices. And though you don't actually see anything beyond heavy kissing, the main character actually narrates the line "At first it was about the sex." What the?!? I'm sorry. Am I a total prude or is that ridiculously immoral and disgusting on several levels? On top of that, there's even another character cheating on her husband in the story too. What bothers me is how the whole thing is presented. I think we're actually supposed to cheer on the adultery. We're supposed to be happy for this girl as she's banging one guy while pregnant with another's baby. Sadly, this seems to be a trend in Hollywood these days.
Think of some recent films and think of how many times you've wanted two married characters to cheat on their respective spouses in order to be together. "Walk the Line" was a great film about the life and romance of Johnny Cash and June Carter. It was a great love story, but both characters were married. Both characters had children. Both cheated, both lied, both wrecked lives and families in the process. You could argue that Johnny and June were "meant to be" and that after they got together, they stayed together until the day they died. Fine, but the bottom line is that they broke their marriage vows along the way and I had a hard time really wanting them to be together in the movie because I knew what it meant to be cheering on their relationship. And did I mention the Academy Awards that this film was either nominated for or won?
Currently in theatres is "Charlie Wilson's War," another movie where you want the two main stars to be together, and yet both character are also married. And again, this film has been nominated for multiple Golden Globe awards and will certainly be in line for several Oscars too. If all Hollywood does is glamorize cheating, why should any of us be surprised when it happens in our own lives or when family values as a whole seem to be falling by the wayside?
I wrote in a previous post about how I thought that the steroid scandal in baseball was sadly reflective of not a problem in that sport alone, but a declining sense of morals in our nation as a whole. Some may call that an over-statement, but I just don't see otherwise anymore. You constantly read of marriages breaking up, of single-parents raising children alone, and of kids falling apart. The family structure that should be so essential in our lives today has been replaced by too many other me-first negative forces. It was once said that "no man is an island," and yet no one seems very interested in doing the things to promote togetherness very much any more.
I go to bed every night knowing that I've never cheated on my wife and knowing that the day will never come where I'll look my children in the eyes and say, "Boys... the reason your mom and I aren't living together any more is because I just wanted to bang some other lady... that pussy was more important than you." Am I a hero, or just some dope whose story isn't worth telling?
Though the movie does have its redeeming qualities, a central story line of the film is about the main character having an affair on her loser husband. What makes it worse is that she's pregnant. Kick it up a notch and she's sleeping with her doctor, the very OBGYN who's checking her regularly during her pregnancy. There are numerous scenes of them all over each other... in his front yard, in the car, in the patient room in one of his offices. And though you don't actually see anything beyond heavy kissing, the main character actually narrates the line "At first it was about the sex." What the?!? I'm sorry. Am I a total prude or is that ridiculously immoral and disgusting on several levels? On top of that, there's even another character cheating on her husband in the story too. What bothers me is how the whole thing is presented. I think we're actually supposed to cheer on the adultery. We're supposed to be happy for this girl as she's banging one guy while pregnant with another's baby. Sadly, this seems to be a trend in Hollywood these days.
Think of some recent films and think of how many times you've wanted two married characters to cheat on their respective spouses in order to be together. "Walk the Line" was a great film about the life and romance of Johnny Cash and June Carter. It was a great love story, but both characters were married. Both characters had children. Both cheated, both lied, both wrecked lives and families in the process. You could argue that Johnny and June were "meant to be" and that after they got together, they stayed together until the day they died. Fine, but the bottom line is that they broke their marriage vows along the way and I had a hard time really wanting them to be together in the movie because I knew what it meant to be cheering on their relationship. And did I mention the Academy Awards that this film was either nominated for or won?
Currently in theatres is "Charlie Wilson's War," another movie where you want the two main stars to be together, and yet both character are also married. And again, this film has been nominated for multiple Golden Globe awards and will certainly be in line for several Oscars too. If all Hollywood does is glamorize cheating, why should any of us be surprised when it happens in our own lives or when family values as a whole seem to be falling by the wayside?
I wrote in a previous post about how I thought that the steroid scandal in baseball was sadly reflective of not a problem in that sport alone, but a declining sense of morals in our nation as a whole. Some may call that an over-statement, but I just don't see otherwise anymore. You constantly read of marriages breaking up, of single-parents raising children alone, and of kids falling apart. The family structure that should be so essential in our lives today has been replaced by too many other me-first negative forces. It was once said that "no man is an island," and yet no one seems very interested in doing the things to promote togetherness very much any more.
I go to bed every night knowing that I've never cheated on my wife and knowing that the day will never come where I'll look my children in the eyes and say, "Boys... the reason your mom and I aren't living together any more is because I just wanted to bang some other lady... that pussy was more important than you." Am I a hero, or just some dope whose story isn't worth telling?
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