Letters to the Editor
Sandra M
Published Letters: 577 Editor's Choice: 139
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The situation is tragic enough without using the word 'blame'
[Read the article: Who's to blame for James Kim's death?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]James Kim and his wife made a series of bad decisions that, collectively, led to a tragic ending. I wouldn't say he is to 'blame' for not knowing what he doesn't know.
He could have been better prepared; he could have made better decisons; his wife could have overrulled him, or he her....coulda woulda shoulda. His is an age-old story - people unfamiliar with the true dangers of nature wandering unprepared into her maw. We could focus on how stupid or wrong he was to end up as he did, but I'd rather think of it this way - given all the unwise decisions stemming from their lack of preparedness, it's lucky the women and children didn't die.
People make mistakes with sometimes tragic consequences - this is what happened to the Kims. I feel for his father, who wants only for their to be something useful to come from the premature and avoidable death of his son. But unfortunately there is no one to blame, and no action that can specifically and measurably reduce the chances of this happening to another group of travellers. The tools for prevention were at hand well before and through out the trip, right up until the Kims unknowingly crossed their point of no return and suffered the consequences.
To respond to grieving father by framing it in terms of blame does no one any good. Let his op ed, like his son, rest in peace.
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Missing the issue
[Read the article: Child rape in the movies]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have yet to see a movie that has, as one of it's messages, the impact of sexual violence, depice the act of sexual violence in a way designed to create or allow for arousal. Some sick fucks might watch Jodi Foster being raped in "The Accused" and get off...but my guess is most guys felt like the character standing at the video game console watching his buddy commit a heinous crime - he had tears in his eyes, left the room, vomited and then called the police. And then sent his friend up the river. People who witness something they didn't instigate aren't automatically going to feel the feelings of the instigator.
To me the real issue is using celebrities in scenes like this. It eroticizes the scene of sexual violence in a way the director maybe anticipated, maybe didn't, but adds a note of secular prurirent interest that is certainly not part of the storytelling For example, we all knew Jodi was going to get raped in The Accused. We hadn't seen her in a movie in about 10 years, so there was this undercurrent of 'hmm, Jodi looks pretty good" that was unfortunately heightened by an undercurrent of anticipation that, shortly, we were going to see even *more* of Jodi. Farrah Fawcett was in a movie and the same issue was present - she was a victim of a serial rapist, and the opening shot in the movie was her in the shower, looking undeniably like her very beautiful very sexy very famous familiar self.
In "Hounddog", there will be some prurient interest in the movie because it stars Dakota Fanning. That's unfortunate. But from what I read in an interview with the director, she (the director) was quite responsible in the way she handled not only the scenes with the young actress, but also in the way she anticipated the audience's reaction, spearately, to a) the scene and b) the famous young actress playing the scene
It's a tough issue - the star power is of course going to attract a wider audience. I think the director is under a much heavier burden when he goes the celebrity vs. anonymous actress route - to not eroticize the act that is integral to the story being told by the WAY the story is told, either by camera shots, lighting, costuming, make-up, music and yes, casting.
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If only more leaaders followed suit
[Read the article: Pointed protest]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Some practices do not deserve respect - and that of denying a group equal access to education is one of these. Bravo for Spain's justice minister for finding a politic way to get his point across and keeping focus on the issue of discrimination rather than choosing a tactic that might have made himself/his gesture the central issue.