Regular readers are no doubt bored by how often this comes up, but the ramifications of the cinema of extra-legal revenge hit me every day, from a fistfight I saw break out over a person who had 12 items in a 10-or-fewer shopping line (the affronted party went on a near rampage to see justice done) to the righteous avengers who flew planes into the World Trade Center.
–David Edelstein, “The Movie Club 2005,” Slate.com
Needless to say the ruminations on brutality in art of a man willing to overlook the, how can I put this, shit-stupid obvious sources of philosophical and aesthetic inspiration for the 9/11 attackers in favor of casting blame on Dirty Harry should be taken with the contents of an entire salt mine. But my friend Matt Wiegle (of “Destructor Comes to Croc Town” fame) wrote in after my post on what brutal art says and doesn’t say to point out that Edelstein has written an essay on pop culture’s new torture vogue for his new gig as New York magazine’s film critic, and insofar as it gets right to the heart of the matter–whether such things are aimed at the audience by filmmakers who feel they know better–it’s interesting stuff, so I’m passing the link along to you.