Immorality in Movies

The movie industry is no stranger to controversy, with actors getting into trouble seemingly daily for explicit activities. It's always just assumed that these illegal activities are immoral. So why is it that when the characters they portray do the same, it has to be spelled out for the audience that no one for no reason should ever do anything that the characters in this movie are doing? It's like a warning label put on toys that say “hey don't let your kid put these small pieces in their mouths because they might choke and die”.

Two movies I've seen this in recently are The Bling Ring and The Wolf of Wall Street (both 2013)

Critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, said, “Coppola [Sofia, The Bling Ring director] neither makes a case for her characters nor places them inside of some kind of moral or critical framework.” Right. Instead, she tells the story she was trying to: of a group of spoiled kids who robbed celebrities' houses. What's wrong with that?

For The Wolf of Wall Street, Leonard Maltin said, “Without a moral center, [the movie] seems to revel in this cornucopia of bad behavior.” The movie was actually based on the book of the same title by Jordan Belfort, whose perspective the movie is from. He does exactly what Maltin says. He loves his hookers, he loves his cocaine. The book isn't a “learn from my mistake” book. It's a “this is what happened ps I still love hookers and cocaine” book.

Maybe this is just because I'm a high school student, but I'm not looking for morals when I go to the movies. I'm looking for entertainment, and these movies brought them. Even with Wolf and Ring's perhaps excessive partying scenes, my attention was kept.

And not that movies that give morals aren't enjoyable. In fact, the presence of morals has nothing to do with if a movie is good or not. Okay, maybe some people get their kicks out of morals. But, if that's you, why're you spending $10 plus for your entertainment. Just go to church or something. They'll moral the shit out of you there.