Vice Virtue

Vice Virtue Essay

After viewing the films Remember the Titans and Seven in class it made me realize all of the things in the media swirling around vice and virtue. Nearly everything we use as entertainment in the media revolves around these seven cardinal sins, the vices, and the seven cardinal virtues. The truth is our society today thrives on these things; many times we will not watch or listen to something that is all good, the evil is needed to supplement the entertainment factor. Our society enjoys watching struggle and violence.

Good versus evil is a very common theme in this type of media. It is shown in the two movies we viewed in class and nearly every other feature film in America. We are coming to a point today, where even the children's films, which used to be so innocent and good, are now making the transition to evil. Remember the Titans, a PG rated Disney movie, is somewhat of an exception to this stereotype. Yes, it does introduce the evil in the beginning when the players are struggling to come together as one, and the nation as a whole is not welcoming of the idea of integrating schools. This is really the only time in the movie though, that the evil plays a factor. This film is one of the true, "feel good" movies of recent years. The team comes together and in doing so brings the whole town together to realize that it isn't what is on the outside that matters. The makers of this film did a great job of making a movie that is appealing to both children and adults, something very hard to do in today's society. It was brought up in class that the movie was not marketed as a true Disney movie, and the marketers did that for a reason. Many teens and young adults are now somewhat scared off by the "Disney Movie" stereotype. They are convinced that it is a cartoon type, fake, happy ending story; which in some regards is true. Not knowing it was a Disney movie though; more teens saw the movie and enjoyed it for what it was worth, a rare, truly great non-violent story that leaves you feeling good.

Then there was Seven, a movie based directly on the "seven deadly sins". This film tells the story of two cops, who are trying to track down a serial killer who is committing murders based on victims who are role models for the seven sins. This cop versus a killer type of a movie is now all too common in our society, which has become all too used to this violence of murder and sinning. The people of our country strive on this type of film. Drama, Action, Guns, and Killing have all become staples in the most popular films of today. This good versus evil is key to the success of these movies, the good guy chases the bad guy and the good guy ends up winning ninety nine