Provocation

Conditions: Very calm

I Am Not Charlie Hebdo

It shouldn’t really have to be said, but first of all my deep sympathies are with the families of the people in France killed by terrorists who objected to the content of the magazine Charlie Hebdo. Having said that, however, I feel compelled to point out some of the glaring oversights in the global outpouring of solidarity with the magazine and its staff. The magazine prided itself in depicting insulting and offensive content, with the goal being to provoke as big a reaction as possible. To their credit, nothing at all was sacred and they merrily attacked any and all targets. Obviously one of their regular targets was fundamental Muslims, and they took delight in portraying cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in various objectionable ways. Somewhat unsurprisingly this drew anger and death threats, ultimately leading to this deadly confrontation. In reading about these cartoonists, I guess the problem I have is in the nature of what they do.

Freedom of speech is vital. It’s one of the bedrocks of an open and healthy society. However as with everything in life, there are limits. Some of them are obvious: you can’t use freedom of speech to slander people, and you can’t use it to yell “fire” in a crowded theatre just to see what happens. And it’s that aspect I feel that Charlie flirted with. Yes they wanted to attack all taboos and anything sacred. They wanted to provoke and tease. And that seems reckless to me. We do not all live in the same place. We do not all eat the same food, or speak the same language, or watch the same TV programs growing up. We also do not all believe the same things. And it’s that inherent nature of differences that make us collectively stronger but also contains the potential for conflict, which has been exploited much too often. There’s always fun to be poked at people, and usually that’s fine, but there are many ways and means of poking fun in a respectful way. Change is always happening, always. But it is usually a gradual effect. And that gradual nature should be appreciated. Perhaps the people at Charlie felt that the only way to remove those differences was through satire, but I somehow doubt it. Instead I suspect they felt attacking and poking fun at those differences was good sport. Just because you get martyred for something does not automatically make that something worthwhile or good.

If the pen is mightier than the sword then there is more responsibility needed to wield one.


Film Review: Big Hero 6

So we have entered a time where superhero movies have become so mainstream that they can actually jump up and surprise you out of nowhere. Big Hero 6 is such a thing, an animated film set in an alternate-timeline San Fransokyo. Our main protagonist, Hiro, is a young genius and robot fighting enthusiast. His older brother is trying to get him to stop the illegal robot fighting and start going to robot school. He’s built a heath care worker robot that could revolutionise caring for the sick and needy. But after tragedy strikes him down the younger brother only wants revenge on the masked man who has stolen his micro bots, and so converts the health care-bot into a fighting machine, before recruiting others from the school to help him.

Before you can say “The Incredibles”, everyone is suddenly kitted out in spangly outfits and weapons. What follows is a fast paced and colourful series of action sequences that lead to a big final confrontation with the bad guy. And it’s all so predictable and clichéd it really makes the whole film act like a slowly-leaking balloon. Starts out so colourful and shiny and bursting with possibilities, and gradually slumps into a flat and obvious action sequence showdown.

Disney also delivered the likes of Wreck-it Ralph a few years ago, which was a clever film. This one sadly isn’t, and the quality of the animation can only distract you from that fact for so long. It's based on a comic book, and the threat is that this will become a new franchise, and to that I say a hearty Meh. This film has come along at a time where I think the superhero craze has run its course. And all the bright colours and whizz bang just aren’t doing it for me anymore. I do appreciate they tried to add character depth here at the start, and there was a moment of team conflict I appreciated, but it was only a moment. Perhaps it will play well with the younger set. But for me it panders too much, and skates along on bright colours alone. Two robots out of five.



- Peace out