Originally posted by Chris Knipp
It seems to me that you are drifting pretty far from the film this thread is concerned with, Howard, which in the opinion of some other contributors was the problem with your reading of the film from the beginning, only now it is becoming more evident. You have a bone to pick: you feel the world is moving away from conscience and from the consideration of moral consequences. Very well. But again, still not having seen the film, I can only suggest the image of "breaking a buttterfly upon a wheel" -- bringing heavy judgmental machinery to bear upon a rather sweet and innocent little effort at positive naughtiness. If as trevor says, the director's message is stated thus: -- then it is clear enough that there is a little positive message for human self improvement here, and not any justification of immorality or abandonment of conscience. The problem with bringing an ideology to bear on every reading of a film -- which is good, insofar as it leads you to be responsible and consistent in your readings -- is that you will fail to tune in completely enough to the language and sensibility of the particular film at hand, and will wind up, as you have here in this latest entry, simply enunciating your ideological orientation.
Please don't tell me what I'm tuned in to or not tuned into. That's quite arrogant. It's quite obvious that you have no experience or understanding of anything I've been saying but choose to go along with the others. That's real support, thanks. On top of that you haven't even seen the film. There is no further discussion warranted here.