Word: contentous
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...overseas firm, in which players try to assassinate President Kennedy, Blagojevich plans to propose two bills this month that would make it a misdemeanor, punishable by fines of $5,000 or up to a year in jail, for retailers to sell or rent games with certain sexual or violent content to kids under 18. The $7 billion video-game business, says Blagojevich, is an industry that "targets its products at kids. Just as a child buying cigarettes is inappropriate, just as a child buying alcohol is inappropriate, just as a child buying pornography is inappropriate, the same kind of thinking...
...human-on-human violence and realistic depiction," says Blagojevich. "It's a definition comparable to obscenity statutes that routinely get upheld by courts," he says. Geoffrey Stone, a professor at the University of Chicago law school who specializes in constitutional law, says the Blagojevich bill focusing on sexual content has the best chance of succeeding because it would fall under the category of obscenity for minors, which is a widely accepted concept. In contrast, the measure to regulate violent games "is hopeless because there is no recognized constitutional principle that allows the government to shield children from violent expression," says...
Parents, of course, don't have the luxury of waiting to see what such studies reveal, especially when their children are pressing them to get the latest games now. As a result, many moms and dads, even a few of those who consider the violent and sexual content in some of the most popular games objectionable, can find it hard not to give in to their kids' passion for them. Therese Palmer, 42, of Rockwall, Texas, once picketed a store that sold violent toys, but she admits that she lets her two sons, 9 and 15, play Grand Theft Auto...
...happens, the tone and content of these films neatly bisected the mood of this year?s electorate. Moore?s documentary was angry, skeptical, wide-ranging, skipping from topic to topic, using comedy and sarcasm to convey moral rage; its hero was a grungy fat guy who ambushed his adversaries. Mel Gibson?s docudrama was stolid, bloody, humorless, remorseless, sticking to its micro-subject with macro implications, staying obsessively on point; its hero was a stern thin man who endured scourging and calumny in order to fulfill His mission. In other words, Moore embodied what the Right saw as Kerry...
...hero in the purest sense of the word, and yet he is still to be admired, even if he is also abhorred. Eschewing stereotyping for true character development, Kassell forces her audience to walk a fine line between sympathy and disgust. Leaving the theater, viewers must be content to accept both their repulsion and their admiration for Walter. Often disturbing, sometimes difficult to watch, but always stimulating and emotionally charged, The Woodsman is a powerful and staggering work, and it is not to be missed...