Our civilizational crisis is really a crisis in parenting
by Michael Cook, MercatorNet:
When teenagers idolise a porn star, something is amiss.
“It’s tough to be alive now. I think societal collapse is in the air, it smells like it, and without being pretentious, I hope that’s why these movies matter because that’s the role of the artist is to shine a light on what’s going on.” That’s Timothée Chalamet, an up-and-coming American actor musing on Bones & All, the latest film by the Italian director Luca Guadagnino.
The movie was wildly popular at the Venice Film Festival. The audience gave it a ten-minute standing ovation, chanting, “Luca! Luca!” Critics on Rotten Tomatoes ranked it 98 out of 100. One reviewer described it as: “an imperfect but effortlessly charming film, one that feels lived-in and loved … and speaks to the human desire to love and be loved, in spite of our flaws.”
Trouble is, the film is about cannibalism: “star-crossed lovers ravenous for human flesh”, in the words of another reviewer.
Bones & All is not a one-off, as Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal was a one-off in the 18th century. Cannibalism is A Thing in contemporary literary culture. The New York Times recently reviewed a clutch of novels, films and TV series about it.
If we are talking about societal collapse, perhaps we can begin with the image of the film’s young audience giving it rapturous applause. “I think there’s a young adult audience out there, all those alienated kids,” said another critic.
To bring talk about “alienated kids” closer to home, consider these three news items from the Australian media in the last week or so.
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