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Show MwdAy, My 2, 1988 Chaoiclc Pqt Five EDITORIAL Double standard foir violence, sex Salt Lake City's finest have been at it again in the crusade to protect citizens from wanton self-degradati- on. That's why police vice detectives confiscated film from the Blue Mouse Theater an during its annual "U.S. Erotic Film Festival." It was the first allegedly pornographic movie raided since the city's last filmhouse closed down almost two years ago. We certainly don't approve of movies which depict, as one vice officer put it, "material harmful to the community." However, the Chronicle questions what material is considered harmful. And why. It's clear X-rat- ed X-rat- ed mjoumme mba this nation's outdated puritanical standards deem sexual material offensive, but glorify violence. These standards should change. The movie confiscated at the Mouse was titled Cafe Flesh and dealt with sexual mutants in a holocaust society. A vice detective said he counted five sexually explicit scenes fitting the "penetration plainly visible" standard. The theater owner, manager, ticket person and projectionist could all be charged with a class A misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and up to a year in jail. The Mouse did nothing different than usual for its annual festival. Advertising is unobtrusive and customers who look underage are asked for IDs. The vice squad had not received any complaints. h Its raid was part of a undercover investigation into possible pornographic magazines, movies and videos being distributed throughout the valley. They will screen the Flesh case with the Salt Lake City Prosecutor's post-nucle- shapjaiq tro f Kent Anderson ar nine-mont- Office. One wishes the vice squad had such perseverance about other issues. When was the last time you heard about a Sylvester Stallone or Clint Eastwood movie being busted for gratuitous violence? Unfortunately, many people think violence is honorable. It's as American as apple pie. Chris Hicks' column in Sunday's Deseret News gave results from a national poll. More than 8,000 people answered the burning question, "Is Arnold Schwarzenegger more macho than Sylvester Stallone?" One might argue that violence is a fact of life. However, sex is also a fact of life. And it's one that should be far more pleasant and acceptable. Some pornography may portray people as mere objects. But it's partly in response to society's message that sex is something dirty, which should not be discussed or considered unless absolutely necessary. A cynic might wonder if movies with violent themes are more acceptable because they are simply more lucrative. Hicks noted that hor- munchie sales increase during action and ror films, while romantic stories and art films spell death to the cash register. We must ask, who needs protection from whom? Chronicle The Daily Utah Chronicle is in independent student newspaper published during fall, winter and spring quarters, excluding test weeks and quarter breaks, by the University Publications Council. Editorials reflect the opinion of the editorial board, and not necessarily the opinions of the student body or the administration. Subscriptions are S25 a year, $10 an academic quarter. All subscriptions must be prepaid. Forward all subof scription correspondence, including change address, to the Business Manager,)ai7 1taA CArom-cl- t, 240Union,University ofUtah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112. puv-ofr- o Comic books have grown up adult, I thought the days of far Batman were behind me. I thought I'd outgrown As a semi-cogniza- nt the allure of the black cape, crazy villains and Batcave. In fact, I thought the days of comic book glory were far behind me, lost in a world I had slowly escaped from. That was until I discovered the new Batman, and a host of other, more vital comic glories. I'd been weaned both on the comic book Batman and the TV Batman. And between the grim Gotham of the comic pages and the "KAZONKS!" of the TV version, I was a Batman addict by age 5. And I harbored a secret crush on Batgirl. But puberty and pretentiousness hit, and I gave up on Batman and started reading Faulkner and Playboy instead. Now, I'm back to Batman. But not the Batman of old. This is the new Batman. The new Batman swears. The new Batman falls in love. The new Batman fights the ravages of age. The new Batman tries to make peace with his past. I first encountered the new Batman in a comic called Batman-T- he Killing Joke. I didn't know what to expect when I got home and started leafing through it. I knew the art was fantastic, though-I- 'd seen mat much at the store. But it was the story that really suprised me. It was more than the usual comic book story. It was haunting, resonant and disturbing. The storyline goes like this: The Joker, an inmate in Gotham's Arkham Asylum, is visited by Batman, who is seeking to make peace with his longtime enemy. During his visit, Batman realizes he is speaking to an imposter and that the real Joker has escaped. Meanwhile, the Joker is acquiring, through murder, an amusement park. The Joker's premise is that insanity and sanity are really just different perspec-tives-tnthere's not any real division. And he wants to prove his theory to Batman. The story slices between the Joker and a comedian who's trying to get enough money to support himself and his pregnant wife. The Joker then shows up at Commissioner Gordon's house, shoots and cripples his daughter Barbara and kidnaps the commissioner. He then takes him to the amusement park's funhouse and shows ' him photographs of his naked, crippled daughter-a- ll to slowly drive Gordon crazy. We soon find out that the desperate, starving comethe sane dian and the Joker are one and the same-ju- st and insane versions of the same man. at go-nowh- Editorial Board: Kent Anderson, Shauna Bona.Darren Hawkins, Andrew Hunt, Bryant Larsen, Dee NaQuin, Far a Warner Editor in Chief Managing Editor News Editor Editorial Editor Sports Editor Feature Editor Photography Editor Chief Copy Editor Investigative Editor Campus Editor Assistant News Editor Assistant Editorial Editor Assistant Sports Editor Assistant Feature Editor Shauna Bona Kent Anderson Fara Warner DceL.NaQuin LauryLivsey Darren Hawkins Steven C. Wilson Bryant Larsen Dennis Romboy Darren Tucker Lori Bona Andrew Hunt Glenn Seninger John Pecorelli Assistant Feature Editor Assistant Photography Editor Assistant Copy Editor Reporters Photographer Business Manager Accountant Classifieds Batman has by now received a taunt- -a ticket to the Joker's amusement park. He arrives, rescues Gordon and pursues the Joker. Gordon pleads with Batman to "do it by the book. We have to show him our way works." A very violent confrontation ensues, during which Batman is trying to tell Joker that this hatred must end or they both will finally die. At the end of the fight, as the foes stand solemnly in the rain, the Joker tells Batman that it's too late for peace, then tells him a story about two inmates trying to escape from an insane asylum. It's an old joke, about walking across flashlight beams like they're tightropes. The joke ends with the inmate who's scared of falling saying he won't walk across the beams; "What do you think I am? Crazy? You'd turn the flashlight off when I was halfway across." The two stand in silence as the puddles about them fill with rain. The artwork in this issue is stunning, as it is in Dark other new Batman comics like Batman-T- he Knight Returns (in which Batman must face middle One (where Batman's beginnings age), Batman-Ye- ar are retold) and Batman-S- on of the Demon (where Batman falls in love and has a son). But the surge in comics' appeal is hardly limited to Batman and the constrictions such a character place on the art form. A comic magazine (edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly) called Raw (which has as its sometimes motto, "The graphix magazine that lost its faith in nihilism") gives artists all the creative room they could desire. In this magazine, comic strips depicting life in New York City City of Terror, Manhattan), a character called "Dog Boy," and a bachelor's friendship Mister Wilcox, Mister Conrad all leap off the page, fueled by art that is eyecatching and often wonderfully unnerving, and writing that is witty to the point of pithiness. The most disturbing strip is called The Andy Griffith Show. Here, startling recreations of Andy, Barney and Aunt Bea go "aw, shucks" and all, then accost a visiting black businessman, hold "a speedy trial" at the gas station and lynch him. They then go home and have some of Aunt Bea's delicious pie. Find these comics. You may just discover that they've grown as fast as you have. Kent Anderson is a senior majoring in communication and is managing editor of the Chronicle. Kelly Hindley Elder .... Guy E. rV Edward Ruiz Bruce Burningham Kent Condon Todd Curtis Sharon Dec kert EllenGarff Amber MdCee Kerry Shea Deanie Wimmer Jennifer Peterson Robert McOmber Kay Andersen Charlene Collins Accounting Clerk Collections Account Executives Kim Bartel Michael All sop JohnHausknecht KxisDeBry Tammie BosrJck Todd Butler Sara Wilson Abbie Hall James A. Beck Tracey L. Heinhold Michael Q. deary Ad Production Typesetters Production Manager Assistant Production Manager Distribution .Kenny Watanabe David Orchard Christopher Stratford . . |
