To clarify, I don't want to sound like "Internet is evil!". Kids will always seek out stuff like this, I just think its effect should be acknowledged. I think I've certainly been desensitised to some things as a result. But hey, that's what you get with an uncensored free-flow of information and I still think the positives massively outweigh the negatives

Interesting points and as Jack Casey said, much better thought through than the Guardian's inflammatory and poorly thought through efforts.

Adam to answer the question, "When did audiences become so hard?" I'm not sure, but I think its going to get worse, largely due to the internet. One of my beefs with people who talk about the dangers of the internet is that they always seem to focus on the threat of online predators, and child pornography, (which are valid to a degree), but ignore the huge amount of ultra-violent imagery available - stuff (real or fake) that goes well beyond what's released in the cinema.

There are pretty despicable sites out there that cater for this and teenage boys are drawn to them like moths to a flame. Actually, most people are. Who hasn't at least heard of the infamous "two girls one cup" video (actually the one thing I've never seen and never want to). This might not be specifically violent, but it certainly sets a new bar for what people will tolerate.

In summary then, I think it's not cinema but content on the internet that's desensitising us and it’s a downward slope from here on.

I've just read the Daily Mail's review of kick Ass, (Christopher Tookey) and found myself once again bubbling over with rage. Hit Girl is described as "sexually aggressive" and fetishised in precisely the same way as Angelina Jolie in the Lara Croft movies, and Halle Berry in Catwoman." finally "Paedophiles are going to adore her."

What shit.

The article is indicative of a particularly reprehensible brand of scaremongering that the Daily Mail has become famous for. I've seen Kick Ass twice and not once did I see any form of sexualisation of Hit Girl. To invent something that just isn't in the film to provoke outrage in your readership is poor journalism and more than that, morally irresponsible.

Chloe Moretz is pretty young, yes, but she’s not an idiot and she’s not stupid. The notion that she (or any other 12 year old) would not have come across the “fuck” and “cunt” is naïve and patronising. Even worse is the idea that Kick Ass “promotes the idea that infantilising adulthood is okay and that we are no longer expected to draw lines between us and kids.” I can’t say for certain, but with the mail’s track record, it’s likely that whoever said that hasn’t actually seen the film. I have seen it and he whole point (as Cathy points out) is that this is shocking to hear a little girl talk like that. It’s not normal. That’s part of the film.
It’s part of what it’s all about.

What’s really depressing about this article is that 1 – the mail has to keep bringing up Jonathan Ross who apart from being the paper’s favourite whipping boy has absolutely (profanity primer) fuck all to do with this story. 2 – Far more offensive and shocking things have come from the paper itself – Jan Moir’s despicable slurring of Stephen Gately, springs to mind.

There's a youtube video somewhere of a collection scenes where Kristin Stewart bites her lip. It's her thing when she needs to do "sensitive but vulnerable." She does it a lot.

found it

http://fashionindie.com/lol-kristen-stewart-bites...

I've struggled for a while to get to grips with Twilight's popularity, but this review from the Onion AV club explained a lot for me.

What you have in Twilight is a popular girl (not the usual outsider) who turns up to school one day to find a gorgeous, sexy, broody vampire with amazing powers fall in love with her. Not just in love, but absolute devotion. He wants to be with her always, and even better, he struggles with the depth of his emotion for her and against his temptations (classic, teen vampire sex metaphor territory here).

What’s crucial is that Bella does nothing. They don’t fall in love over the course of the film. They don’t have to get to know each other or even go through the hate- each-other-before-discovering-their-true-feelings phase. Edward sees her, falls madly passionately in love instantly. Bella is just that special (the film does a rotten job of explaining why she’s so amazing, so we have to take Edward’s word for it)

I reckon if I was a teenage girl (I’m not by the way), that would pretty much be my ultimately fantasy . Twilight makes it so easy to put yourself in Bella’s place (if you’re so inclined). It’s the perfect escapism for those willing to embrace it.

However, reading Jessie's review, i might be wrong. The anticipation part is perhaps most telling, "Robert, Robert, ROBERT!" Maybe he is just that awesome.... and not the scruffy, sulk-saturated doofus I’ve had him down for.

Actually I was respnonding more to this comment: "You don't like this film because you do not consider the trials of a doomed love affair to be worthy of consideration; this is probably because you are an insecure man who is using a platform granted to you to review films to pathetically, and transparently, assert your masculinity."

JR, you engaged with the points made in the review which is what this is all about. I didn't think Lucy's personal attacks on the reviewer's character or suggestions of dubious motives were accurate or fair.

Could it not just be that Kevin didn't think it was very good?

I can recall exactly the films that I desperately wanted from the video shop when i was 10 years old. Robocop, Nightmare on elm st (any incarnation), Running Man, Predator, and most of all - Society. The image of the woman taking her face off indicated that it was undoubtedly the most extreme and shocking of everything in the store, therefore I had to see it.

Later on when i saw it. I felt bit let down. Except for the final scene which is disgusting.

Never seen gone with the wind and somehow, Citizen Kane remains in it's cellophane wrapping on my DVD shelf (I can hear the cries of horror and disgust now).

Still I've heard of English professors who've never read Hamlet, so...